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**goldcigarettes** · 11-26-2009, 05:29 PM

I thought that Christianity hit Japan much earlier!

Francisco Xavier is credited with bringing Christianity to Japan. He arrived in Kagoshima in 1549 and began teaching. He gained a lot of converts in Northern Kyushu in particular, including several daimyo.

At it's height Christianity accounted for about 2% of the population.

Oda Nobunaga didn't seem to be bothered by it, but Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu were, and banned it's practice and crucified followers. They made "fumie" one of which was in the video, as an image of Christ that people had to tread on to prove they weren't Christian.

This culminated in the Shimabara rebellion. Said to have been led by a sixteen year old boy called Amakusa Shiro it saw 120000 Tokugawa troops armed with Dutch rifles and Dutch ships kick the crap out of 37000 rebellious peasants.

After this "Hidden Christians" continued to practice their beliefs in secret using Buddhist images with hidden Christian symbols as objects of worship. Maria kannon is a good example as it looks like the kannon bosatsu but is actually an image of the virgin Mary.

11-26-2009, 05:29 PM	#13
goldcigarettes Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 516 Senior Member	I thought that Christianity hit Japan much earlier! Francisco Xavier is credited with bringing Christianity to Japan. He arrived in Kagoshima in 1549 and began teaching. He gained a lot of converts in Northern Kyushu in particular, including several daimyo. At it's height Christianity accounted for about 2% of the population. Oda Nobunaga didn't seem to be bothered by it, but Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu were, and banned it's practice and crucified followers. They made "fumie" one of which was in the video, as an image of Christ that people had to tread on to prove they weren't Christian. This culminated in the Shimabara rebellion. Said to have been led by a sixteen year old boy called Amakusa Shiro it saw 120000 Tokugawa troops armed with Dutch rifles and Dutch ships kick the crap out of 37000 rebellious peasants. After this "Hidden Christians" continued to practice their beliefs in secret using Buddhist images with hidden Christian symbols as objects of worship. Maria kannon is a good example as it looks like the kannon bosatsu but is actually an image of the virgin Mary.
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