3 ms·

I misread 19th century as 1900s. I wouldn’t call it Christian adoption, but there was much Christian suppression when many people were converting others, why wo

I misread 19th century as 1900s. I wouldn’t call it Christian adoption, but there was much Christian suppression when many people were converting others, why would they need to be suppressed if it wasn’t widespread? It didn’t need to be commoners, it could be an elite ruling class that was Christian for it to influence society. Japan had embraced western ideas and they certainly loved the Portuguese guns and were influenced by the west way before WWII in significant ways. I’m very interested in Japanese Christianity, the story sounds fascinating.

DocTomoe 5y ago
The Japanese "ruling class" at that time was extremely small, even by today's standards. Any adoption of Christianity that amounted to anything necessarily would have to have footing in the common people. Which to some extend did happen, either by forced baptisms demanded by the local daimyo (though inspired by and motivated from the local clergy), by some extend by the Jesuits doing charitable work in a century of basically non-stop civil war in which the predominant Buddhist sects concentrated on appealing to the warrior caste. Persecution of Christians focussed on priests at first (who usually were executed), but became increasingly focussed on the small commoners groups in the 1640s (who usually were given the option to apostate). Unsurprisingly, these efforts were focussed on Kyushu. Interestingly, we see christianity being syncretised again in Japan today, sometimes in weird and borderline funny concepts like the 'crucified Santa' iconography that has been showing up recently. A good first primer in early Christianity in Japan that's not an original source is Mullins, Mark (1998). Christianity Made in Japan: A Study of Indigenous Movements. University of Hawaii Press or Boxer, C.R. (1951). The Christian Century in Japan: 1549–1650. University of California Press. For some information on the hanare kirishitan, the primer would be Whelan, Christal (1996). The beginning of heaven and earth : the sacred book of Japan's hidden Christians. University of Hawaii Press

DocTomoe 5y ago

The Japanese "ruling class" at that time was extremely small, even by today's standards. Any adoption of Christianity that amounted to anything necessarily would have to have footing in the common people. Which to some extend did happen, either by forced baptisms demanded by the local daimyo (though inspired by and motivated from the local clergy), by some extend by the Jesuits doing charitable work in a century of basically non-stop civil war in which the predominant Buddhist sects concentrated on appealing to the warrior caste. Persecution of Christians focussed on priests at first (who usually were executed), but became increasingly focussed on the small commoners groups in the 1640s (who usually were given the option to apostate). Unsurprisingly, these efforts were focussed on Kyushu. Interestingly, we see christianity being syncretised again in Japan today, sometimes in weird and borderline funny concepts like the 'crucified Santa' iconography that has been showing up recently. A good first primer in early Christianity in Japan that's not an original source is Mullins, Mark (1998). Christianity Made in Japan: A Study of Indigenous Movements. University of Hawaii Press or Boxer, C.R. (1951). The Christian Century in Japan: 1549–1650. University of California Press. For some information on the hanare kirishitan, the primer would be Whelan, Christal (1996). The beginning of heaven and earth : the sacred book of Japan's hidden Christians. University of Hawaii Press