Before we move any further, it would be appropriate to elaborate on the history of the kakure kirishitan. Their story begins in 1549 when Portuguese priest St. Francis Xavier arrived in Japan and began to spread the teachings of Christ. At first, Christianity flourished in Japan with centers of population in areas like Kyushu and Nagasaki. Many daimyo also converted to Christianity. The daimyo then ordered all of their subjects to convert as well. However, in 1587, the aforementioned Hideyoshi banished foreign missionaries from Kyushu. Hideyoshi banished the missionaries in an attempt to gain greater control of the daimyo who had converted to Christianity. However, he did not bother individual Christians because of his trading ties with Europe. (Toyotomi Hideyoshi) However, many of the daimyo retained their faith despite the banishment of the European missionaries.
While Hideyoshi was content to leave the remainder of the Christians alone, his successor, Tokugawa Ieyasu, saw the influence of Christianity as a threat. So, in 1614, he signed the Christian Expulsion Edict which completely banned Christianity, banished all Christians and foreigners from Japan, and made it illegal to practice the Christian faith. (Tokugawa Ieyasu) Following Christianity was a crime punishable by death. However, there were still thousands of Japanese Christians who were willing to fight for their faith. In 1637, these Christians rose up in the Shimabara Rebellion. The rebellion was against Shigemasa Matsukura who was the acting daimyo of Shimabara, Nagasaki. He moved to the Shimabara region to stamp out the Christians in the area. Matsukura forced the entire community into building him a gigantic castle in a construction project that lasted seven grueling years. During this time, the people of Shimabara were subjected to extreme taxation, persecution, and even torture for those who were suspected Christians. Unwilling to stand for the conditions that they faced, the Christians rebelled.
The rebellion against Matsukura swept over the countryside. An army that consisted of the supporters of disenfranchised Christian samurai and exploited Christian peasants took over the castle that they were forced to build. The army was able to hold the castle for four months against government troops. However, the Tokugawa government hired Dutchmen to cut off the rebels’ food and water supplies. The technique was so successful that it was only in place for a short time before the rebellion collapsed. All of the rebels who were involved with the rebellion were executed. The final death toll included 17,000 men and 20,000 women and children. The horrific violence forced the remainder of Japanese Christians to go underground. For 250 years, the Japanese Christian community would hide in the shadows from government prosecution. (Eagan, Photos from Shimabara)
The visual culture of the kakure kirishitan can be separated into three styles that represent three different eras. The three artistic periods are the Pre-Shimabara, the Post-Shimabara, and the Post-Bakumatsu. The kakure kirishitan find themselves subject of a curious reversal of customary artistic evolution. Usually, art evolves along with the times in which they are created. If a scholar would research the various movements in European painting over the past few hundred years, they would find that styles evolved gradually and resulted from artists inspiring each other and from whatever trend was influencing the art world at the time. The kakure kirishitan did not have the luxury of sharing their art with each other because they would risk revealing themselves to someone who would turn them in. Therefore, the art of the kakure kirishitan evolved as a direct result of the freedom allowed for Christian worship in Japan. As Christianity was allowed to be practiced when it first arrived in Japan, the artwork surrounding it was bold and eye-catching. When Christianity was outlawed, the artwork became hidden and cryptic so as to defend against government investigators. After the ban on Christianity was lifted, the art of the kakure kirishitan began to try and adapt to the Western world, similar to how all of Japan tried to industrialize in the 19th century.
The first artistic style was the Pre-Shimabara. The cutoff point for this period is the Shimabara Rebellion, owing to how it wasn’t until all of the Christian rebels were killed that Christianity had to officially go underground. Before the Rebellion, Japanese Christians tried to create artwork that blended Christian iconography with Japanese designs. Perfect examples include pottery that was inlaid with designs of Christian crosses. Excavators have discovered at the ruins of Hara Castle, the location of the Shimabara Rebellion, some intriguing porcelain pottery. Some porcelain plates were discovered with the characters天下一, tenka-ichi, which translates to “number one under heaven.” The phrase was used only by generals and the upper class. This phrase was later banned by the Tokugawa Shogunate in 1682. (Eagan, Photos from Shimabara) The presence of porcelain with such phrases speaks to the wide berth of social classes who took part in rebelling in Shimabara. However, the most intriguing pieces of Pre-Shimabara artwork concern the samurai class. Upon examination of historical artifacts, it appears that Japanese samurai treated Christian iconography, especially symbols like the cross, the way they would a clan symbol or the seal of a daimyo.
As previously stated, this genre of artwork survived while Christianity flourished in Japan and when it was officially banned but generally tolerated. However, after the Shimabara Rebellion, the world of Post-Shimabara artwork exploded. The kakure kirishitan devised ways to hide their beliefs by disguising their artwork and altars. One of the most popular methods of disguising Christian artwork was by mimicking Buddhism. In 1640, three years after the Shimabara Rebellion, a law was passed that required everyone to register at a Buddhist Temple. (Edo Period, 2009) All throughout Japan, Buddhism combined with neo-Confucianism to provide the common standards of social behavior. Buddhism also gained much popularity among the upper classes of Japanese society. (Edo Period, 2007) Therefore, it was expected for everyone in Japan to respect Buddhist traditions. Buddhist paintings, sculptures, and shrines became extremely common and widespread. This proliferation of Buddhism throughout Japan was partially meant to prevent anyone from slipping back to any foreign religion. However, it was this very explosion of Buddhism that allowed the kakure kirishitan to survive in secret for hundreds of years.
Christianity had only been exposed to the Japanese people for about a generation before the European missionaries were banished. Therefore, their knowledge of the Christian faith was basic and in many respects incomplete. Regardless of this handicap, the kakure kirishitan develop its own hereditary priesthood which taught their followers many Christian practices, such as the observance of holy days and the administration of the sacrament of Baptism. (Downes) Since the missionaries who originally came to Japan were Catholic, the kakure kirishitan needed items that would allow them to carry out the Catholic sacraments. Three of the most important items needed by the kakure kirishitan were sculptures of the Virgin Mary, crucifixes, and altars for places where they could pray and hold services.
The first necessary item that the kakure kirishitan needed was sculptures of the Virgin Mary. The kakure kirishitan devised a magnificently clever way of creating these sculptures that tricked Japanese officials for hundreds of years. They modeled their sculptures in a manner that resembled the Buddha Kannon, who in Sanskrit was known as Avalokitesvara. In Japanese Buddhism, Kannon is one of Amida Buddha’s main attendants. The Amida Buddha was believed to descend from paradise whenever a Buddhist died and lead them to his Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss. Therefore there are parallels between Amida Buddha and Jesus as religious figures who guide their followers to the afterlife and Kannon and the Virgin Mary as the link that connects the saviors with their followers. (Schumacher)
Depictions of Kannon frequently depict her alongside Amida Buddha when they descend from heaven. The Japanese also venerate Kannon separately from Amida Buddha. As a result, solitary sculptures of Kannon became widespread. The kakure kirishitan seized on this tradition with their own sculptures of the Virgin Mary that were disguised as Kannon. As the Maria Kannon Zen Center, founded in 1991 to provide people of all different faiths and backgrounds a place to practice Zen, describes, “The Bodhisattva of Compassion was a familiar figure in Buddhist temples and homes. Christians gathering in secret, however, were in the company of the Mother of their Saviour, to whom they would turn for intercession in prayer.” (The Story of Maria Kannon Zen Center) Therefore, whenever the kakure kirishitan were examined by government officials, they would claim that the sculptures were of Kannon and not of the Virgin Mary.
Unfortunately, many Maria Kannon were disguised so well that it can be almost impossible to distinguish them from real sculptures of the Buddha Kannon. For example, one of the most famous statues of Kannon is found in Aizu, Fukushima Prefecture. It is a massive 57 meter high statue depicting Kannon holding an infant. Even though it was built in 1987, it provides an accurate representation of how Kannon were depicted during the times of the kakure kirishitan. (Schumacher) There are Maria Kannon from Nagasaki that have almost the exact same design. (Eagan, Pictures from Nagasaki) Because many Maria Kannon were made of white porcelain, the Nagasaki Maria Kannon look like miniature replicas of the giant Kannon statue in Aizu which was also completely white. (Schumacher) However, the statues that are confirmed to be Maria Kannon remain to this day as some of the most powerful and meaningful relics of the days of the kakure kirishitan.
The next important item that the kakure kirishitan needed was the central icon of the Christian faith, the crucifix. While the crucifix, or as it is called in Protestant denominations, the cross, gained great importance of its own within Western society, to the fledgling Christian community in Japan, it became more than just a symbol. The crucifix became a symbol of recognition, fellowship, and their very identity as Christians. The crucifix was such an important symbol to Japanese Christians that during the Shimabara Rebellion, the Christians would melt down bullets that were fired at them by the opposing government troops and melt them down into crosses. (Eagan, Photos from Shimabara) However, Post-Shimabara crucifixes were more commonly hidden or disguised in order to prevent detection from government authorities. The Post-Shimabara crucifixes are one of the most intriguing and fascinating aspects of the entire kakure kirishitan culture.
One of the best examples of Post-Shimabara crucifixes can be found on the Goto Islands in a small area named Dozaki. In Dozaki, there is a rock garden that was made with naturally formed rocks as well as others that were brought from places like Sotome by fleeing Christians. At first it appears to be a regular rock garden, such as were popular during the Edo era. However, it contains several cleverly hidden symbols that had great meaning to the kakure kirishitan. First, there is a rock made of volcanic stone which doesn’t occur naturally in the Goto Islands. It looks like a normal rock, but it was carefully placed there by the kakure kirishitan because its form resembles the Virgin Mary holding the Baby Jesus. Second, next to the Virgin Mary rock there is another rock that is much smoother and resembles a large egg. Unlike the Virgin Mary rock, it doesn’t have any deep significance to the kakure kirishitan because of its shape. Instead, it holds great significance to the kakure kirishitan because on its back is a faint imprint of a crucifix. When it is placed at the altar, the crucifix is placed towards the wall so that only the kakure kirishitan would know that there was a cross on its back. (Eagan, Pictures from the Goto Islands)
Not all of the Post-Shimabara crucifixes were meant to last for hundreds of years like the imprint on the rocks in the Goto Islands rock garden. Some of them were meant to have a much shorter lifespan. In a museum in Ikitsuki, there is a large collection of relics from the kakure kirishitan. One of their exhibits contains a case with a large number of crucifixes that were made out of paper. (Eagan, Pictures from Ikitsuki) They had two purposes. First, they were carried by the kakure kirishitan as a symbol for their faith. If anyone grew suspicious of them, the kakure kirishitan would put them in their mouths and swallow it. Second, they were used for purification rituals. Dr. Stephen Turnbull explains, “They use the whips to drive out the evil spirits. They then cleanse the place with the holy water and place the paper cross there to prevent the evil spirits from returning.” (Turnbull) These disposable crucifixes prove how valuable the image of the cross was to the kakure kirishitan.
Despite all of the artwork that the kakure kirishitan had that filled the need of religious icons, they still needed places where they could worship without being caught. So the kakure kirishitan created hidden altars where they could hold religious services and sacraments. The need for altars became even more important when Christianity in Japan began to incorporate elements of Buddhist ancestor worship, Shinto purification rites, and other assorted folk practices such as praying for good crops. (Sieg) Turnbull describes how he once visited a number of kakure kirishitan families and even was able to take part in some of their services. He wrote, “Behind a pillar on the wall there may have been concealed a crucifix or a holy picture that only they knew was there. This was a time of the ‘[Kakure] Kirishitan', the Secret Christians, who almost literally went underground in the sense of having as their churches and chapels the little store room round the back of their homes, that became the centre for worship and devotion.” (Turnbull)
However, the kakure kirishitan still risked being discovered if they were ever caught worshipping at one of their impromptu altars. So, they devised clever strategies to trick outsiders from thinking that they were practicing Christian rituals. Here, we see a very different kind of visual culture than what has been previously focused on in this paper. While the crucifixes and Maria Kannon were meant to be passive objects intended to be worshipped, the rituals that were carried out at kakure kirishitan shrines were active events that were designed to mimic traditional Japanese customs. For example, the kakure kirishitan would sometimes have an altar where they would gather to pray and have a communal meal which was meant to echo a Catholic Mass. Offerings of sashimi and sake were placed at the shrine. Such offerings were commonplace among the Japanese tradition of ancestor worship which evolved as a result of the mix of Shinto, Buddhism, Confucianism, and folk beliefs. However, the sashimi and sake were symbols for the Eucharist. The sashimi represented the bread and the sake represented the wine. If the authorities ever raided their home, they could argue that the sashimi and sake were traditional offerings to their ancestors or to a Maria Kannon. (Turnbull)
It may seem unusual to include a ritual in a discourse on visual culture, but the kakure kirishitan Eucharist perfectly reflects the entire Post-Shimabara art movement. The kakure kirishitan needed certain icons for their religious worship. However, the possession of said icons would lead to their deaths. So, the kakure kirishitan hid Christian symbols within traditional Japanese artwork and traditions. The need for sculptures of the Virgin Mary were met with Maria Kannon, the need for crucifixes led to things like paper crosses and hidden crucifixes in everyday objects, and the need for Christian rituals led to services that masqueraded as traditional Japanese customs. The secret combination of Christian and Japanese culture led to the development of a new kind of ethnic identity within the kakure kirishitan community and created beliefs and practices that were not considered orthodox when the Catholic Church made contact with Japan again after being banned for hundreds of years.
It is here that we must now shift to the final artistic style of the kakure kirishitan, the Post-Bakumatsu. The term “Bakumatsu” refers to the last few years of the Tokugawa era. It was during this period between 1853, when Admiral Perry forced Japan to open its doors to international trade, and 1867, which marked the start of the Meiji Restoration, that the government mandated repression of Christianity came to an end. (Bakumatsu 幕末) Freedom of religion was finally established in Japan in 1873. (Christianity) Before this, the kakure kirishitan had already revealed themselves to the European missionaries who had returned to Japan. They resurfaced on March 17, 1865 in front of a new church in Nagasaki. Records show that they approached the French priest Bernard Petitjean and revealed themselves:
Father Petitjean's diary entry for that day relates how fifteen Japanese were waiting at the door of his newly built church on Oura slope in Nagasaki. Three women then knelt beside him and said, The heart of all of us here is the same as yours. Then they asked, Where is the statue of the Maria-sama? These words opened a new era, for now Petitjean knew that he was in the presence of the Kakure Kirishitan.... (Mitsui)
After the kakure kirishitan revealed themselves, they still faced great persecution in Japan. In addition to the hostility faced by their own nation, the kakure kirishitan were also subjected to several inquires by Catholic officials who needed to determine how “orthodox” they were. While some kakure kirishitan renounced their old traditions in order to rejoin the Catholic Church, some were unwilling to give up their old ways. These would come to be known as the 離れキリシタン, Hanare Kirishitan, which translates to “separated Christians.” Their artwork is not classified as Post-Bakumatsu because the Hanare Kirishitan went back underground only to resurface again in the 1980s. Therefore, their icons and art are classified as Post-Shimabara. (Kakure Kirishitan) However, the kakure kirishitan who did rejoin the Catholic Church or converted to other Protestant denominations did proceed to create artwork that would come to be classified as Post-Bakumatsu.
When the kakure kirishitan reemerged from hiding during the Meiji Restoration, there was a concerted effort to bring the Japanese Christians into the mainstream. The most telling example of this effort can be found in the design and artwork of modern Japanese churches. For example, the Goto Islands are home to the Hamawaki Church. The church’s architecture directly mimics that of traditional European churches with vaulted ceilings and towering spires. Inside, there is a main altar that reaches upward where a surprisingly caucasian Jesus can be seen looking over the rest of the sanctuary. Elsewhere on the islands there is the Mizunoura church. Once again the church has a distinctively European design. However, the more astute observer will realize that the Mizunoura church has a distinct decorative theme: flowers. The use of flowers in church design is one of the best examples of the essence of the Post-Bakumatsu. The camellia, or “tsubaki” in Japanese, is often used to represent a cross because of its four symmetrically aligned petals which resemble a cross. The tsubaki is a very important flower in Japanese culture. The use of the tsubaki represents a mixture of native Japanese traditions with Christian symbolism that Japanese Christians tried to create to both establish their national identity and pronounce their religious heritage. The camellia design is frequently found all throughout churches in the Goto Islands. (Eagan, Pictures from the Goto Islands)
While the styles of kakure kirishitan art have greatly changed over the centuries, there is one important common denominator that connects them all: the need to express their Christian identity. In the Pre-Shimabara era, the Japanese emblazoned themselves with Christian symbols to represent who they were. During the Post-Shimabara era, there was no conscientious effort to mix Japanese and Christian iconography because the kakure kirishitan were simply trying to survive. As their society remained hidden over the years, their artwork and religious icons began to adapt Japanese characteristics. The Post-Bakumatsu era realized a new wave of Japanese artwork that tried to adapt to mainstream Christianity while maintaining their Japanese roots. The desire to be accepted, the desire to survive, and the desire to worship as they pleased became the driving force for the kakure kirishitan. The desire for a strong Japanese Christian community and an obligation to preserve and remember the past and those who died for Christ will continue to be a driving force for Japanese Christians for generations to come.
Works Cited
Bakumatsu 幕末. 2004. 15 May 2009
Christianity. 10 June 2002. 15 May 2009
Downes, Patrick. Kakure Kirishitan. 2000. 5 April 2009
Eagan, Brendan. Photos from Shimabara. 2006. 5 April 2009
—. Pictures from Ikitsuki. 2000. 5 April 2009
—. Pictures from Nagasaki. 2006. 5 April 2009
—. Pictures from the Goto Islands. 2000. 5 April 2009
Edo Period. 2009. 14 May 2009
Edo Period. 17 July 2007. 14 May 2009
Kakure Kirishitan. 5 April 2009
Mitsui, Daniel. "KAKURE KIRISHITAN: HIDDEN CHRISTIANS of JAPAN." DANIEL MITSUI ~ ESSAYS and INFORMATION. 15 May 2009
Schumacher, Mark. Maria Kannon マリア観音. 2008. 5 April 2009
Sieg, Linda. Japan's 'Hidden Christians' face extinction. 19 December 2007. 14 May 2009
The Story of Maria Kannon Zen Center. 14 May 2009
Tokugawa Ieyasu. 5 April 2009
Toyotomi Hideyoshi. 12 May 2009
Turnbull, Dr. Stephen. Japanese Religion. 14 May 2009
