Map of Japan from Fasciculus e Japponis Floribus
Antonio Francisco Cardim, first published in 1646.
Historical Overview
The island nation of Japan consists of four larger bodies of land, Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu and the smaller Ryukyu Islands south of Kyushu. Japan has 6,852 islands, of which approximately 400 are inhabited. The southern half of the Sakhalin and the Kurile Islands to the north, which Japan possessed at the height of its World War II power, were lost to the Soviet Union and the close of the war.
Japan’s principal religions are: Buddhism —especially widespread and split into many old and new sects, and Shintoism, the earliest religious tradition. “In the Muromachi (1333-1568) and Edo (1600-1868) periods, however, there was a revival of Shinto as the “Ancient Way,” and an attempt was made to pare away all foreign influences. This expurgated system became the state religion of Japan during the Meiji period (1868-1912), but in 1945 Shintō was disestablished and again became one among other forms of worship.”
Christians comprise 0.42%.
The earliest known inhabitants of the Japanese Islands were probably the Ainu, a people physically distinct (with light skin color and round eyes) from the majority Japanese population. For most of Japan’s history, the Ainu people were driven from their homelands steadily northward by settlers arriving from mainland Asia. The Ainu exist today in small reservations on the island of Hokkaido, northern Honshu, Sakhalin, and the Kuril Islands. The Ainu are traditionally animists, believing that everything in nature has a kamuy (spirit or god) on the inside. There was no conception of an immortal soul and no philosophical speculation of life and death. The Ainu believe that gods or their incarnations are found in every phenomenon and object, including natural phenomena from the sun, moon, thunder, wind, water and fire, to animals, plants, and implements that are related to human life. The most important spirits include Kamuy-huci, goddess of the hearth; Kim-un-kamuy, god of bears and mountains; and Repun Kamuy, god of the sea, fishing, and marine animals. Kotan-kar-kamuy is regarded as the creator of the world in the Ainu religion.
The people who eventually formed the community we know as “Japanese” had come primarily from the mainland of northeast Asia, by way of Korea, and are of the same linguistic ancestry as the Koreans.
In the first centuries, AD, the Japanese lived mainly around the Inland Sea, a body of water almost completely enclosed by three of the four large islands. They were organized into many warring clans and had no writing system with which to express their language, which is derived from dialects originally spoken in what is now Manchuria, Mongolia, and Siberian Russia.
Japanese tradition tells of the creation of the islands by the sun goddess whose descendants founded the Yamato clan that eventually emerged as the Japanese imperial family.
“The legends of the Yamato clan became in time the basis of popular belief in the divine origin and superiority of the Japanese race. The Yamato brought with them from the continent a form of sun worship, and the fountainhead of their legends was a cosmogonic myth. The early mythology of the Japanese began with an account of two deities, Izanagi and Isanami, who descended from ‘the high plain of heaven’ and created the islands of Janan, with all their mountains, rivers, grasses, and trees, and of the Sun Goddess, Amaterasu Ōmikami, and a multitude of lesser deities. Amaterasu Ōmikami eventually sent grandson, Ninigi-no-mikoto, to rule over Japan, and his great-grandson, Jimmu Tenno, became the first Yamato ruler. The traditional regalia of the Yamato rulers were a mirror, a jewel, and a sword, probably representing the sun, the moon, and the lightening, and these were regarded as symbols of authority given by the Sun Goddess to Ninigi-no-mikoto. With the ascendency of the Yamato clan, this solar myth was accepted by the other clans and became the popular theory concerning the origin of the Japanese race, while the mirror, jewel, and sword became the emblems of imperial authority.”
“Sun worship has been practiced in Japan since ancient times. According to Japanese mythology, the sun goddess, Amaterasu Ōmikami, is the highest deity and a direct ancestor of the imperial family. A sun deity, amateur kami, is still worshiped in several Shintō shrines in the Kansai and Kyūshū regions. Traces of sun worship are also seen in festivals held on days of the solstice or equinox (HIGAN) and in the custom of welcoming the rising sun on the peak of a mountain. Especially on New Years Day.”
Actually, there is considerable evidence to suggest that the real origins of the imperial elite are to be found, not in Japan itself, but in Korea. Some authors, going beyond the more vague references to “continental influences” have argued succinctly that the original Japanese ruling family was founded by the early southern Korean kingdom of Paekche. Whatever the specific ties to Korea, it is certain that the evolution of Japan was fundamentally altered by its leadership’s decision to immerse itself in the culture of the continent in the 6th century.
The Japanese were greatly impressed by the tales told of the Tang and China’s power, wealth, prestige and culture. They quickly set about importing many aspects of Chinese civilization. Buddhism was at its height, and it was through that medium that a range of cultural, linguistic, and political elements of Chinese civilization entered Japan.
The Chinese language was adopted as the official writing system. Kyoto emerged as the new imperial capital in the late 8th century and became the home of a brilliant culture. Histories were produced to “prove” the divinity and supremacy of the Yamato imperial clan. The 7th century BC was selected as the time that the sun goddess was said to have given the blessing of creation to Japan, and established the reign of her descendants on the islands.
As time passed and the Imperial Tang China itself faded, the more direct links to China were severed. After the 10th century no more formal missions were sent to the Chinese court. By then, the Japanese aristocracy was ready to build their own syntheses from both earlier Japanese traditions, and the more recent borrowing from China.
The creation of a true central government was not possible because many clans. Particularly those in central and northern Japan, were strong and independent and were preoccupied with battling the Ainu people and each other.
Although the more martial, semi-independent clans outside the capital imitated the cultural achievements of imperial Kyoto, they were primarily interested in the military power. The Taira, one of the two most powerful military clans, defeated the other, the Minamoto, in 1160 and then temporarily seized control of Kyoto. Shortly afterward, the Taira were in turn defeated by the Minamoto, whose leader Yoritomo was appointed as the first shogun of Japan by the emperor. Thus, was founded the Kamaskuta shogunate, which remained in power for 150 years and an entirely new system of ruling.
The Shoguns
With the emergence of the Minamoto family and the Kamakura shogunate they founded, Japan moved into a new phase of its development, one that would last in various forms until the 19th century.
The Kamakura shogunate was soon faced with the external threat of the powerful empire established by the Mongol emperor Kublai Khan in China in the 13th century. Two attempted Mongol invasions were defeated by a combination of Japanese military resistance and timely, violent typhoons. Interestingly, the Japanese perception that they had been saved by the intervention of divine winds, that is, Kamikaze, was an inspiration under far different circumstances many centuries later as young Japanese suicide bombers attempted once again to save their country from invasion during the last days of World War II.
Japan, known then as Zipangu, disintegrated into a state of feudal warfare in the 16th century. Commercial interests continued, however, to promote trade and build roads. Warfare was gradually brought under control in the later part of the century by two persons—Oda Nobunaga and his brilliant general, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who succeeded Nobunaga as dictator when his overlord was killed by a dissident general. After two unsuccessful attempts to invade China, Hideyoshi was assassinated. Though things were about to enter into one of the most stable eras, the shogunate of the Tokugawa.
In 1603 Tokugawa Ieyasu, a feudal lord from the region where modern Tokyo is located, emerged triumphant. He established a new shogunate which lasted until the 19th century.
Japan’s principal religions are: Buddhism[ii]—especially widespread and split into many old and new sects, and Shintoism,[iii] the earliest religious tradition. “In the Muromachi (1333-1568) and Edo (1600-1868) periods, however, there was a revival of Shinto as the “Ancient Way,” and an attempt was made to pare away all foreign influences. This expurgated system became the state religion of Japan during the Meiji period (1868-1912), but in 1945 Shintō was disestablished and again became one among other forms of worship.”[iv]
[i] This Historical Overview was adapted from Hoare, James E., The World Today Series, 2022-2023, 54th ed., (Lanhan MD., The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc., 2022), pp. 103-107. And Japan: An Illustrated Encyclopedia. (Tokyo: Kodansha, 1993).
[ii] Buddhism, is the world’s fourth largest religion. It is both a religion and a philosophy developed from the teachings of the Shakyamuni Buddha (“Awakened One”), also known as Gautama Buddha, who lived from 566 to 485 BCE in central north India. Buddhism deals with topics like karma, past and future lives, the mechanism of rebirth, liberation from rebirth, and the attainment of enlightenment. It includes practices such as chanting, meditation and prayers. There’s no single holy book in Buddhism as each tradition has their own texts based on the original teachings of Buddha.
[iii] Shinto means ‘way of the gods’. Shinto’s key concepts include purity, harmony, family respect, and subordination of the individual before the group. The faith has no founder or prophets and there is no major text which outlines its principal beliefs. Shintō can be roughly classified into the following three major types: Shrine Shintō, Sect Shintō, and Folk Shintō. Shrine Shintō (Jinja Shintō), which has been in existence from the beginning of Japanese history to the present day. Shintō does not have any official scripture that can be compared to the Bible in Judaism and Christianity or to the Qurʾān in Islam. The Kojiki (“Records of Ancient Matters”) and the Nihon shoki (“Chronicles of Japan”) are regarded in a sense as sacred books of Shintō. They were written in 712 and 720 CE, respectively, and are compilations of the oral traditions of ancient Shintō.
[iv] JAPAN: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, Vol. 2, p. 1385.
[v] Animism, belief in innumerable spiritual beings concerned with human affairs and capable of helping or harming human interests.
[vi] Ainu History and Culture. ainu-museum.or.jp. Archived from the original on November 24, 2018. Retrieved January 19, 2024.
[vii] According to Shinto myth, Mt. Takachiho-no-Mine (1,574 m) is connected to the legend in Japanese folklore called the Tenson Korin—a telling of the descent of the Sun Goddess Amatererasu’, grandson, Ninigi no Mikoto, from the heavens to the Takachiho summit.
[viii] Religions in Japan from the distinguished survey prepared by General MacArthur’s Headquarters, (Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle Company, 1948). P. 3.
[ix] JAPAN: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, Vol. 2, p. 1482.
[x] Paekche, one of three kingdoms into which ancient Korea was divided before 660. Occupying the southwestern tip of the Korean peninsula, Paekche is traditionally said to have been founded in 18 BC in the Kwangju area by a legendary leader named Onjo. By the 3rd century AD, during the reign of King Koi (234–286), Paekche emerged as a fully developed kingdom. Archaeological, linguistic, and legendary sources support the view that the Korean peninsula was originally settled by Tungusic-speaking peoples, native to Siberia, China, and Mongolia.
[xi] The Tang dynasty, or the Tang Empire, was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an interregnum between 690 and 705. Historians generally regard the Tang as a high point in Chinese civilization, and a golden age of cosmopolitan culture.
[xii] Minamoto no Yoritomo (1147 – 1199), ruling from 1192 until 1199. He was the founder of the bakufu, a system whereby feudal lords ruled Japan for 700 years. Yoritomo is often charged with being shrewd, calculating, and even ruthless, particularly in the killing of his cousin and brothers. Yoritomo was ordained as a Buddhist monk in 1199 and left his home. He received the Buddhist name Bukōshōgendaizenmon. He died two days, at the age of 51. The cause of death is said to be the injury caused by the fall off a horse. Yoritomo’s wife’s family, the Hōjō, took control after his death at Kamakura, maintaining power over the shogunate until 1333, under the title of shikken (regent to the shōgun).
[xiii] Oda Nobunaga (1534 – 1582), a Japanese daimyō and one of the leading figures of the Sengoku period. He was the Tenka-bito (‘person under heaven’) and regarded as the first “Great Unifier” of Japan. Nobunaga killed his brother, ordered the slaughter of opponents, and visciously destroyed the temple complex of Mount Hiei, in which an estimated 25,000 men, women and children were killed and destroyed over 700 years of Buddhist culture,
[xiv] Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537 – 1598), otherwise known as Kinoshita Tōkichirō and Hashiba Hideyoshi, was a Japanese samurai and daimyō (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period and regarded as the second “Great Unifier” of Japan. Note: Ordinarily Japanese nouns are not inflected for singular and plural; context usually clarifies whether a noun is singular or plural. For example, daimyō can refer to one or to several.
Timetable of Christian History in Japan
1541 Christianity was introduced to Japan in 1549 when Portuguese Jesuit priests, led by Francis Xavier, began missionary work on the southern island of Kyushu, where Nagasaki is located. Local warlords granted the Jesuits freedom to preach and establish small churches in exchange for the profits to be gained from trade. Through the heroic labors of the missionaries, Christianity spread quickly through the whole country.
1563 Jesuit missionary Luis Frois, S.J. arrives in Japan; he later writes History of Japan (Historia do Japõo or Historia de Japan), which covers the years 1549-93 and though chiefly a history of Jesuit Activities, provides much information about contemporary Japan.
Omura Sumitada becomes the first daimyo to convert to Christianity.
1571 First Portuguese merchant ship arrives to trade at Nagasaki.
1578 Otomo Sorin is baptized under the name Francisco.
1579 Alessandro Valignano, visitor (supervisor) of the Jesuit missions in Asia, arrives in Japan.
1580 Daimyo Arima Harunobu becomes Christian and takes the name Protasio.
1582 Four Christian Japanese boys are sent to Rome at the urging of Alessandro Valignano for an audience with Pope Gregory XIII (Mission to Europe of 1582).
1587 Toyotomi Hideyoshi issues an edict expelling all Christian missionaries; it is not obeyed or enforced.
Hosokawa Tama, wife of Hosokawa Tadaoka is baptized Gracia.
1596 San Felipe Incident: Toyotomi Hideyoshi confiscates the Spanish Galleon San Felipe, inaugurating his persecution of Catholic missionaries.
1597 Paul Miki and companions – twenty-Six Japanese and foreign Christians crucified at Nagasaki by order on Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Canonized in 1862. Among these martyrs was St. Peter Baptist, the Patron Saint of Japan;, noted for his work with lepers. Superior of the missionaries in Japan. Wonder worker. Reportedly seen celebrating Mass long after his death.
1598 Toyotomi Hideyoshi dies.
1602 The Spanish Galleon Espiritu Santo, blown off course in a storm, arrives in Shimizu Harbor; Tokugawa Ieyasu, who seeks to trade with new Spain (Mexico) releases the crew.
1603 Tokugawa Ieyasu is granted the title of Shogun, founds Tokugawa Shogunate (1603-1667).
The Jesuit Mission Press commences publication of a Japanese-Portuguese dictionary.1603-39 188 religious priests and laity martyred for their faith during the years.
1604 Jesuit missionary Rodrigues begins publication of Arte da Ligoa de Japan, a comprehensive introduction in Portuguese to written and spoken Japanese.
1610 Tanaka Shosuke receives permission from Tokugawa Ieyasu to accompany Rodrigo Vivero Y Velesco on his return to New Spain.
1611 Sebastian Viscaino, envoy of the viceroy of New Spain, is granted an audience with the retired shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu and the shogun Tokugawa Hidetada.
1612 Shogunate issues directives aimed at restricting Christianity.
1613 Date Masamune, daimyô of Sendai, dispatches Hasekura Tsunenaga to Spain to petition Philip III (unsuccessfully) for the establishment of trade relations with New Spain.
During this year, a violent persecution raged in Arima and in the city of Edo, where 28 Christians were beheaded.
1614 Ban on Christianity extended nationwide. “Christian believers of the Edo period (1600-1868) who survived the anti-Christian edicts of the Tokugawa shogunate (1603-1867) and the period on National Seclusion, and whose descendents escaped detection during the succeeding waves of persecution were known as Kakure Kirishitans (Hidden or Clandestine Christians). In 1614 there were at most 300,000 baptized members of the Catholic Church. The expulsion of Catholic clergy that was decreed in 1614 and the general persecution of Christianity that followed were designed to eliminate the foreign faith from Japan. The response of some of the faithful to persecution was to declare their faith and embrace martyrdom, but most Christians concealed their belief and went underground. Some groups of Christians chose emigration of their entire communities to remote areas where it was relatively easier to remain hidden.”
1616 Tokugawa Ieyasu dies.
1617-1632 Persecution flared episodically and over a period of 15 years, between 1617 and 1632, 205 missionaries and native Christians are known to have been killed for their faith. Christianity was proscribed and forced underground until the arrival of Western missionaries in the nineteenth century. More than 400 martyrs of Japan have been recognized with beatification by the Catholic Church, and 42 have been canonized as saints.
1622 51 Christians executed in Nagasaki. One of the fiercest enemies of Christianity was Hasegawa Sahyȏe, the governor of Nagasaki. On January 27, 1614, Tokugawa Ieyasu issued a lengthy decree which marks the beginning of the most violent, cruel, and systematic persecutions. This decree represented Christianity as a danger to the national religions, the independence of the country and the moral order and threatened to exterminate it completely. All missionaries were ordered to leave the country and the Japanese Christians to return to the religion of their ancestors. Towards the end of February 1614, Ôkubo Tadachika entered Kyȏto with 300 armed men, tore down the churches, burnt the debris outside the city and threatened to deliver all Christians to death at the stake, unless they returned to the religion of their ancestors. This year was also the beginning of the “Great Martyrdom” of Nagasaki.
1623 Persecution intensifies. 50 Christians are burned alive in Edo and 24 more the same month. Spanish ships prohibited from calling at Japanese ports.
1624 Mass martyrdoms occurred in Edo, Kubota, Dewa, and Sendai.
1627 Matsukura Shigemasa began another violent and cruel persecution. Mary Christians were decapitated, burnt at the stake, and tortured and killed in the hot sulphureous springs of Mount Unzen.
1629 Fumie for testing belief in Christianity begins in Nagasaki. A fumi-e (踏み絵, fumi “stepping-on” + e “picture”) was a likeness of Jesus or Mary onto which the religious authorities of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan required suspected Christians (Kirishitan) to step, in order to demonstrate that they were not members of the outlawed religion; otherwise, they would be tortured or martyred.
1630 Lawrence (Lorenzo) Ruiz and companions were martyred in or near Nagasaki. Ruiz was the first Filipino saint, and 15 conpanions (nine Japanese, four Spaniards, one Italian, and one Frenchman).
1633-37 The official seclusion policy was enunciated in five directives issued by the shogunate’s senior councilors (rōjū) in Edo (now Tōkyō) to its two commissioners (bugyō) in Nagasaki between 1633 and 1639, The term Sakoku (literally. “closed Country) did not come into use until early in the 19th century, when it was coined by a Japanese scholar of western learning.
First Sakoku (National Seclusion) edict issued. “The 17-article directive covered the coming and going of Japanese overseas, the search for Christian converts and missionaries, and the regulation of foreign trade. All ships and Japanese subjects were forbidden to leave Japan for a foreign country without a license; all Japanese living abroad were to be put to death if they tried to return to Japan, except those who had resided abroad for less than five years and had been unavoidably detained. The Nagasaki commissioners were to investigate all those suspected of being Christians, and a reward was offered to any informer who revealed the location of a Bateren (foreign priest).”
The martyrdom continued on with a group of 16 missionaries and natives that belonged to the Philippine Province of the Dominican Order, called the Holy Rosary Province.
30 missionaries executed.
1634 Second Sakoku (National Seclusion) edict issued. The second and third edicts were similar to the first directive, but the 1635 edict was more specific in its prohibitions. The dispatching of ships abroad was absolutely forbidden. Moreover, if a Japanese was caught trying to leave or return to Japan, he was to be executed, and both the ship and its captain were to be detained pending charges.
1635 Third Sakoku (National Seclusion) edict issued.
1636 Fourth Sakoku (National Seclusion) edict issued. “The fourth edict contained 19 articles. The offspring of “southern barbarians” (Portuguese and Spanish) were not allowed to remain in Japan, upon the threat of execution. And Japanese who had adopted such offspring were to be handed over, together with the children, to the Portuguese for deportation. The reward for informing on a bateren was increased, and foreign trade regulations were explained in greater detail, with a few minor changes made to how and when raw silk could be sold.”
All foreign ships restricted to the port of Nagasaki; overseas travel by Japanese restricted; Japanese residents abroad prohibited from returning to Japan. Buildings on the artificial island of Dejima at Nagasaki completed; Portuguese merchants, who since 1571 had lived freely in the city are removed there.
1637 Shimabara (島原市, Shimabara-shi), a city located on the north-eastern tip of the Shimabara Peninsula, facing Ariake Bay in the east and Mount Unzen (including Fugendake) in the west, in Nagasaki Prefecture, Kyushu, Japan, was the location of a rebellion by Christians and peasants. Shimabara Uprising (1637-38). The uprising was motivated by hope for deliverance from chronic poverty, recurrent famine, extortionate taxation and religious persecution. The discontented peasants were joined by large numbers of masterless samurai (rōnin), former vassals of the daimyo Konishi Yukinaka, who had been defeated and executed by the Tokugawa in 1600. The rebellion was led by Amakusa Shirō (also known as Masuda Shirō Tokisada; (1622?-1638), a charismatic youth whose father had been a Konishi vassal. This final tragedy occurred under Tokugawa Iemitsu In order to put down the uprising, the shōgun dispatched an army of 30,000 warriors, but could not reduce the peasants’ stronghold of Harajō and suffered heavy casualties. Its general Itakura Shigemasa, was killed in battle. At last, a large army of about 100,000 men arrived and the fortress was finally taken. Among the insurgents were not only Christians by a good number of pagans. The latter had been promised forgiveness if they would come over, and many made use of this offer. The Christians, however, being threatened with death unless they apostatized, preferred to die rather than give up their faith. Thus, the insurrection, in the end, became a religious war. The castle was stormed on April 15. 1638. All the fighting men were killed in battle of after surrendering. The women and children were offered their lives if they would renounce Christianity. All of them preferred martyrdom rather than become traitors to their faith and were beheaded. The number of the victims of the Shimabara holocaust is estimated at 37,000 men, women and children. Not a single Christian was left alive in Arima, which until 1612 had been an entirely Christian country. Only 5 missionaries thought to have remained.
1639 The last of the Sakoku Edicts establishing National seclusion are completed. Portuguese merchants are evicted from Dejima. Portuguese ships are banned from Japan; all westerners except the Dutch are prohibited from entering Japan.
Kirishitan monogatari (Christian Tales) an anti-Christian work is published.
1640 “The shogunal Inquisition Office (Kirishitan Shūmon Aratame Yaku, established in 1640, aimed at total extermination of Christians. The practice of efumi (trampling on holy pictures, instituted in 1629 as a means of identifying believers, was well established by 1940. Small groups of priests secretly entered the country after 1636, but the were quickly detected and eliminated. Thus from 1637, in matters of faith and practice, Christian communities were wholly dependent on lay leadership. Because they were often forced to outwardly conform with Buddhist and Shinto practice by the Tokugawa shogunate, hidden Christians developed a double religious life in which they secretly preserved their Christian belief and practice. When Japan was opened to international communication in the mid-19th century, more than 30,000 believers in the old faith (mukahsi Kirishitan) came forward from various remote areas. In the absence of any priests or printed texts, the entire body of doctrine and liturgy was passed on by word of mouth.”
The shogunate arrested 74 people who sailed from Macao to reopen relations with Japan. 61 were executed, but the remaining 13 Chinese were allowed to return to Macao.
1641 In what is sometimes referred to as the sixth Sakoku edict the shogunate ordered the Dutch factory shifted from Hirado to the man-made island of Dejima in Nagasaki harbor.
1650s By the mid-17th century the last priests had been captured, some 3,000 Japanese martyred, the majority of the religion’s adherents driven into apostasy and Christianity in Japan reduced to a few underground groups of believers. Kakure Kirishitans (Hidden or Clandestine Christians).
1665 Daimyo were ordered to follow the shogunate’s example and to appoint inquisitors charged with a yearly scrutiny of Christians, the 1708 Jesuit missionary Giovanni Battista Sidotti is arrested, transported to Edo, and interrogated by Arai Kakuseki.
1790 First persecution in Urakami. No one killed.
1808 The Phaeton Incident, in which a British warship sailed into Nagasaki Harbor in defiance of Shogunate orders, demonstrated that after nearly 200 years of unsuccessful attempts by foreign interests to alter the seclusion policy, regulations had become quite lax.
1825 Shogunate issues the Gaikokusen Uchiharai Rei (Order for the Repelling of Foreign Ships).
1837 Oldest existing Japanese version of any portion of the Bible is published in Singapore.
1841 Fisherman Nakahama Manjiro shipwrecked on a Pacific island, is rescued by an American whaler and taken to the United States.
1842 Gaikokusen Uchiharai Rei (Order for the Repellin of Foreign Ships) is revoked.
1849 Second persecution in Urakami.
1853 Four warships of the US East India Squadron, commanded by Commodore Matthew Perry, called at Uraga at the mouth of Edo Bay.
Russian Vice Admiral Evfimii Vasil’evich Putiatin calls at Nagasaki with the flagship Pallada and four other warships.
1854 Fleet of Nine vessels, led by Commodore Matthew Perry anchors in Edo Bay.
National seclusion was formally brought to an end by the Kanagawa Treaty signed with US and Great Britain.
1855 Treaty signed with Russia.
French Catholic Priest Mermet de Cachon arrives in Japan.
1856 Treaty signed with Netherlands.
1858 Japan’s National Seclusion policy was formally brought to an end with the signing of the five Ansei Commercial treaties:
The Treaty of Amity and Commerce between the United States and Japan (Harris Treaty) on July 29, 1858.
The Treaty of Amity and Commerce between the Netherlands and Japan on August 18, 1858.
The Treaty of Amity and Commerce between Russia and Japan on August 19, 1858.
The Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Amity and Commerce on August 26, 1858.
The Treaty of Amity and Commerce between the United States and Japan (Harris Treaty) on July 29, 1858.
1859 More than ten Christians died under torture in Urakami (3rd persecution).
A Catholic priest took up an appointment as interpreter for the French consulate in Edo.
Representatives of three Protestant churches reached Japan.
Seven American Protestant Missionaries arrive.
1860 The first American Baptist missionary, Jonathan Goble, arrives in Japan.
1862 Paul Miki and companions canonized.
1864 Niijima Jo founder of Doshisha secretly departs for the US.
1865 A group of Kakure Kirishtans at Nagasaki publicly identified themselves as Christians.
1867 64 Christians were arrested in Urakami, and in nearby Omura 110 were jailed under such harsh conditions that 60 died of exposure.
1868 Meiji Period Begins. During the Meiji period, which lasted from 1868 to 1912, Japan underwent a series of political and social reforms that aimed to modernize the country and bring it in line with Western powers. One of these reforms was the establishment of religious freedom and the separation of Shintoism and Buddhism from the state. However, Christianity was still viewed with suspicion by some Japanese officials, who saw it as a foreign religion that could undermine traditional Japanese values.
1870 2,810 adherents of Christianity from Urakami were shipped to other provinces.
1871 Leroy L Janes mentor of the Kumamoto band arrives to teach at Kumamoto Yogakko.
1872 Ioann Kasatkin better known as Father Nikolai, established a branch of the Russian Orthodox church in Tokyo.
John Cutting Berry the first American medical missionary arrives.
1873 Meiji government withdrew religious sanctions, although freedom of religion was not specifically granted.
1874 Aoyama Gakuin (now Aoyama Gakuin University) and St. Paul’s School (Now Rikkyo University) in Tokyo.
1875 Doshisha English School (Now Doshisha University) was founded in Kyoto.
1876 The “Kumamoto Band” formed at Kumamoto Yogakko.
1877 Ainu missionary John Batchelor arrives in Japan; in 1889, he publishes an Ainu English dictionary.
Otis Cary (Congregational Missionary) arrives in Japan.
1879 Samuel Eugene Booth, principal of the Ferris Seminary (1882 – 1922) Arrives in Japan.
1880 Japan YMCA founded by Kozaki Hiromichi.
First Entire Protestant New Testament of Bible in Japanese complete.
1887 Lawrence (Lorenzo) Ruiz and companions canonized.
1888 Protestant translation of Old Testament complete.
1889 Constitution of the Empire of Japan promulgated. (guaranteed only qualified religious freedom “within limits not prejudicial to peace and not antagonistic to duties as citizens.”) 1893 Kanzo Uchimura publishes “Kirisuto Shinto no nagusame” (Consolations of a Christian).
1894 Kanzo Uchimura publishes “Japan and the Japanese”.
1895 Kanzo Uchimura publishes “How I became a Christian”.
1899 Nitobe Inazo publishes Bushido: The Soul of Japan in Philedelphia.
1901 Holy Orthodox translation of New Testament complete.
1904 Uemura Masahisa founds one of the schools that will eventually become Tokyo Union Theological Seminary.
1908 An estimated 960 protestant missionaries in Japan.
Takashi Nagai “The man who loved others” born in Nagasaki Japan. Dr. Nagai would become one of the Heroes after the bombing of Nagasaki. Baptized 1934. †
1910 First Catholic full translation of the New Testament complete.
1912 A Christian Suzuki Bunji founded the Yuikai or Friendship Foundation; this later developed into the Nihon Rodo Sodomei or Japan Federation of Labor.
Doshisha becomes a university.
1913 Sophia University (Jochi Diagaku) was founded in Tokyo.
1915 The Sacred Heart College, founded. 1916 Nanzan University was founded in Nagoya.
1917 Revised version of Protestant translation of New Testament complete.
1922 Margaret Sanger made the first of a number of visits to Japan to lecture on Birth Control.
The Nihon Nomin Kumiai (Japan Farmers Union) was founded by two Christian Socialists.
1928 First full translation of the New Testament solely translated by a Japanese Scholar published.
1932 Kirishitan Bunko (Japanese Christian History) Library established by Johannes Laures, S.J.
1941 Government pressure led to the formation of the Nihon Kirisuto Kyodan, or United Church of Christ in Japan, a union of some 30 Protestant churches.
Dr. and Mrs. Roy Byram and another missionary arrested in Oct. Charged with propagating a religion opposed to State Shintoism.
1942 Pentacostal Pastors arrested and charged for teaching the sovereignty of Christ upon his return.
1945 During World War II, many churches, convents, and schools were destroyed. The war came to an abrupt end after atomic bombs were exploded on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, and on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945; destruction was almost total.
The Nagasaki bomb, dubbed “Fat Man”, fueled with plutonium from Hanford, was dropped through an opening in the clouds onto the Urakami Catholic district, and the Urakami Cathedral was destroyed. Urakami district, where Catholicism was secretly practiced in defiance of the Tokugawa shogunate’s ban. Of the 12,000 Catholics in the Urakami district, 8,500 were killed. In 1959, construction of a new Urakami Cathedral was completed. Nagasaki is now the site of the Urakami Catholic Church, Peace Park, International Cultural Hall, and Nagasaki University.
1947 Japan’s postwar Constitution guarantees freedom of religion.1953 International Christian University (Kokusai Kirisutokyo Daigaku) was founded in Tokyo.
1955 New Protestant colloquial translation of the Bible Complete.
1964 New Catholic colloquial translation of the Bible Complete.
1966 Endo Shusaku publishes the novel Chinmoku (Silence), a depiction of the persecution of Christians in late 17th century Japan.
1981 Pope John Paul II visits Japan.
1987 A joint Catholic – Protestant translation (including Deuteroconicals) conceived in 1966 was published by the Japan Bible Society.
1990 Christian numbered some 1,075,000 or less than 1 percent of the population. There were 436,000 Catholics with some 800 parishes in 16 dioceses, while Protestants numbered 639,000 with nearly 7,000 churches.
2009 Japan’s Catholic Prime Minister, Taro Aso, met with Pope Benedict XVI in a private audience at the Vatican on July 7. He is the third Catholic /Prime Minister; others were Hara Takashi (1918-1921) and Hosokowa Morihiro (1993-1994). In March, Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, the Vatican secretary for relations with states, met his counterpart in Tokyo, marking the first time a Vatican foreign minister had visited the country since diplomatic relations were established in 1942. The earthquake that struck in early 2011 caused immense damage; Catholic resources were used to help the victims.
2014 Prime Minister Abe Shinzō meets with Pope Francis and asks that he visit Japan to mark 150 years since the discovery of the “hidden Christians.”
2015 Three archdioceses; 13 dioceses; 6 archbishops; 18 bishops; 885 parishes; 1496 priests (520 diocesan, 976 religious); 27 permanent deacons; 132 seminarians; 194 brothers; 5,620 sisters; 1,701 catechists; 6302 baptisms; 543,000 Catholics (.4%). Total population 127,912,000.
2017 Statistics from the Agency for Cultural Affairs report that there were 1.9 million Christians in Japan as of December 31, 2017, amounting to 1.5% of the Japanese population, which is 126 million.
2018 The Hidden Christian Sites in the Nagasaki Region (Nagasaki and Kumamoto) are registered as a UNESCO World Heritage site. The locations include Ōura Church in Nagasaki; the remains of Hara Castle, where Christian farmers were besieged during the Shimabara Rebellion of 1637–38; and Sakitsu in Amakusa, a fishing village that was once a center for the faith. The UNESCO advisory body the International Council on Monuments and Sites commented that the sites bear testimony to the unique cultural tradition nurtured by Hidden Christians in the Nagasaki region who secretly practiced their faith despite a ban on Christianity.2019 Pope Francis visits Japan.
2021 Three archdioceses; 15 dioceses; 6 archbishops; 34 bishops; 858 parishes; 1,284 priests (497 diocesan, 787 religious); 28 permanent deacons; 132 seminarians; 898 brothers; 4.565 sisters; 1,701 catechists; 6,302 baptisms; 531,643 Catholics (0.42% of total population). Total population 126,343,788.
† Takashi Nagai (永井 隆, Nagai Takashi, 3 February 1908 – 1 May 1951) 72 years ago, Servant of God Paul Takashi Nagai, Scientist, Professor, Convert, and Poet, left this world. His cause of death was leukemia which resulted from his work as a scientist. The atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki hurried his illness along. Before his death he wrote a memoir entitled “Leaving My Beloved Children Behind”.
He wrote that 8,000 of the 10,000 Catholics who lived in Japan resided and perished in Nagasaki. “There were two girls’ middle schools – called ‘Junshin’ and Josei’ – in this district Both were run by the convent, and their principals and teachers were almost all nuns. The students… perished singing hymns as they succumbed to the flames and turned into ash.
“The end was the same at Josei too. There twenty-seven teachers who were nuns were called to heaven. That night, I had sent my assistant, Mr. Osasa, to take care of some patients. And he reported that he could hear, off and on, some Latin hymns being sung in unison in the middle of the night at a point on the bank of the river about two hundred yards east of the school. The next morning, the nuns were found dead en masse. Was it they who had been singing the hymns the night before? Or was it a group of angels who had been sent down to carry their souls to heaven who were singing? I could not help thinking this way because the faces of the nuns in death all looked so pure and peaceful.”
† Takashi Nagai (永井 隆, Nagai Takashi, 3 February 1908 – 1 May 1951) 72 years ago, Servant of God Paul Takashi Nagai, Scientist, Professor, Convert, and Poet, left this world. His cause of death was leukemia which resulted from his work as a scientist. The atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki hurried his illness along. Before his death he wrote a memoir entitled “Leaving My Beloved Children Behind”.
He wrote that 8,000 of the 10,000 Catholics who lived in Japan resided and perished in Nagasaki. “There were two girls’ middle schools – called ‘Junshin’ and Josei’ – in this district Both were run by the convent, and their principals and teachers were almost all nuns. The students… perished singing hymns as they succumbed to the flames and turned into ash. “The end was the same at Josei too. There twenty-seven teachers who were nuns were called to heaven. That night, I had sent my assistant, Mr. Osasa, to take care of some patients. And he reported that he could hear, off and on, some Latin hymns being sung in unison in the middle of the night at a point on the bank of the river about two hundred yards east of the school. The next morning, the nuns were found dead en masse. Was it they who had been singing the hymns the night before? Or was it a group of angels who had been sent down to carry their souls to heaven who were singing? I could not help thinking this way because the faces of the nuns in death all looked so pure and peaceful.”