Christianity in Japan

Christianity in Japan is among the nation's minority religions. Fewer than one percent[1][2][3] of the population claims Christian belief or affiliation. Nearly all known traditional denominations of Christianity, including Roman Catholicism, Protestantism and Orthodox Christianity, are represented in Japan today.

Etymology

The root of the Japanese word for Christianity (キリスト教 Kirisuto-kyō) comes from the Japanese katakana transcription of the word Cristo (キリスト kirisuto), Portuguese and Spanish word for Christ, and the Sino-Japanese word for doctrine (教 kyō, a teaching or precept, from Middle Chinese kæ̀w 教).[4]

Christian culture

Ōura Church, Nagasaki

Japan remains one of the most secular nations in the world according to the World Values Survey. While there may be up to 3 million Japanese Christians,[5] Christianity in Japan is spread among many denominational affiliations. 70 percent of Japanese churches have an average attendance of less than 30, though membership is often double this figure.[6]

Demographically, the number of actively practicing Christians in Japan once reached about 25 percent of the population, concentrated in a few clans. However, the contributions of individual Christians, both foreign-born and Japanese, working in varied fields such as education (e.g. Tadao Yanaihara), medicine and social advocacy, have been significant in the development of the modern nation state.

Christian holidays

For more details on how these holidays are celebrated in Japan, see Christmas worldwide, "Japan" section, and Valentine's Day, "Asia" section.

The celebration of selected Christian holidays has gained popularity in Japan since the Second World War – primarily as commercial events, but with also an emphasis on sharing time with loved ones, either significant others or close family.

Except in Japan's minority Christian communities, Easter is not typically marked by any special form of celebration.

Christmas in Japan is celebrated on a much larger scale as a commercial and secular festival, but again is not an official public holiday. Christmas lights,[7] Santa Claus, parties, gift exchanges, and eating Western-inspired Christmas foods, especially Kentucky Fried Chicken and strawberry shortcake, are all familiar features of this event. Rather than being a family or religious occasion, Christmas is seen as a time to spend with friends or a significant other. Christmas Eve is celebrated as a couple's holiday on which romantic gifts are exchanged.

Valentine's Day in Japan is also celebrated, but the normal Western cultural traditions are often reversed – women give men a gift of chocolate, and on White Day, one month later, the favor is returned. Gifts are not exclusive to romantic relationships; women exchange gifts most frequently between one another and will occasionally give male co-workers chocolate, although this later exchange is often referred to as an obligation gift. It is not as common for couples to go out on dates together; that element seems to be reflected in Christmas Eve instead.

Christian expression

For more details on this topic, see Marriage in Japan.

Christian-style weddings have become prominent as an alternative (or addition) to traditional Shinto ceremonies. Architecturally resembling churches, wedding chapels have sprung up across Japan, with employees dressed as priests officiating.[8]

Black gospel music has had an enthusiastic reception in Japan. Stylistic elements from this genre are employed in many J-pop songs.[9]

Major denominations

Roman Catholic Church in Japan

Map of Roman Catholic Archdiocese in Tokyo

Catholicism in Japan exists in communion with the worldwide Roman Catholic Church under the authority of the Pope in Rome. Presently there are about 509,000 Catholics in 16 dioceses in Japan. The patron saints of Japan are Francis Xavier and Peter Baptist.[10]

Arriving in Japan in the middle of the 16th century, Catholicism was the very first contact of Christianity in Japan, and the only major source of Christianization in Japan until the fall of the shogunate and the Meiji restoration. Christianity was proclaimed initially by the Society of Jesus, joined later on by the less cautious Franciscan order. In 1570 there were 20 Catholic missionaries in Japan.[11] Nagasaki became the center of Japanese Catholicism, and maintained close cultural and religious ties to its Portuguese origins. These ties were severed once Christianity was outlawed; at this point, Catholicism went underground, its rites preserved by the Kakure Kirishitan, or "hidden Christians", who continued practicing their faith in secret private devotion.

A multitude of Japanese Catholics were brutally tortured and killed for their faith, thus becoming martyrs. Many of these martyrs have been canonized, and their liturgical memorial is celebrated by each year on February 6 in honor of their fidelity to Christ and his Church unto death.

In 1981, Pope John Paul II paid a visit to Japan, during which he met with Japanese people, the clergy, and Catholic lay people, held Holy Mass in the Korakuen Stadium (Tokyo), and visited the Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, the Hill of Martyrs in Nagasaki, town of the Immaculate founded by St. Maximilian Kolbe in Nagasaki, and other places.[12]

Protestants in Japan

Dr. James Curtis Hepburn, M.D., LL.D. (March 13, 1815 – June 11, 1911) was the first Presbyterian missionary to Japan, arriving in 1859, the same year as the first ordained representatives of the Anglican Communion, the Rev., later Bishop, Channing Moore Williams, founder of Rikkyo University, Tokyo, and the Rev. John Liggins of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America.[13]

Hepburn went to Japan initially as a medical missionary with the American Presbyterian Mission[13] opening a clinic in Kanagawa Prefecture, near present-day Tokyo. He later founded the Hepburn School, which developed into Meiji Gakuin University, and wrote a Japanese–English dictionary. In the dictionary's third edition,[14] published in 1886, Hepburn adopted a new system for romanization of the Japanese language (Rōmajikai). This system is widely known as Hepburn romanization because Hepburn's dictionary popularized it. Hepburn also contributed to the Protestant translation of the Bible into Japanese. Hepburn returned to the United States in 1892. On March 14, 1905, Hepburn's 90th birthday, he was awarded the decoration of the Order of the Rising Sun, third class. Hepburn was the second foreigner to receive this honor.[15]

A Christian on a streetcorner in Ikebukuro with a loudspeaker and a poster warning of the nearness of Judgment Day.

Divie Bethune McCartee was the first ordained Presbyterian minister missionary to visit Japan, in 1861–1862. His gospel tract translated into Japanese was among the first Protestant literature in Japan. In 1865 McCartee moved back to Ningbo, China, but others have followed in his footsteps. There was a burst of growth of Christianity in the late 19th century when Japan re-opened its doors to the West. Protestant church growth slowed dramatically in the early 20th century under the influence of the military government during the Shōwa period.

The post-World War II years have seen increasing activity by evangelicals, initially with American influence, and some growth occurred between 1945 and 1960. The Japanese Bible Society was established in 1937 with the help of National Bible Society of Scotland (NBSS, now called the Scottish Bible Society), the American Bible Society, the British and Foreign Bible Society.[16]

Eastern Orthodox Christianity in Japan

The Holy Resurrection Cathedral

It is estimated that the Japanese Orthodox Church has some 30,000 adherents today.[17] The current primate of Japan is Daniel Nushiro, Metropolitan of all Japan and Archbishop of Tokyo, who was elevated to the primacy in 2000.[18] The primate's seat is the Holy Resurrection Cathedral in Chiyoda, Tokyo. Originally founded in 1891, the cathedral has been known as Nikolai-do in honor of its founder Nicholas Kasatkin, now venerated as St. Nicholas of Japan. The cathedral serves as the seat of the national primate of Japan and continues to be the main center of Orthodox worship in Japan.

Eastern Orthodoxy was brought to Japan in the 19th century by St. Nicholas (baptized as Ivan Dmitrievich Kasatkin),[19] who was sent in 1861 by the Russian Orthodox Church to Hakodate, Hokkaidō as priest to a chapel of the Russian Consulate.[20] St. Nicholas of Japan made his own translation of the New Testament and some other religious books (Lent Triodion, Pentecostarion, Feast Services, Book of Psalms, Irmologion) into Japanese.[21] Nicholas has since been glorified by the Patriarch of Moscow in 1970, and is now recognized as St. Nicholas, Equal-to-the-Apostles to Japan. His commemoration day is February 16. Andronic Nikolsky, appointed the first Bishop of Kyoto and later martyred as the archbishop of Perm during the Russian Revolution, was also canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church as a Saint and Martyr in the year 2000.

Jehovah's Witnesses in Japan

In 2013 the number of Jehovah's Witnesses was 216,472 active publishers, united in 3,056 congregations; 310,215 people attended annual celebration of Lord's Evening Meal in 2013.[22] Before 1945 they were banned in Japan. Many Jehovah's Witnesses were jailed; one of them, Katsuo Miura, was in the Hiroshima prison during the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.[23]

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

The Fukuoka Japan Temple of the LDS Church

As of year-end 2009, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) reported 123,245 members, 29 stakes, 14 districts, 163 wards, 125 branches, 7 mission, and 2 temples (with a 3rd under Construction) in Japan.[24] The LDS Church was established in Japan in 1901[24] when the first LDS Church missionaries arrived on August 12, 1901. Among them was Heber J. Grant, at the time a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, the 7th President of the Church.[25] The first baptism was on March 8, 1902 when Grant baptized Hajime Nakazawa, a former Kannushi (Shinto priest).

As of March 15, 2011 there were over 630 LDS missionaries serving in the church's six missions in Japan.[26]

History

Missions to Japan

The first known appearance of organized Christianity in Japan was the arrival of the Portuguese Catholics in 1549. Francis Xavier arrived in Japan with three Japanese Catholic converts intending to start a church in the Nagasaki area. The local Japanese people initially assumed that the foreigners were from India and that Christianity was a new "Indian faith". These mistaken impressions were due to already existing ties between the Portuguese and India; the Indian city of Goa was a central base for Portuguese India at the time, and a significant portion of the crew on board their ships were Indian Christians.[27] Later on, the Roman Catholic missionary activities were exclusively performed by Portuguese-sponsored Jesuits and Spanish-sponsored mendicant orders, such as the Franciscans and Dominicans. Francisco Xavier (a Catholic Saint),[28] Cosme de Torres (a Jesuit priest), and John Fernandez were the first who arrived in Kagoshima with hopes to bring Christianity to Japan. Xavier and the Jesuit order was held in good esteem and his efforts seemed to have been rewarded with a thriving community of converts.[29] At baptism, these converts were given Portuguese "Christian names" and encouraged to adopt Western culture. This practice contributed to suspicions that the converts were in reality foreign agents working to subvert social order.[note 1][29] Under Oda Nobunaga, the Jesuits enjoyed the favor of the shogunate, but the situation began to change once Toyotomi Hideyoshi's suspicions were aroused against Christianity.

Persecution under the Shogunate

Under Hideyoshi and then under the succeeding Tokugawa shogunate, Catholic Christianity was repressed and adherents were persecuted. During these times, many Christians were killed in Japan, some by crucifixion; most famously, the twenty-six martyrs of Japan were tortured and crucified on crosses outside Nagasaki to discourage Christianity in 1597. Following a brief respite that occurred as Tokugawa Ieyasu rose to power and pursued trade with the Portuguese powers, there were further persecutions and martyrdoms in 1613, 1630, and 1632. By this point, after the Shimabara Rebellion, the remaining Christians had been forced to publicly renounce their faith. Many continued practicing Christianity in secret, in modern times becoming known as the "hidden Christians" (隠れキリシタン kakure kirishitan). These secret believers would often conceal Christian iconography within closed shrines, lanterns or inconspicuous parts of buildings. For example, Himeji Castle has a Christian cross on one of its 17th-century roof tiles, in place of a mon, indicating that one of its occupants was a secret Christian.[30] Drawn from the oral histories of Japanese Catholic communities, Shusaku Endo's acclaimed historical novel "Silence" provides detailed fictionalised accounts of the persecution of Christian communities and the suppression of the Church.

Opening of Japan

After Japan was opened to greater foreign interaction in 1853, many Christian clergymen were sent from Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox churches, though proselytism was still banned. After the Meiji Restoration, freedom of religion was introduced in 1871, giving all Christian communities the right to legal existence and preaching. Since World War II the number of Japanese Christians has been slowly increasing.[31]

Notable Japanese Christians

During the time of the first Catholic missions from the 17th century, several high-ranked people converted, including Dom Justo Takayama and Hosokawa Gracia. Among the original twenty-six martyrs of Japan, Paulo Miki is the best known. Catholics venerate him as one of the patron saints of Japan.

Christianity in the Meiji-period saw several major educators and Christian converts as follows:

In the 20th century, two major contributors to Protestant Christian theology emerged in Japan: Kosuke Koyama (小山晃佑 Koyama Kōsuke), who has been described as a leading contributor to global Christianity, and Kazoh Kitamori (北森嘉蔵 Kitamori Kazō), who wrote The Theology of the Pain of God (神の痛みの神学 kami no itami no shingaku). Social rights activist and author Toyohiko Kagawa ((賀川豊彦 Kagawa Toyohiko), who was nominated for both the Nobel Peace Prize and the Nobel Prize in Literature, has also become known outside Japan, due to his evangelical work mainly in Japan, social work, and labor activism.

Mitsuo Fuchida (淵田美津雄 Fuchida Mitsuo) (3 December 1902 – 30 May 1976) was a Captain[32] in the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service and a bomber pilot in the Imperial Japanese Navy before and during World War II. After World War II ended, Fuchida became a Christian and an evangelistic preacher.[33] In 1952, Fuchida toured the United States as a member of the Worldwide Christian Missionary Army of Sky Pilots. Fuchida spent the rest of his life telling others what God had done for him around the world. In February 1954, Reader's Digest published Fuchida's story of the attack on Pearl Harbor.[34] He also wrote and co-wrote books including, From Pearl Harbor to Golgotha (aka From Pearl Harbor to Calvary). His story is told in God's Samurai: Lead Pilot at Pearl Harbor (The Warriors)[35] and in Wounded Tiger.[36]

Toshiro Mifune (三船 敏郎 Mifune Toshirō?, April 1, 1920 – December 24, 1997) was a Japanese film actor known for playing the lead role in several films by Akira Kurosawa such as the Seven Samurai, Rashomon, and Yojimbo (film). He was a Methodist Christian.[37][38] His father was a Christian Missionary[39][40]

Chiune Sugihara (杉原 千畝 Sugihara Chiune, 1 January 1900 – 31 July 1986) was a Japanese diplomat who served as Vice Consul for the Japanese Empire in Lithuania. In 1935 he converted to Orthodox Christianity[41][42] while serving in China as a diplomat. During World War II, he helped several thousand Jews leave the country by issuing transit visas to Jewish refugees so that they could travel to Japan. Most of the Jews who escaped were refugees from German-occupied Poland or residents of Lithuania. Sugihara wrote travel visas that facilitated the escape of more than 6,000 Jewish refugees to Japanese territory,[43][44] risking his career and his family's life. In 1985, Israel honored him as Righteous Among the Nations for his actions.[43][44]

The 20th century also saw two Christian novelists of renown: Ayako Miura (三浦綾子 Miura Ayako, 1922–1999) was a Protestant writer known for her works, one of the most influential being Shiokari Pass (塩狩峠 shiokari tōge, 1968). Shusaku Endo (遠藤周作 Endō Shusaku) was a Catholic novelist renowned for his works focusing on Christianity in Japan, including Silence (沈黙 chinmoku).

Kenji Goto (後藤 健二 Goto Kenji, 1967 – 31 January 2015) was a Japanese freelance journalist renowned for his firsthand coverage from war-torn countries. Goto had always stressed that he was not a war correspondent. He had insisted he was instead devoted to telling the story of ordinary people, especially children, one step removed from the war zone.[45] He attempted to rescue a Japanese hostage, Haruna Yukawa and was kidnapped by Islamic State (ISIL) militants in Syria in October 2014. On 31 January 2015, ISIL released a video that purportedly showed Goto being beheaded.[46]

Christian Prime Ministers

While Christians represent fewer than one percent[1][2][3] of the population, there have been eight Christian Prime Ministers in Japan.

Roman Catholic

Protestant

Notes

  1. ↑ In the source, this claim is made of all of Xavier's converts in general across Asia, including Japanese converts as well

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Mariko Kato (February 24, 2009). "Christianity's long history in the margins". The Japan Times. The Christian community itself counts only those who have been baptized and are currently regular churchgoers — some 1 million people, or less than 1 percent of the population, according to Nobuhisa Yamakita, moderator of the United Church of Christ in Japan
  2. 1 2 "Christians use English to reach Japanese youth". Mission Network News. 3 September 2007. The population of Japan is less than one-percent Christian
  3. 1 2 Heide Fehrenbach, Uta G. Poiger (2000). Transactions, transgressions, transformations: American culture in Western Europe and Japan. Berghahn Books. p. 62. ISBN 1-57181-108-7. ... followers of the Christian faith constitute only about a half percent of the Japanese population
  4. ↑ Kodansha's furigana Japanese Dictionary. Japan: Kodansha Inc. 1999.
  5. ↑ US State Department 2007 Religious Freedom Report. State.gov (2007-09-14). Retrieved on 2011-06-15.
  6. ↑ OMF International – Japan, the Land of Contrasts. Omf.org. Retrieved on 2011-06-15.
  7. ↑ Shizuko Mishima, About.com guide. Christmas in Japan, Japan travel section of About.com. Retrieved 2010-01-27.
  8. ↑ Interfax (January 31, 2007), Christianity is popular in Japan today
  9. ↑ Ron Rucker, GospelCity.com Gospel Music Explosion – in JAPAN??!!. Retrieved January 27, 2010.
  10. ↑ GCatholic.org – Catholic Church in Japan. GCatholic.org. Retrieved on 2011-06-15.
  11. ↑ New England Journal of Medicine (1970). "James Curtis Hepburn, M.D., 1815–1911 (Hepburn of Japan)". Retrieved 2010-09-24.
  12. ↑ Apostolic Journey to Pakistan, Philippines I, Guam (United States of America II), Japan, Anchorage (United States of America II) (February 16–27, 1981), Vatican Official Site
  13. 1 2 James Curtis Hepburn: H: By Person: Stories: Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Christianity. Bdcconline.net (1906-03-04). Retrieved on 2011-06-15.
  14. ↑ Hepburn, James Curtis (1886). A Japanese–English and English–Japanese Dictionary (3rd ed.). Tokyo: Z. P. Maruya. Retrieved 2009-07-25.
  15. ↑ "Japanese Order for Missionary" (PDF). New York Times. March 15, 1905. p. 13. Retrieved 2009-07-25.
  16. ↑ JBS Brief History. Bible.or.jp. Retrieved on 2011-06-15.
  17. ↑ Православный храм откроется в еще одном городе Японии (in Russian). Interfax Russia. 2009-12-07.
  18. ↑ "東京の大主教、全日本の府主教ダニイル "Daniel, Archbishop of Tokyo and Metropolitan of all Japan"" (in Japanese). The Orthodox Church in Japan. 2007-02-01. Retrieved 2007-08-25.
  19. ↑ Equal-to-the-Apostles St. Nicholas of Japan, Russian Orthodox Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist web-site, Washington D.C.
  20. ↑ "日本の正教会の歴史と現代 "History of Japanese Orthodox Charch and Now"" (in Japanese). The Orthodox Church in Japan. 2007-02-01. Retrieved 2007-08-25.
  21. ↑ Orthodox translation of Gospel into Japanese, Pravostok Orthodox Portal, October 2006
  22. ↑ 2014 Yearbook of Jehovah's Witnesses. pp. 184-185.
  23. ↑ Tomiji Hironaka. “I Was Determined to Die for the Emperor”. — Awake! 1992, Feb. 8.
  24. 1 2 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. "Country information: Japan". The Church News (Salt Lake City, Utah: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). Retrieved April 6, 2012.
  25. ↑ Heber J. Grant (2002). "The Life and Ministry of Heber J. Grant". Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Heber J. Grant. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. LDS Church publication number 35970
  26. ↑ Taylor, Scott. "LDS Church in Japan: Moving missionaries, making donations". Deseret News (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret News Publishing Company). Retrieved April 6, 2012.
  27. ↑ Leupp, Gary P. (2003). Interracial Intimacy in Japan. Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 35. ISBN 0-8264-6074-7.
  28. ↑  Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "St. Francis Xavier". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  29. 1 2 Gonzáles, Justo L. (Jan 2004) The Story of Christianity, 3rd edition. Prince Press/Hendrickson Publishers. Volume 1, pages 405–406
  30. ↑ Guide to World Heritage Site Himeiji Castle. Ryuusenkaku.jp. Retrieved on 2011-06-15.
  31. ↑ Japan Guide on Christianity in Japan. Japan-guide.com (2002-06-10). Retrieved on 2011-06-15.
  32. ↑ Capt. Mitsuo Fuchida (1902–1976) at. Nationalgeographic.com (1941-12-07). Retrieved on 2011-06-15.
  33. ↑ Wright, Mike. What They Didn't Teach You About World War II. Presidio Press, 1998. ISBN 0-89141-649-8
  34. ↑ Fuchida, Capt. Mitsuo. "I Led the Attack on Pearl Harbor". Reader's Digest February 1954; Vol. 64, No. 382.
  35. ↑ Goldstein, Dillon and Prange 2003
  36. ↑ Bennett, T Martin 2014
  37. ↑ "95 years ago today: Actor Toshiro Mifune born". Akira Kurosawa info. Retrieved 2015-11-06.
  38. ↑ "Toshiro Mifune presented in Arts section". www.newsfinder.org. Retrieved 2015-11-06.
  39. ↑ "Metropolis - Big in Japan: Toshiro Mifune". archive.metropolis.co.jp. Retrieved 2015-11-06.
  40. ↑ "Toshiro Mifune: The Man Who Brought the Samurai to Life in Martial Arts Movies – - Black Belt". www.blackbeltmag.com. Retrieved 2015-11-06.
  41. ↑ Sugihara: Conspiracy of Kindness . Interactive Timeline (text-only). PBS. Retrieved on 2011-06-15.
  42. ↑ A Hidden Life: A Short Introduction to Chiune Sugihara. Pravmir.com. Retrieved on 2011-06-15.
  43. 1 2 Chiune and Yukiko Sugihara. Jewishvirtuallibrary.org. Retrieved on 2011-06-15.
  44. 1 2 Chiune (Sempo) Sugihara. Ushmm.org (2011-01-06). Retrieved on 2011-06-15.
  45. ↑ "Japan Mourns Goto as Caring and Courageous Reporter". New York Times. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
  46. ↑ McCurry, Justin (31 January 2015). "Isis video purports to show beheading of Japanese hostage Kenji Goto". The Guardian. Guardian News and Media Limited. Retrieved 1 February 2015.

Further reading

External links

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