Kakure Kiristans: Japan’s hidden Christians

Abstract

Why do the Kakure Kiristan, commonly known as the Hidden Christians, maintain their traditions based on secrecy despite Christianity no longer being banned in Japan? The Shogunate repressed and even attempted to eliminate Christianity within feudal Japan. The wax and wane of westerner influence within 1600’s Japanese culture and its impact on the acceptance of Christianity by the Shogunate created a lot of uncertainty within the Christian community in Japan. This constant back and forth of edicts that supported or banned Christianity reenforced the need to stay hidden for survival. This became the foundational reason for the secrecy among the Kakure Kiristan, and turned a necessity of survival into a tradition that is slowly dying off in modern Japan. The method for this paper is a historical review with contemporary research on a little-known sub-culture within Catholicism.