Hanare Kirishitan

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Hanare Kirishitan (離れキリシタン, Hanare Kirishitan^?) are Japanese Crypto-Christians, descendants of those converted by Portuguese missionaries, who chose not to rejoin the Roman Catholic Church in the nineteenth century during the Meiji Restoration.

The Hanare Kirishitans have their roots in the Kakure Kirishitans who were Christians that continued to practice Christianity during the seventeenth and eighteenth century when Christian clergy were expelled, Bibles burned and numerous Christians were martyred for their faith. They tried to maintain at least the externals of Roman Catholic worship during the centuries of persecution. Having neither clergy nor Christian scriptures to guide them, their practices drifted away from mainstream Christianity. The few Latin prayers their ancestors had memorized and passed down orally became hopelessly garbled and their original meaning was lost. Their teachings became mixed with Buddhist and Shinto concepts, and the honoring of martyrs and saints developed into ancestor worship. After Roman Catholic missionaries were allowed back into Japan they chose to retain the practices of their ancestors and did not rejoin the church. Thus they have continued to practice their "hidden" version of Christianity down to the modern day.

The exact number of practicing Hanare today is not known, but their traditional shrines—so-called out of fear of being called churches—are still maintained, particularly on Ikitsuki Island. Many younger members are leaving their traditional communities, and are drifting away from Hanare beliefs and practices.

Shusaku Endo's acclaimed novel "Silence" draws from the oral history of Kakure Kirishitan and Hanare Kirishitan communities.

[edit] See also

• Kirishitan
• Religion in Japan

[edit] External links

• 2008 Beatification of Japanese Martyrs.

[edit] Sources

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