It has been 2 years....as always, time flies like an arrow!!

This year, here I am, back in Japan visiting Amakusa island in Kumamoto prefecture. "Amakusa" is  famous because it was on a history test! There was a big revolt in 1637, led by a 16years old boy called Shiro Amakusa. He studied in Nagasaki and became a Christian. Nagasaki was the international port, and one of only a few ports open to Western world. In 1549, Francisco Xavier brought in Christianity to Japan. As import / export business expanded around the area, more people in the area converted to Christianity. Even some of the local clans were converted as well.

Famous Shogun Hideyoshi Toyotomi visited Nagasaki and was surprised that Nagasaki was ruled by a Christian clan, governed as a Christian dominion. In 1587, Shogun Hideyoshi enacted a ban that stated a clan could't force religion upon the people and that no more Christian missionaries were allowed in Japan. But it did not entirely ban Christianity. It is assumed that business and new technique from Western countries were important so they could not ban the religion entirely, it was a bit of an ambiguous ban in general for a long time.

(← Back of our hotel, there is a cave. It is said hidden Christians were secretly praying there, and every time government officials come to check wind kept blowing off their candles so Christians had never been found)

Time passed and the Tokunaga family became Shogun starting a new government in current Tokyo. This started the Edo period. At first, they were easy on Christianity like previous shoguns were. However, Tokunaga feared Christians gaining independent power and not following government orders so they enacted more strict bans including limiting international ports and disapproving clans being a Christian. The crackdown against Christianity was getting harder and harder. I remember it was shocking to learn at school that people were tested by stepping on a pictures of Jesus Christ or the Holy Mother. Unfortunately severe execution of missionaries and Christians happened often as well.

Old clans of Shimabara and Amakusa were Christians but they died over wars and new clans were sent by government. The new clans collected tax more than people could pay. As banning Christianity throughout Japan getting serious, they often tortured people for being a christian and not paying taxes. People were starving, over-collected taxes, banned what they believed...the tension erupted and people rose in revolt in 1637. The revolt, Shimabara-no-Ran, is famous because it was quite big almost same number of people rose in some of the previous samurai wars. And this revolt also involved Christianity...a totally different religion from ones like Buddhism or Shinto. It is told the main reason of the revolt was to liberate the super suppressed people but it is famous for the religious side of it. It lasted almost 5 months and the government was so afraid of something like this might happen again, so after the conflict ended the government decided to close the country to Spain and Portugal. Importing/exporting was limited to China, Korea, and Holland.

That was a long history lesson there but most impressive thing is that there were many hidden Christians in those time despite the ban! They survived and resurfaced after the country opened again. This rare history of hidden Christianity made Nagasaki and Amakusa recognized as world heritage in 2018.

Sakitsu, where we visited, was a significant part of this history in Amakusa. As I mentioned before Christians secretly continued their practice long after the prohibition. They became a part of Shinto community but were secretly also Christians. In 1805, more than 5,000 people were arrested in Sakitsu and neighboring villages. 1,709 people were pardoned only after they were forced to discarded the medallions and she shells which they had been using as objects of worship.

The present day Sakitsu church was built over the place where people were forced to do "Fumie" (stepping on a pictures of Jesus). As I entered the church, I was really surprised. The church inside has tatami (grass) floor. It was beautiful and had a distinctive feeling compared to any churches I have seen. The fact that the church had traditional Japanese flooring represents assimilation and acceptance of different culture. There is a Shrine close to it and I could feel them co-existing.  After being recognized as a part of world heritage site, the shrine started to issue a quite rare "goshuin", which is a stamp usually given at a temple or shrine as a proof of visit, with 3 different religions; Sakitsu Suwa Shrine (Shinto), Fuohken (Buddhism), Sakitsu Catholic Church (Christianity). This is the only place you can get 3 combined religion Goshuin.

I believe Japanese people are generally open to different cultures and religions as Shinto is more like "everything has a soul and anything could be a god" type of belief in everyday life. There are many different types of soul and gods, so why can 't there be gods from different places?? All gods should be best friends if they are good people (god people?). That being said, witnessing different religions co-existing like in Amakusa, and hidden Christians protected by community despite the belief difference is...simply amazing!