<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>Christianity arrived on the island of Shikoku, Japan, from the neighboring island of Kyushu in the mid-sixteenth century, an event commemorated by a signboard and gravesite where some of the early converts to the faith were buried. The sancti"ed area exhibits what might be expected of Hidden Christian spatiality: a quasi-Buddhist nature, syncretistic Shinto elements, and o#ertory tools; each of which would be quite out of place in any other “Christian” context. What may the sacrality of this ground have entailed? What signi"cance did its objects contain for those who created them and visited them? Moreover, how “ecumenical” could worship there have been if one half (the Christian) was for political reasons forcibly kept hidden while the other half (Buddhist/Shinto) was open? These are the questions we pursue, although our conclusions can perhaps do no more than indicate a direction.</p>
</abstract>

Christianity arrived on the island of Shikoku, Japan, from the neighboring island of Kyushu in the mid-sixteenth century, an event commemorated by a signboard and gravesite where some of the early converts to the faith were buried. The sancti"ed area exhibits what might be expected of Hidden Christian spatiality: a quasi-Buddhist nature, syncretistic Shinto elements, and o#ertory tools; each of which would be quite out of place in any other “Christian” context. What may the sacrality of this ground have entailed? What signi"cance did its objects contain for those who created them and visited them? Moreover, how “ecumenical” could worship there have been if one half (the Christian) was for political reasons forcibly kept hidden while the other half (Buddhist/Shinto) was open? These are the questions we pursue, although our conclusions can perhaps do no more than indicate a direction.

The Sacred Disguised: An Instance of the Double Use of Space by Japan’s Hidden Christians

University of Kochi, Education and Research Building

Review of Ecumenical Studies Sibiu

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Christianity arrived on the island of Shikoku, Japan, from the neighboring island of Kyushu in the mid-sixteenth century, an event commemorated by a signboard...

The Sacred Disguised: An Instance of the Double Use of Space by Japan’s Hidden Christians

Published Online: Sep 27, 2021

Page range: 214 - 238

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/ress-2021-0022

Keywords
Hidden Christianity, iconography, object/artifact, phenomenology of religious experience, philosophy of religion, Shikoku, Japan, Shinto/Buddhist

© 2021 Andrew Oberg, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

The Sacred Disguised: An Instance of the Double Use of Space by Japan’s Hidden Christians

Published Online: Sep 27, 2021

Page range: 214 - 238

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/ress-2021-0022

KeywordsHidden Christianity, iconography, object/artifact, phenomenology of religious experience, philosophy of religion, Shikoku, Japan, Shinto/Buddhist

© 2021 Andrew Oberg, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
Hidden Christianity, iconography, object/artifact, phenomenology of religious experience, philosophy of religion, Shikoku, Japan, Shinto/Buddhist