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In 2022, there were 1.26 million Christians [1] in Japan, down from 1.9 million [2] Christians in Japan in 2019. [3] In the early years of the 21st century, between less than 1 percent [ 4 ] [ 5 ] and 1.5% [ 2 ] of the population claimed Christian belief or affiliation.
The Christian martyrs of the 1622 Great Genna Martyrdom. 16th/17th-century Japanese painting. Persecution flared episodically and over a period of 15 years, between 1617 and 1632, 205 missionaries and native Christians are known to have been killed for their faith, 55 of them during the Great Genna Martyrdom, a further 50 during the Great ...
The number of active Christians is estimated to have been around 200,000 in 1582. [35] Christians attach a great theological importance to martyrdom, and in Japan, there were around 1,000 known martyrs during the missionary period. Countless others were dispossessed of their land and property, leading to their subsequent death in poverty.
Many Catholics went underground, becoming hidden Christians (隠れキリシタン, kakure kirishitan), while others lost their lives. Only after the Meiji Restoration, was Christianity re-established in Japan. The first group of martyrs, known as the Twenty-Six Martyrs of Japan (1597), were canonized by the Church in 1862 by Pope Pius IX.
Jul. 27—Sixty-one of the world's 196 nations actively persecute Christians who, ostracized, imprisoned, beaten, tortured, raped and murdered, stay just as determined to hold onto to their faith ...
Kakure Kirishitan (Japanese: 隠れキリシタン, lit. 'hidden Christians') is a modern term for a member of the Catholic Church in Japan who went underground at the start of the Edo period in the early 17th century (lifted in 1873) due to Christianity's repression by the Tokugawa shogunate (April 1638). [1] [2] [3]
The November observance has been promulgated by many NGOs that champion human rights for Christians, including Voice of the Martyrs, Open Doors, and International Christian Concern. [3] Victims of persecution, including believers and missionaries, have also advocated to spread the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. [14] [15]
In 1543, during the wars of the Sengoku period, the Portuguese landed in Japan for the first time, and soon spread Christianity throughout Japan from Kyushu.Regional daimyō, or feudal lords, were eager to trade with the Portuguese for their European arquebus, while the Portuguese saw the Japanese as potential converts to the Christian religion, preferring to trade with those who converted.