十Christian Japan

The chapters

Five chapters, 1549 to today.

  1. Chapter I1549 to 1614The Christian CenturyChristianity reached Japan on Portuguese ships, but it was carried inland by Japanese men and women who heard it and believed. Within sixty years there were hundreds of thousands of them, and then the ban came. What did they find in the new faith?Enter chapter →
  2. Chapter II1614 to 1865The Hidden CenturiesFor more than two centuries there were no priests, no churches and no books, and every household had to prove each year that it was not Christian. How did farmers and fishermen keep a faith alive with nothing but memory?Enter chapter →
  3. Chapter III1865 to 1873Discovery and ExileIn March 1865 a farming woman asked a French priest where the statue of Mary was, and two and a half centuries of hiding ended. Within five years her whole village was in exile. What did it cost to stop pretending?Enter chapter →
  4. Chapter IV1873 to 1945The Church Rebuiltin a troubled timeAfter 1873 Japan's Catholics could worship in the open, and they built: brick cathedrals, stone churches on islands, schools and orphanages. But the freedom they were given came with conditions. What did it mean to be free under watch?Enter chapter →
  5. Chapter V1945 to todayAfter the BombOn August 9, 1945, the atomic bomb exploded above Urakami, the most Christian place in Japan, at the hour its people were preparing for the feast of Mary. What do you rebuild first when almost everything is gone?Enter chapter →

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