![]() Endo wrote Silence while living amongst them. There are still thousands in Nagasaki and offshore islands who cling to the faith and whose prayers have “smatterings of the old Portuguese and Latin” and who retain other forms of their devotion to Santa Maria. Nevertheless, thousands of crypto-Christians kept their faith secretly and when Japan was reopened in 1865, they came out of their hiding “asking for the statue of Santa Maria, speaking about Christmas and Lent, recalling the celibacy of the priests” (xiv). Up until 1632, despite torture, no one had apostatized, but the cruel methods of the rulers soon prevailed and authorities killed some five to six thousand Christians in the period of 1614-40 alone. ![]() Despite underground efforts to keep the missionary work alive, martyrdom increased-the most common form of execution was by burning, but later included more vigorous forms of torture in order to induce apostasy. At the time there were 300,000 Christians in a population of about 20 million. The missionary work was under siege by the Shogun and by 1614 there was an edit for the expulsion of all missionaries. The Japanese ruler, Hideyoshi, became enraged at the missionaries and had 26 of them–Japanese and European-crucified near Nagasaki in 1597. It was during the Sengoku Period when Japan had no strong central government and the missionary endeavor continued with prestige from 1570 until 1614. ![]() However, the Italian priest Alessandro Valignano was more successful and by 1579 there were around 150,000 Christians in Japan. Endo is the first Catholic to put it forward with such force and to draw the clear-cut conclusion that Christianity must adapt itself radically if it is to take root in the ‘swamp’ of Japan” (vii).įrancis Xavier and two Jesuit companions and a Japanese interpreter took Christianity to Japan in 1549. ![]() New York: Taplinger Publishing Co.Īccording to the translator, William Johnston, Shusaku Endo was called the Japanese Graham Greene because, as a Catholic novelist (like Graham), his books are problematic and controversial “Mr. ![]()
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