Kakure Kirishitan, The “Hidden Christians” of Japan
Kakure Kirishitan, also known as Hidden Christians of Japan are slowly fading away. After decades of ban and persecution new generation is not ready to carry old traditions.
IKITSUKI ISLAND, NAGSAKI - World is full of eerie surprises. One of them is Kakure Kirishitan or ''Secret Society of Catholic Christians'' in Japan. They came into being when Christians were forced to leave their religion or leave the country in 17th Century.
In 1614, Military Government of Japan imposed a ban on Christianity. Tokugawa Bakufu (Military Government that ruled Japan from 1604 to 1867, also known as the Tokugawa Shogunate) outlawed Christianity, tearing down churches, and expelling the missionaries who taught it.
Japanese Christians exiled to remote islands, tortured, martyred, or forced to comm...