The Japanese tortured catholic missionaries with a technique called anatsurushi (穴吊るし) or "hole hanging" in which christian priests were hung upside down in a pit of faeces. This was done to prolong suffering & make the priest give up Christianity. This had a lot of success.
This method of prolong suffering was so successful that Father Cristovão Ferreira, the highest ranking priest of the Society of Jesuits gave up faith. He was then made to marry a Japanese, given a Japanese name & made to cooperate with interrogation of Japanese Kirishitans.
Under the Shogunate of Tokugawa Iemitsu (1604-1651), a systematic 6-step plan to eradicate Christianity from Japan was hatched.
1) Financial compensation to those who left Christianity
1) Financial compensation to those who left Christianity
2) Five family group neigborhood system
Group responsibility assigned to keep watch on potential Kirishitan converts amongst 5 household groups. Apprehending Kirishitans was a group obligation. If even one member was accused of being Kirishitan, all members were executed.
Group responsibility assigned to keep watch on potential Kirishitan converts amongst 5 household groups. Apprehending Kirishitans was a group obligation. If even one member was accused of being Kirishitan, all members were executed.
3) Stepping on images of Christ & Mary every year was mandatory to show that one was not a Christian or had renounced the faith. The process served to discover hidden christians (kakure kirishitan).
4) Written declaration of renunciation & national oath taken to abandon Christianity, sworn before all the Gods of Japan as well as the Christian God to not convert again. If broken, the Christian God himself would give divine punishment!
5) Mandatory certification by a Buddhist temple: All Japanese had to become parishioners of a temple. Burials had to be done only by Buddhist priests following Buddhist rites.
6) Surveillance lists that monitored census data of all ex-Christians & families of Christian martyrs.
6) Surveillance lists that monitored census data of all ex-Christians & families of Christian martyrs.
All in all, the measures were very successful. In the 1630s, nearly 7% of Japan was Christian. (760,000 out of 12 million). Christianity in the 1600s had been going rapidly with many daimyos giving in to secure Portuguese trade patronage
Today, only 1% of Japan is Christian.
Today, only 1% of Japan is Christian.
The collapse of SEA trade routes to the ruling protestant powers (Holland and England) sealed the fate of any Christian expansion in Japan then. English & Dutch just came to trade, not to sell religion. Meanwhile, Iberians had religious zeal due to the counter-reformation.
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