Jesus in Japanese Culture:

From Tokugawa Catacombs to

Endo Shusaku

Vedran Golijanin

Abstract: The process of the amalgamation of Christian and Japanese religious traditions,
which started in the 16th century, led to the formation of several distinctively Japanese images
of Jesus Christ. Deprived of the European Christian missionaries due to the conservative
politics of Tokugawa bakufu, Japanese hidden Christians (Kakure Kirishitan) identified Christ
as one of the bosatsu (bodhisattva) of Mahayana Buddhism. The search for the true image of
Christ continued after the Meiji Restoration of imperial rule (1868), particularly in the
Protestant circles of baptized bushido. This long process finally reached its conclusion in
the literary works of one of the greatest Japanese Christian writers, Endo Shusaku, who found
the true image of Christ in the sufferings of the Kakure Kirishitan. Following historical line,
the author presents the development of abovementioned images and shows how the Japanese
themselves understood the Gospel and the Persona of Christ.
: 16.
, .

, (Kakure Kirishitan)
bosatsu- () .
, 1868. ,
.
,
, Kakure
Kirishitan-. ,
.
Key words: Amida Butsu, Endo Shusaku, Francis Xavier, fumie, Japanese Christianity, Jesus
Christ, Kakure Kirishitan, Kazo Kitamori, Pure Land Buddhism, shinbutsu shugo, Shinto,
Theology of the Pain of God

Introduction
Jesus Christ is one of rare historical persons who can find the way to popularity and
worship in all cultures. This is due to the fact of all-encompassing character of His message,
and its ability to adapt to cultural environment of almost every nation. The message of Jesus
can be expressed in all kinds of terminologies, but its core remains firm and stabile, sowing
the seed of love in human hearts, and bringing them into unity with the Divine. However,
these words are nothing new in Christian literature. We usually tend to enclose ourselves
inside the borders of European and Semite understanding of God and, in the worst case, we
create thick walls around our own citadel of orthodoxy, ignoring not just other, heterodox
branches of Christianity, but the entire world as well. In this kind of utopia, theologians feel
no need for wider knowledge; their interest is literally limited to the spirits of Athens and
Jerusalem, and even Rome seems like an exoplanet when seen from inside these narrow
borders of our world. Such theologian can be compared to an astronomer whose scientific
study does not go any further from Earths top layer of atmosphere, as if there are not any
other planets that are illuminated by the same Sun as our own planet. As long as the museum
of the Fathers of the Church is open, we can repeat the stories of their victories over heretics,
present already solved problems and draw conclusions that already exist in thousands of
theological books.
The point is not, however, in criticizing the theologians who deal with the history of
dogma, for it is quite important for a Christian to be fully aware of the historical background
of his faith. The problem lies in the lack of theologians who look beyond the borders of
Judeo-Christian estate. Christ is present in other cultural environments too, but these cultures
seem so far and exotic, so we lose interest in them. The truth is, however, that we rarely (or
never) had any real interest in cultural, historical and theological circumstances of distant
nations, except when we unnecessarily attack and refute them in apologetics. It is sad to say,
but we are somehow afraid to express the spirit of scientific adventure and to finally cross the
oceans of ignorance in order to discover new worlds. Christ visited those lands long ago and
we are still hesitating to go after Him, for it is much more fun to follow His steps on the
road from Jerusalem to Athens. He is now standing in India, China, Mongolia, Korea, and
Japan, fighting new battles and adapting to new environments, calling us to meet new brothers
and see how they painted His picture with their own brush and colors.
The history of Jesus in Japan is particularly interesting. Jesuit missionaries arrived on
the islands of Japan in 16th century, initiating the process which resulted in great variety of
3

Christian religious traditions, and some of them even created unique Japanese image of Christ
which is quite different from its European counterparts. The appearance of Japanese Christ
was affected not only by Buddhist and Shinto traditions, but also by Japanese secular
mentality, politics, and both positive and negative historical circumstances. Some may
consider that this Japanese form of Christianity is heretical, but we must sustain from that
kind of judgment, because Japanese Christians were deprived of missionaries only half of the
century after its arrival in Japan, and that period of isolation lasted for about 250 years. That
was more than enough time for native Christians to dress Jesus in kimono, deprive Him of
some original characteristics, and to ascribe Him some other characteristics that fitted very
well with Japanese religious mentality in general. Hostile Japanese environment turned better
for Christians after the Tokugawa bakufu was overthrown by the new Government and Meiji
Emperor in 19th century (Meiji Ishin, or Meiji Restoration of imperial rule, 1868). That is
when Japanese Christianity was updated with new forms of Protestantism and Orthodoxy,
but some Christian natives were not ready to abandon the faith of their ancestors, and thus
continued to practice Kakure Kirishitan (hidden Christians) religion.
Modern Japanese images of Christ are not understandable if we ignore both religious
and historical circumstances that shaped the destiny of Christianity in Japan. Therefore, it is
necessary to expose aforementioned circumstances before we put Jesus among the multitude
of the kami, Buddhas, and bodhisattvas in Japanese religious and artistic thought. This is
especially important for Orthodox Christians, because we usually tend to present Japanese
Christianity as a young chick that hatched from its egg just few minutes ago. The reality is,
however, completely different. Christ came to Japan almost three centuries before Saint
Nikolai Kasatkin, and this fact calls for a new academic approach to Japanese Christianity as
a whole. In order to accomplish this task, we must get out of usual frames and review the
history of Japanese Jesus from the very beginning, all across the turbulent period of
persecution, and to the formation of distinctive image of Nihon no Iesu Kirisuto.

The Environment of Shinbutsu Shugo

Understanding the way in which early Japanese image of Christ was formed requires
knowledge of Japanese religious mentality in general. There lies the reason for naming this
section shinbutsu shugo (shin kami; butsu buddhas; shugo - amalgamation), which is a
term that designates harmony between various schools of Buddhism and popular religious
practices, commonly known as Shinto. The harmony was based on Buddhist doctrine of honji
suijaku (original essence, descended manifestation), applied to explain the relation of
Buddhas (original) to the kami (manifestations). The first element of Japanese spirituality is,
therefore, harmony between different religions, also called ta no wa (harmony in diversity).
This harmony can be explained by following image: It is as though the Japanese walked
silently up Mt. Fuji from different directions and, when they reached the top, they remained
silent and paid no attention to each other, looking out in different directions (MaseHasegawa, 2008: 35).
Another important contributor to the formation of Japanese religious mentality is the
geography of the Archipelago. Unpredictable ocean and volcanoes were tools in the hand of
the kami, who often express their vengeful nature upon the innocent people. Therefore, the
pacification of the kami by sacrificial offerings was a daily obligation. The feeling of awe
gradually developed into another prominent feature of Japanese mentality amae, which can
be translated as dependence, and it is a core part of Japanese social life. 1 This dependency
is based on a feeling which is unique and originally refers to an infants desire to be passively
sheltered in its mothers love (Mase-Hasegawa, 2008: 41). Accordingly, every aspect of life
in Japan was influenced by amae, especially its native religiosity. Native religion of Japan is
called Shinto or kami no michi, which means the way of the gods or the way of the kami.
Kami is usually translated as both god and gods, but it is not the only meaning that it has.
The second usage allows Shinto to claim that others (Chinese, Westerners) have not
understood Shinto at all. It refers to the kami nature within something else a tree, waterfall,
etc. This usage turns kami into an adjective that modifies. So kami means divine or sacred or
holly. It is the manifestation of the sacred that one experiences (Williams, 2005: 32). One

Every student of Japanese language must learn the rules of amae in order to fully participate in complex social
intercourse. The dependence upon other people is expressed in everyday conversation, especially when people
meet for the first time. Both sides will use expressions such as yoroshiku and onegaishimasu (please be nice to
me, do me a favor), which present a person as completely dependent on the politeness of the partner in
conversation. Even the dependence upon the nature is expressed before every meal by utilizing the word
itadakimasu, signifying the gratitude to the plants and animals that died because of human needs.

kind of kami holds special significance for our subject, and that is marebito,2 a guest kami
who brings good harvest. Yet, there was another aspect of marebito: he brings innovations and
improvements, including those of religious nature. For example, Buddha was depicted as
marebito, a kami who visits a community at special times to confer blessings, which
strengthened the appeal of that type of religion (Picken, 1994: 17). Therefore, Shinto did not
immediately accept Buddhas as original forms of the native kami, but rather as foreign kami,
marebito, those which bring cultural and religious innovations to Japan. Through this we
know that Shinto possesses a potentiality for development and realizes its ability to preserve
the ancient elements of Japan and at the same time break through it (Sakurai, 2006: 19).
Jesus was understood as a marebito by some Japanese, too. Unfortunately, Christian
missionaries were mostly occupied with Buddhism. In their eyes, Shinto was a mere
polytheism, which is clearly emphasized in Myotei Mondo, a work by native Japanese Jesuit
Fabian Fukan. He considered Yoshida school of Shinto, a prominent religious movement
during 16th and 17th centuries, as barbaric belief system. Another Christian missionary, Fr.
Gaspar Vilela, had a different point of view. Under the influence of Chu Hsi Confucianism,
Yoshida Shinto transformed kami Kunitokotachi into an omnipotent and eternal creator,
similar to Christian God. Vilela and Yoshida Shigekata, a head of Yoshida clan, were thus able
to discover common theological ground for a dialogue, and Jesuits borrowed Yoshida term for
God Tendo, abandoning the use of such terms as Dainichi and Deusu. By the end of
Tokugawa bakufu, Japanese nationalist Shinto movements arose all across the country, the
most famous being kokugaku (national learning). Hirata Atsutane (1776-1843) and Okuni
Takamasa (1792-1871), both kokugaku scholars, were obviously fascinated by Christianity,
but also had their own visions of how to incorporate the teachings of Jesus into modern
Japanese society. Takamasa even came to believe that Christianity was a good religion
whose arrival in Japan was pre-ordained by the Sun Goddess and which might, given certain
conditions, namely the erection of Shinto structures, be accommodated in the new Japan
(Breen, 2003: 253).
Buddhism was much closer to Christians. In the beginning, two esoteric schools were
dominant in Japan: Saichos Tendai and Kukais Shingon. It was esoteric Buddhism,
promulgated above all by Tendai and Shingon, with its offerings of a wide range of benefits
through a range of specific rituals that best responded to the social, political, and religious
2

According to Japanese scholar Matsumae Takeshi (1993: 331), villagers performed yearly rites to welcome the
guest kami from Tokoyo no Kuni, the utopian land of fertility across the sea, and marebito would give them rich
harvest as a sign of gratitude. This initial understanding of marebito as a benevolent foreigner was later
transferred to the field of philosophy and religion and applied to Buddhism, Taoism, and other schools of
thought.

needs of the capital elites. (. . .) In short, with the advent of esoteric rites, Buddhism became
useful for the individual in his lifetime in addition to being used to sacralize the imperial
state (Adolphson, 2007: 214). Esoteric rites were meant to strengthen the rule of the
Emperor, but powerful daimyos (feudal lords) forced the royal house to create the institution
of shogun a military commander of the entire land, who ruled instead of Emperor. Japan
entered the era of constant civil wars, and the common people suffered the most. Popular
Buddhist movements spread all across Japan, mostly preaching the doctrine of individual
salvation. Furthermore, a Buddhist doctrine of time and history gained wide acceptance
around the eleventh century. (. . .) Time was conceived of as an inexorable process leading to
the final conflagration of all worlds, an event whose date was proposed in several scriptural
sources; the final period of history (mappo) leading to the ultimate conflagration was believed
in Japan to begin in the year 1052 (Grapard, 1999: 572). According to historical Buddha, the
goal of life is to attain nirvana, a selfless state when all bounding karmas and illusion of
existence are gone. This doctrine was not so interesting to Japanese Buddhists, so they turned
to the Pure Land Buddhism a school with almost Christian soteriology and eschatology.
Pure Land Buddhism is part of Mahayana tradition, particularly popular in East Asia
and partially in Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism. 3 This school is primarily directed to Buddha
Amitabha (Japanese, Amida; Chinese, Omitu Fo) and his realm Sukhavati, known as the Pure
Land in China (jingtu; Japanese, jodo). Sukhavati was understood as a reward for bodhisattva
way of life. On the other hand, the Pure Land as a place of refuge and liberation was a
creation of Amitabhas beneficent vows to save all sentient beings and as such became a goal
for those seeking liberation not through their own effort but through faith in Amitabhas
salvific power (Getz, 2004: 698). The Pure Land, or jodo, is literally a paradise where all
beings can meditate in peace and finally attain spiritual liberation (nirvana). People in the
Pure Land never experience pain, desire, or human suffering. Amidas kingdom has a lotus
pond, ambrosia groves, and trees of jewels. Birds and bells perch on the trees. Buddha and his
angels circle in the sky, scattering petals (Roberts, 2010: 7). This picture of paradise was
surely more attractive to the Japanese than formless nirvana, but this was also the first step of
moving Japanese religion closer to Christianity. Amida was Savior, just like Jesus, and his
3

Buddhism is divided between three principal traditions: Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana. Theravada
(Teaching of the Elders) is the oldest surviving school, mostly present in South and Southeast Asia. Some
historians of religions, including Milin, call this tradition Hinayana, which is actually a pejorative used by
Mahayana followers (Mahayana Greater Vehicle; Hinayana Lesser Vehicle). Vajrayana (Diamond Vehicle) is
an esoteric form of Buddhism, practiced primarily in Tibet; anyway, its sects can be found all across China and
Japan. The Pure Land Buddhism belongs to Mahayana tradition, but it also shares some common elements with
Vajrayana. Japanese Pure Land sects, such as Jodoshu and Jodo Shinshu, differ from original Chinese schools,
mostly because of emphasizing the nembutsu practice as superior to all other forms of contemplation.

Pure Land can be compared to the Kingdom of God. Another following element of the belief
in Amida was nembutsu, a prayer that corresponds to Jesus Prayer in mystical practice of
hesychasm. It is a simple repetition of the name of Amida, pronounced Namo Omitu Fo in
Chinese, and Namu Amida Butsu in Japanese. According to Pure Land beliefs, sole
repetition of this holy name will transfer the believer to the jodo. In the end, Christianity and
Pure Land Buddhism share the same idea that stands in the core of their teachings. Both
Dharma and Gods Law are eternal, but the new way to salvation appeared: one is Amida, and
the other is Jesus.
If Christians believe that God was preparing the Jews for the coming of Christ through
the Law, and the Greeks through the philosophy, than it is not wrong to assume that other
nations also have their own which connect them to the One . In the case of Japan,
these would be aforementioned elements of Shinto and Pure Land Buddhism. It is
historical fact that some Japanese scholars understood Christ as marebito, a guest kami who
brings improvements. Therefore, Shinto was open for the new religion, just like it was open
for Buddhism 1000 years before the arrival of Christianity. On the other hand, Pure Land
practices were almost Christian in nature. The people were already tired of elite esoteric
Buddhism, so they turned to the religion that offered them consolation in this world and the
hope for the afterlife in paradise. It was Pure Land Buddhism at first, but Christianity took its
place in 16th century.
First Japanese Image of Christ: Kirisuto Bosatsu
Christianity came to Japan in 1549, when Jesuit missionary Francis Xavier landed on
Kagoshima, Kyushu, with Portuguese merchants and few more fellow Jesuits. Initial
difficulties in preaching were caused primarily by the lack of appropriate terms for the One
God, Jesus, Saints, Kingdom of God, and other important elements of Christian faith. The
problem was similar to that in China, where names like Jesus or Jehovah meant nothing to the
Chinese without the right terms which can explain the nature of these Persons. Searching for a
solution, missionaries examined old Chinese texts and Confucian Classics, and finally came
upon proper name. They used the term Shang Di (High Lord) to designate God, because it
was the name of the supreme deity of Chinese pantheon in Shang dynasty (1600 BC

1045/1046 BC).4 On the other hand, Japanese religion was unable to offer Christians such
deity; Amaterasu and other kami were not even close to the concept of Christian God.
Even the Personality of Jesus was barely translatable to Japanese. No kami had ever
died for the sins of mankind, and the very concept of sin as we know it never existed in Japan.
Therefore, Jesuits decided to preach only one part of Jesus, the one that represents Him as a
powerful Divine Teacher and Judge. The theology of the cross was not preached widely in
Japan during the early Jesuit mission; rather an emphasis was placed upon the resurrection of
Jesus and the powerful, almighty God (Mase-Hasegawa, 2008: 1). Xavier supposed that
developed Christology would be incomprehensible to Japanese people, so he decided to take
Joao de Barros simple Catechism, which covered all major events from the Bible, and use it
as the main missionary text. Anjiro, Japanese merchant who converted to Christianity some
time earlier, was Xaviers chief assistant. It seems that he understood Christian teachings very
well, but it was unfortunate that Anjiro was given the task of translation. His knowledge of
the Japanese language and religions was only average, and furthermore reading the sixteenthcentury Japanese religious texts required knowledge of Chinese, almost exclusively the
property of elite intellectuals. Accordingly, by telling Anjiro to translate a catechism into
Japanese, Xavier was, consciously or not, expecting from Anjiro the skills and knowledge of
an intellectual cleric or scholar, a Japanese counterpart to himself (Higashibaba, 2001: 8).
This was the first time that any text about Jesus Christ (Iesu Kirisuto) was translated to
Japanese language.
The first efforts of preaching Christianity in Japan proved to be successful. It even
seemed that Anjiro found the right name for God Dainichi. In their fiery sermons Jesuits
acknowledged to the Japanese that they have sinned against the almighty Dainichi by
worshiping wooden idols, and that they will end up in jigoku if they do not repent and follow
the way of Iesu Kirisuto. Xaviers suspicions grew after the confused people told him that
they already worship Dainichi. In the end, it turned out that Xavier unconsciously preached
Buddhism for almost two years, or at least people understood his teachings as Buddhist.
Dainichi, the Japanese equivalent of Mahavairocana or Vairocana, is the Buddhist
personification of purity and wisdom, the first or original Buddha (Roberts, 2010: 28). That
is why Xavier abandoned the use of Dainichi and started to use Latin word for God, Deus.
After this incident, Padre Balthazar Gago (1515-1583) revised Anjiros translation of the
4

Using the name Shang Di for Christian God produced false conception of ancient Chinese monotheism, which
was disproved by the results of archeological findings at the sites of Shang culture. Chinese from the Shang
dynasty worshiped dozens of ancestors and nature spirits, while Shang Di was but a supreme deity who ruled the
Heavens. Unfortunately, this false theory of Chinese monotheism still has its place in our official textbook for
History of religions (see: Milin, 2002: 148, 149).

Catechism in 1555/56 and discovered over fifty problematic terms. The translation adopted
many Buddhist terms to express Christian religious concepts. Buddhist terms Anjiro used in
his translation included Dainichi (Mahavairocana), jodo (Pure Land), jigoku (hell), tennin
(heavenly persons), tamashii (souls). (. . .) Starting with Gagos revision of Xaviers Japanese
catechism in 1556, only former Japanese Buddhist priests or monks translated Christian texts
into Japanese. Neither the sender and the receiver of the Christian message could help using
Buddhist terms as mediators (Higashibaba, 2001: 9). In such conditions the Personality of
Christ had to be put aside in order to establish the firm faith in Deusu among the Japanese.
Figures similar to Jesus already existed in their religion, but God the Creator was absent.
Unfortunately, this strategy had serious consequences affecting both Personality of Christ and
His teachings in Kirishitan religion.
First adaptation of Jesus to Japanese religious thought can be found in the final version
of Japanese catechism, called Dochiriina Kirishitan. In this text, the goal of Christian life is to
be saved in the afterlife. This is very interesting, especially because such doctrine does not
exist in the original Portuguese catechism. The first hint is in the translation of a passage from
Mark: The one who believes and is baptized will be saved; but the one who does not believe
will be condemned (Mark 16:16). In Japanese version, the word saved is translated as
saved in the afterlife. Why was this doctrine put in the mouth of Jesus? According to
Buddhism, before one attains nirvana and becomes a Buddha, he enters the state of arhant or
bodhisattva, which is similar to sainthood in Christianity. The saving grace of Amida delivers
people from this world and helps them to be reborn in Pure Land, where all of them are
bodhisattvas. In other words, salvation is not possible in this life but in the afterlife, i.e. in the
Pure Land. With the idea of salvation in the afterlife deeply rooted in the Japanese religious
sentiment, the Kirishitan teachings which emphasized the afterlife as the place of human
salvation were able to have a strong religious flavor in Japan. Gosho (the afterlife) was a
religious idiom when the Jesuits came, and the idiom was, with respect to its origin, colored
by Buddhist soteriology, especially that of Pure Land teachings. When the phrase for the sake
of salvation in the afterlife was inserted here and there in Kirishitan texts it made those texts
similar to other religious teachings in Japan (Higashibaba, 2001: 81).
The Personality of Christ is rather obscure in some of the most important catechisms
of the Kirishitan, because the emphasis was placed on Deusu and the salvation in the afterlife.
Christ was, of course, depicted as the Redeemer and God, but some of the most important
details of His life were omitted, not to cause confusion among new followers of Christianity.
Apart from Kirishitan texts, the most detailed account of Jesus and His life is given in an anti10

Kirishitan text by Zen monk Sesso Sosai (1589-1649). In his Taiji jashu ron (On quelling the
pernicious faith), the critique is aimed at Jesus Himself. According to Sesso, Jesus founded a
sect of Buddhism after learning about the teachings of Sakyamuni: Six thousand years after
Deus created heaven and Earth, Jesus Christ was born. He said: I am the incarnation of Deus,
the lord of Paraiso, the divine without beginning or end, who created heaven and earth and
gave life to everything. I have provisionally descended to the world to save sentient beings in
their afterlife. Those who follow my teachings and rely on Tenshu (the lord of heaven) will
have their sins and evils eliminated, however serious they may be, and the Tenshu will give
them happiness of heaven. (. . .) Christ said: I will be hung on the cross with satisfaction to
save sentient beings in their afterlife, to suffer in place of them, and to compensate for their
sins. He revived after seven days to work various miracles, which resulted in peoples great
reverence to him. Later, he ascended to heaven, saying: There is no other path of human
salvation than this law. This life is in a dream; quickly have faith in the teaching of this sect
(Sesso, 1970: 468, 470, quoted from: Higashibaba, 2001: 86). Sadly, this image of Jesus is
somewhat more faithful to the Gospels than that of Christian missionaries. Even the theology
of cross can be seen in Sessos work, while Jesuits presented it as something too difficult to
comprehend and forced it out of their preaching. On the other hand, Sesso presents Jesus as a
Christian version of Amida who saves people in the afterlife, mixed with Confucian doctrine
of Lord of Heaven (Tenshu).
Further development of the image of Christ in Japan was completely influenced by
this initial omission of His Personality in early catechisms. It almost seems as if missionaries
purposely allowed the doctrine of salvation in the afterlife and other Buddhist elements to
intertwine with Jesus original teachings. This assumption, supported by historical evidences
of Jesuits preference for large number of adherents before the actual indoctrination, leads to
the conclusion that the whole image of Christ was scheduled for later clarification. Xavier,
Valignano, and other Christian missionaries in Japan probably never imagined that the
persecution of the Kirishitan will take place in near future. Founder of the Tokugawa bakufu,
Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616), allowed Jesuits, Franciscans, Augustinians, and Dominicans
to enter Japan, but only because he wanted to trade with Portugal and Spain. Unfortunately for
them, the Dutch and the English traders came to Japan in 1600 and 1613 and offered to Ieyasu
honest trade without evangelical motives. Therefore, Ieyasu changed his tolerant policy into
open persecution of Christian missionaries and their followers. Endangered by this new
attitude of Government towards them, Christians were forced to secretly practice their faith,
and thus they became Kakure Kirishitan (hidden Christians).
11

Ieyasus successors sought to eradicate all Kirishitan. Their methods were torture,
death penalties, fumie, and written statements of apostasy. Many Christians and missionaries
who refused to leave Japan or to abandon the faith were crucified or beheaded. Those who
abandoned Christianity were forced to perform fumie once a year, and were constantly under
Government officials supervision. The ritual of fumie meant stepping on the crucifixion and
image of Jesus or Virgin Mary. Fumie were not only done for the Japanese but also forced
upon foreigners who were about to enter Japan. The record tells that American, British,
Chinese, and Danish stepped on fumie in the 17th century (Mase-Hasegawa, 2008: 50,
footnote 120). Apostates were usually pardoned for their former Kirishitan beliefs, but their
bad image was the reason why their families were considered suspicious for generations. In
order to prevent more Japanese from converting to Christianity, Tokugawa bakufu published
several literary works in which the evil religion is refuted. Kirishitan Monogatari, 17th
century anti-Kirishitan work, presents Kirishitan as a rabble of idiots and weirdoes who are
social outcasts. This image of Christians as anti-social and dehumanized is central to the way
Kirishitan Monogatari functions. Images from the opening section of the text, where the
foreign Catholic priests are described as long-nosed (. . .) with long fingernails and toenails,
tall and dark-skinned with red noses and teeth longer than those of horses, are extended to
also create a dehumanizing image of Japanese Christians as beasts with no culture
(Paramore, 2009: 60).
As for Kirishitan literature, almost all copies of Myotei Mondo by Fabian Fukan and
Dochiriina Kirishitan were destroyed. Christian teachings were transmitted orally, and the
result of isolation was syncretistic mixture of Christianity, Buddhism, and Shinto. One of rare
documents which demonstrate this syncretism is Tenchi Hajimari no Koto (Beginning of
Heaven and Earth), written by a Kirishitan in Nagasaki, probably during 18 th century. It
quotes largely from the Old and New Testaments, but it includes Buddhist concepts and local
legends and dialects as well; for instance, heaven is associated with the twelve heavenly
beings of Buddhism, God is called Hotoke or Buddha, and Christ is once called Osho or
Buddhist priest (Nozomu, 2008: 113, 114). Having no contact with fellow Christians outside
Japan, Kirishitan leaders developed unique tradition which excluded Baptism, monotheism,
and some other original Christian teachings. Deprived of missionaries, these communities
preserved their faith by secretly transmitting their tradition of prayers and rituals. They also
concealed or disguised religious objects. Both Christian and Shinto/Buddhist images were
kept together (or sometimes combined) and offered on the Buddhist altar. They created an
indigenous Christian folk art in which Shinto/Buddhist images were adapted to represent
12

Christian figures or symbols, such as tiny crucifixes, statues of the Christian God under the
guise of Shinto deities, and Buddhist statues like Maria Kannon (Mase-Hasegawa: 2008:
51). Goddess Kannon was originally bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, known as Guanyin in China.
She has thirty three different forms, the most popular being Kannon holding a child in her
arms (Koyasu Kannon) and Kannon the Merciful Mother (Jibo Kannon). Both of these forms
were used by Kakure Kirishitan to represent Virgin Mary, now known as Maria Kannon.
They also often used a figure of a Bosatsu in place of one of Jesus. According to
interrogations of Urakami faithful recorded at the end of the bakufu regime some professed to
consider the image of Maria Kannon to be the honzon (the principal image) and that of Jesus
to be a wakibutsu (a companion Buddhist figure on the side) (Miyazaki, 2003: 21, 22).
Having initial missionaries mistake in mind, it is not so surprising that Kakure
Kirishitan worshiped Kirisuto as secondary deity. If the theology of cross was preached in the
beginning, Japanese would probably see Christ as a compassionate God and worship Him
accordingly, but this was not the case. Christ was preached only as equal to Deusu, and Deusu
condemns people to hell if they do not believe in Him. Therefore, Jesus was understood by
the Kirishitan as a Judge, the bodily manifestation of strict and almost merciless Deusu.
Facing torture and painful death in the land of Tokugawa, the Kirishitan had to renounce
Deusu and worship Buddhas and the kami, while still secretly practicing Christianity. They
knew that apostasy was a grave sin, but they did not know whether Deusu will forgive them
or not. Gradually the faith of the underground Kirishitan tended to move away from a God
who was a strict father and judge and focus on a forgiving motherly God of infinite
tenderness, Mary (Miyazaki, 2003: 21). Christ kept the status of Kirishitan deity, but
received less worship than His Mother.
Persecutions lasted for more than two centuries, but Japan finally opened itself to
Westerners in 1853. New missionaries arrived in Japan, wondering if the sheep of their former
flock were still alive. It turned out that many Kakure Kirishitan were still practicing
Christianity, and the first thing they asked from missionaries was to see the image of Maria
Kannon. Missionaries were struck by the heretical teachings of the Kirishitan, so they had
to convert them again. Some Japanese Christians refused to return to Catholicism and
remained faithful to their old ways. They were probably confused by the multitude of new
forms of Christianity which came to Japan by the end of Tokugawa regime: Catholicism,
Orthodoxy, many Protestant sects, etc. Therefore, the year 1853 marks the beginning of new
era of Christianity in Japan and the rise of new images of Christ.

13

Christ in Modern Japanese Theology

After Meiji Restoration in 1868, Japanese image of Christ was developed mostly in
Protestant circles. New Government wanted to create modern Japan, which meant that old
Tokugawa system must be destroyed. Apart from the shogun, the samurai and local lords were
the greatest obstacle in process of modernizing, so their properties were confiscated and
former warrior class was reduced to a level of common citizens. In such conditions, the
bushido ethic lost the basis which it had in Tokugawas military regime, but the bushido
consciousness continued to live in the minds of the samurai. Protestant missionaries
introduced them to a new Lord they can serve Jesus Christ. Many samurai thus converted to
Christianity and redefined bushido as service to Christian God, simultaneously trying to
harmonize the feelings of Japanese nationalism and Christian universality. Therefore,
Japanese theology became baptized bushido. This new intellectual spirit among the former
samurai produced great theological works, in which the image of Christ was reintroduced to
Japan, this time clearer than three centuries ago.
Japanese theology has several streams, and each stream has several important
representatives. Some of them produced unique image of Christ in accordance to nationalist
feelings, such as Kanzo Uchimura (1861-1930). Uchimuras Christology is not as developed
as his ecclesiology, but the image of Christ that he had in mind is surely a core of his ideal
Christian community. Uchimura is known for his non-church movement, based on free
interpretation of the message of Jesus. Aware of certain contradictions in Protestant theology,
as well as difficulties in applying such theology to contemporary Japanese political situation,
Uchimura argued that Christ wanted to establish a Church as spiritual assembly based on faith
in Him, rather than an institutional Church with rules by regulations. Therefore, his theology
is evangelical in his attempt to construct it on the basis of his biblical study, and also
indigenous in his attempt to mediate Japan and Christianity (Nozomu, 2008: 120). Due to his
nationalist feelings, Uchimura wanted to establish a unique form of Christianity which would
correspond to general Japanese religiosity. His Jesus was a mediator between God and
humans, and the Kingdom of God can be realized in this world. Real Christianization of Japan
is, according to Uchimura, possible only through a non-church community, because the
Kingdom of God is not contained in hierarchical Church, but rather in pure faith in Jesus.
This nationalist theology was predominant in Japan until defeat in World War II, and it
lies behind all attempts to adapt Jesus to new political and social circumstances. However,
some theologians did not support Uchimuras extreme non-church solution. As the matter of
14

fact, the father of Japanese Protestantism, Masahisa Uemura 5 (1858-1925), fought for
traditional Christianity in order to adapt Japan to Jesus, and not vice versa. His theology was
based on an evangelical faith in the incarnation of Jesus Christ as the Son of God and in the
redemption of human sins by the death and resurrection of Christ on the cross; in addition, he
thought that Christianity could purify Japanese social justice as found in samurai ethics
(Nozomu, 2008: 115). Maybe Uemuras traditional Christology would not attract that much of
the attention if it was not expressed in the debate with another Japanese Protestant, Danjo
Ebina6 (1856-1937). Ebina understood relationship between God and Christ in accordance to
Confucian ethics and its principle of filial piety. For Ebina, Jesus was the ultimate realization
of this Confucian principle, and only through filial piety did He become a God. Jesus could
realize this because all humans have the divine principle in their beings. In other words,
Christianity as religion is not exclusive, because every single human being, no matter to
which religion he or she belongs, has the same particle of divinity like Jesus had. This
teaching was exposed in Ebinas work The Doctrine of the Trinity and My Religious
Consciousness, where the concept of Divine Jesus was explained by the notion of logos.
According to Ebinas analysis, the logos concept arose out of the interaction between
Judaism and Greek philosophy. Christians then identified Jesus of Nazareth with this logos as
the mediator between God and man. The accompanying doctrines of the Holy Spirit, and then
the trinity, subsequently came to be formulated. Christians, however, are to practice the
religion of Jesus, not the religion about Jesus. (. . .) As other Christian thinkers did, we too,
both as followers possessing Christs spirit and His own religious consciousness, and as
people of our own day, must use contemporary thought in articulating our own religious
awareness (Jennings, 2003: 189).
Ebina was actually a representative of Shin Shingaku, or the New Theology, which
denied some of the most important Christian doctrines in order to recreate Christianity as
open and syncretistic religion. This form of Christianity would fit quite well in Japanese
nationalist frame, but the Personality of Jesus stood against this inclusiveness. A serious
theological controversy ensued between Ebina and Uemura from 1901 to 1902, and Ebinas
opinion was supported by Michitomo Kanamori (1857-1945). Kanamori relativized and
5

Uemura was baptized by James Hamilton Ballagh, a missionary of the Reformed Church of America. He was
ordained by the Nihon Kirisuto Icchi Kyokai (the Union Church of Christ in Japan, later Church of Christ in
Japan). Uemura engaged in Evangelism as a pastor and wrote Sinri Ippan (A View of the Truth) in 1884, which
was a first theological book of a Japanese Protestant.
6
Ebina began publishing his journal Shinjin (New Man) in 1901, and in it he propagated Shin Shingaku (New
Theology), which was liberal in nature and denied some traditional Christian doctrines. Some of his followers
later engaged in constructing of so-called Social Christianity.

15

reduced Christianity to an open religion by denying the infallible and unique revelation of
God in the Bible and the traditional views on the divinity and redemption of Christ. Over
against the New Theology as found in Kanamori, Uemura maintained in 1891 in his Japan
Review that Christianity was the absolute religion based on the historicity of Jesus Christ as
described in the Bible and that Christianity without miracles, including the resurrection, did
not deserve its name; although he accepted some of the fruits of biblical criticism (Nozomu,
2008: 117). Ebina, on the other hand, claimed that Christians should free themselves from
unnecessary doctrines, such as belief that Jesus of Nazareth was God, to which Uemura
responded with lengthy exposition entitled Christ and His Work. In this text the emphasis is
put upon the Personality of Christ, who was presented according to traditional doctrine of His
Divinity. Pauls Epistles and Johns Gospel served him as main proofs of early Christians
belief in Jesus as the Son of God. In order to counter Ebinas argument, Uemura pointed out
that the Christian doctrines originated from the faith of the original Christians, and he argued
that Christ could not redeem sinners if the divinity of Christ and the divinity of humans were
relatively continuous with each other. By referring to the New Testament, Uemura attempted
to demonstrate that the divinity and the incarnation of Christ vouchsafed his saving power for
sinners in this world, although Uemura depended on the term subordination for expressing the
Sons relation to the Father in this inchoate period of theological history in Japan (Nozomu,
2008: 117).
After the Ebina and Uemura controversy (1901-2), Evangelical Alliance in Japan
(Fukuin Domeikai) held the conference in 1902 and confirmed the faith in Jesus as the
incarnate God of human salvation. However, liberal Christianity that Ebina preached partially
caused the rising of social Christian movements in Japan. These movements were similar to
Uchimuras non-church society for realizing Kingdom of God on Earth, i.e. in Japan. Sakuzo
Yoshino (1878-1933), Shigeru Nakajima (1888-1946), and Toyohiko Kagawa (1888-1960)
were main expositors of this idea, mixed with philosophy of Karl Marx, while some Uemuras
students, such as Tokutaro Takakura (1885-1934) and Seiichi Hatano (1877-1950) stood
against Social Christianity. The ongoing fight between Ebinas and Uemuras followers,
although moved from the Personality of Christ, was actually a clash of inclusive and exclusive
versions of Christianity. On the one hand, Ebina both rejected tradition and opted for
theological pluralism. Uemura, on the contrary, seemed not only to embrace a particular
theological tradition, but to argue as well for exclusivity. Seen in this way, the debate between
Ebina and Uemura hinged not so much on content as on the nature of the commitment to

16

particular historical understandings of the Church. Thus the nature of Christian thinking
becomes the primary question (Jennings, 2003: 190).
Japanese syncretistic religious thought is fully expressed by Katsumi Takizawa (19091984) and his theology of Immanuel. He was a follower of famous Japanese philosopher
Kitaro Nishida (1870-1945), through whose recommendation Takizawa became the first
Japanese student of Karl Barth in 1934 at Bonn University. Later, Takizawa was a professor of
philosophical theology at Kyushu University. According to Takizawas theology of
Immanuel, the first contact of God and humans is expressed as God being with us through
Christ; a point stressed by Barth and also an example of the self-identity of the transcendent
God and immanent humans. The second contact is realized when humans become enlightened
as to the first contact, whether they are Christian or Buddhist (Nozomu, 2008: 124). The first
contact is, therefore, expressed through Christ, but He is also the best example of secondary
contact. That is why Takizawa calls this theology Immanuel (God is with us). Anyway,
Takizawas syncretistic thought and sympathies toward Zen Buddhism were the reasons why
he couldnt accept Jesus as God. According to Takizawa, there is no difference in quality
between Jesus Christ and any one of us we all are children of God. (. . .) Therefore, Jesus
Christ should be regarded as a Kien meaning literally chance and relation or mediator for
our relationship to God. Through Jesus each of us can realize the secondary contact and be
awakened (Mase-Hasegawa, 2008: 58). In this sense, Jesus is not so different from Buddha,
who also preached enlightenment and helped people to attain it.
Japanese theology changes its direction after the World War II. Nationalism was
destroyed by the American occupation and enforced Declaration of Humanity which
Emperor Showa (Hirohito) had to proclaim. Therefore, Japanese Emperor was not a
descendent of the Sun Goddess Amaterasu any more, and the Japanese lost their role as
chosen people with godlike attributes. Even though this course of events had catastrophic
consequences for State Shinto, its effects were visible in Christian theology, too. This third
rise of Japanese theology emerged from the painful feeling of defeat. The most prominent
work from this period is Theology of the Pain of God (1946) by Kazo Kitamori (19161998), a professor of Systematic Theology at Tokyo Union Theological Seminary. Kitamori
argues that Father experienced pain because of the death of His Son, Jesus, and this pain is
essential part of Gods love for all beings. The pain of God consists essentially in the Father
begetting the Son and then leading him to suffer and die on the cross, and in God forgiving
unforgivable sinners, based on events on the cross (Nozomu, 2008: 124). Kitamori draws
inspiration from traditional Japanese literature and drama. There he found the concept of
17

tsurasa, which can be translated as tragedy or agony, present in theatres such as Noh. On
the other hand, he based this doctrine on certain passages from the Bible. Specifically,
through Jeremiahs mention of Gods troubled heart (Jeremiah 31:20) and Isaiahs description
of Gods yearning heart or compassionate heart, Kitamori was struck by what he was
conceived was the absolute truth of Gods loving heart. Supremely in Christ, that love in pain
was demonstrated in Gods infliction of pain on himself, on his own Son, in order to save
those whom he loves (Jennings, 2003: 196).
Kitamoris Theology of the Pain of God was translated in many languages, and it is
the first book of a Japanese theologian to attract the world-wide attention. Some were
fascinated, but the others saw in this work controversial teaching of the suffering of the
Father. Despite his persistent denials, Kitamoris theology of the pain of God has always
been accused of patripassianism. The inability to make distinctions between the concept of
substance and the concept of relation accounts for the critics tendency to confuse Kitamoris
the pain of God and patripassianism. The theology of the pain of God, according to him, does
not regard that pain as existing in God as substance, but it underlines the mediatory and
intercessory love of God in relating to humanity (Chi Chung Lee, 2005: 522). For Kitamori,
God that does not suffer the pain of love towards sinful humanity is not a God. The image of
compassionate Jesus who reveals Fathers love to this world stands behind his theology, and
the pain that He suffered was also experienced by Father. This is not, however, because Father
died on the cross with Jesus, but because of Fathers relation to the world in which love is
accompanied by the pain of disturbed communication. Kitamori rejects the ontological
divine being that does not suffer pain, and he criticizes the God of liberal theology, whose
love is immediacy without pain. Human pain and divine pain are analogically understood, as
they share something in common and in pain there is a mystic unity of the divine and the
human (Chi Chung Lee, 2005: 522).
Japanese Protestantism gave many theologians who recreated the image of Christ after
its decline during Kakure Kirishitan period. Catholic and Orthodox scholars also contributed
to the development of Japanese theology, but they were mostly occupied with the history of
Christianity and debate with Buddhism. Meanwhile, Protestants fought with their Buddhist
and Confucian heritage, trying to explain the mystery of Christ in language that is
understandable to the Japanese. In short, they were still unable to get out of shinbutsu shugo,
but no one can blame them for that. Some elements of traditional Japanese religiosity were
appropriate for expressing certain Protestant doctrines, such as saving grace of Amida for sola
gratia and sufficiency of ones faith in Amida for sola fide. Japanese theology, once again left
18

alone and deprived of the tutorship of the missionaries, used native terminology in the
explanation of Christ and His Personality and gave fascinating results, but the theologians
were not the only contributors in this process. There is also one artistic image of Christ which
deserves special attention.
One Literary Image: Endo Shusakus Eternal Companion
The entire problem of the relation between Japan and Christianity is summarized in the
works of one Japanese Christian novelist Endo Shusaku. As both Japanese and Catholic,
Endo offers us a vivid picture of an inner struggle that every Christian in Japan has to suffer,
more faithful than any non-Japanese Christian could ever do. His Jesus is truly universal, but
not in sense that He belongs only to every nation; Endos Jesus is with every human being
who suffers the same torment as Jesus suffered. Jesus is not changing in order to trick one
nation to believe in Him, but rather comes to each individual and follows him through his
entire life. Therefore, Endo did not paint his image of Jesus in accordance to theological
literature or Churchs preaching. His image of Jesus is a result of personal experience and
personal understanding of the Gospels, and in the same time it is so global that nobody can
tell it is heretical or wrong. This particular image of Christ presents reconciliation of Japan
and Christianity, quite different than one might expect.
Endo was born in 1923 in Tokyo, and at the age of 13 he was baptized in Catholic
Church by the name Paul. At the University of Keiko he majored in French literature. From
1950 to 1953 Endo studied in Lyon, France. Even though he suffered racial discrimination
there, years spent in Lyon had a great influence on Endos thought. Both stranger in his
country for being Christian and stranger in Christian country for being Japanese, Endo
understood that the image of Jesus preached by missionaries in Japan was not complete.
Cultural differences were vast, and this fact colored his early works in which he searches for
the best way to harmonize Christianity with Japanese mentality. After spending some time in
hospital, Endo returns to Japan. Various illnesses did not stop him to produce many great
novels. In 1993 Endo was hospitalized and required dialysis treatment for three and a half
years. During this time, he finished his last novel, Deep River. He died in 1996.
Endos image of Christ has its roots in his personal confusion regarding relation
between Christianity and Japan. He knew that the Japanese cannot understand the concept of
transcendent God, because their gods are beautiful human-like beings, different from ordinary
people only due to their great powers. The image of such gods can hardly be replaced by an
19

image of Christian God, essentially different from this world and human beings. If one does
not accept the idea of transcendent God, he will not be able to accept other elements which
make him truly Christian. By comparing Japanese mentality with Western Christianity, Endo
points out that the main cause for Japanese non-acceptance of Christ is their lack of feeling of
guilt. In other words, Japanese understand sin as violating the state law, and not as violating
Gods law. Endo deals with this issue in his works White Man (1955), Yellow Man (1955) and
Sea and Poison (1958). The Japanese lack the concept of a transcendent God who saves.
Therefore, sin needs to transcend legalistic offences in a different context, because the
Japanese appreciate aesthetics more than ethics and the consciousness of sin and evil is not
easily comprehended within this reality (Mase-Hasegawa, 2008: 68).
Moreover, the Christian concept of sin is not understandable to the Japanese at all.
There was only one way to explain it, and Endo identified sin with evil that lurks inside every
human being. But this wasnt the only difficulty which he faced. Western mentality simply
couldnt fit in the frame of Japanese culture, which is the opinion that Endo expressed in To
Aden (1954), shortly after he returned to Japan from France. Racial discrimination which he
suffered made him feel abandoned by both Japanese and European cultures. The protagonist
of this novel is floating between Europe and Asia, unable to decide between two different
cultures and religions. Conflict in Endos mind ended in reconciliation between Catholicism
and Japanese mentality, expressed in his 1966 novel, Silence. This reconciliation Endo
explains in an interview: But after all it seems to me that Catholicism is not a solo, but a
symphony. It fits, of course, mans sinless side, but unless a religion can find a place for mans
sinful side in the ensemble, it is a false religion. If I have trust in Catholicism, it is because I
find in it much more possibility than in any other religion for presenting the full symphony of
humanity. The other religions have almost no fullness; they have but solo parts. Only
Catholicism can present the full symphony. And unless there is in that symphony a part that
corresponds to Japans mud swamp, it cannot be a true religion. What exactly this part is
that is what I want to find out (quoted from: Mase-Hasegawa, 2008: 72). Starting from
Silence, Endo searches for the mysterious element of Christianity that helps it to adopt to
every cultural environment. In other words, it is not Japan that must adapt itself to
Christianity, but rather Christianity must adopt itself to the mud-swamp of Japan. The
Silence marked the beginning of his struggle to inculturate Christianity and to make it truly
global religion.
Endos search ended when he found a true image of Christ. The question was not the
global religion any more, but the global Christ who is as same in Europe as in Japan. He
20

turned to Kakure Kirishitan and saw in their sufferings a real Christ, while the Christ whom
missionaries preached was not real. Jesus of the Jesuits was a Great King, but for the
Kirishitan He was a suffering figure like them. Somehow it seemed that Christ can be
incorporated in Japanese mentality only in this form of tortured and poor man, and that is why
Endo based his image of Jesus on the experience of the Kirishitan. He wrote literature and
created images of Jesus Christ to satisfy himself and the Japanese. He was strongly convinced
that the essence of the Christian faith is to believe in Christ, not the Christ who lived two
thousand years ago, but in the risen Christ. (. . .) Jesus is the revelation of God as Christ in the
depth of human life. For Endo himself, it was not God in heaven above, but Jesus who
showed us the way to live (Mase-Hasegawa, 2008: 79). Endo wanted to communicate with
non-Christians by using Christian symbolic. Images of Jesus can be seen everywhere in his
novels, but he did not present Him in accordance to the Gospel history. Rather, his image of
Christ was based on his own investigation of New Testament narratives, conducted in search
of spiritual truth behind them. In his Life of Jesus (1973), Endo states: I myself like to draw a
clear distinction in meaning between facts and truths in the Gospel. I am ready to admit that
the many scenes woven into the New Testament text do not necessarily represent the hard
facts which they profess to depict in the passion narrative. Yet even non-factual scenes can
still present truth, because they derive from the faith of people who believed in Jesus. Faith
far and away transcends the trivialities of non-essential fact, and because in the depth of their
hearts the believers of the generation wished them so, the scenes are therefore true (Endo,
1973: 150, quoted from: Mase-Hasegawa, 2008: 86).
Endos images of Christ are present in all his novels, but the two hold special
significance: Silence (1966) and The Samurai (1980). Silence is based on history of
persecution of Christians from 1614 to 1640 in Japan. Jesuit missionary Rodriguez secretly
comes to Japan by the help of Kichijiro, who later betrays him. Rodriguez was captured,
tortured and forced to abandon the faith, mostly due to the pressure of another former
missionary, Christovao Ferreira, who helped the authorities in persecution of Christians.
While in custody, Rodriguez had conversation with Inoue, lord of Chikugo. This Inoue
convinces Rodriguez that for Japan Christianity is like an ugly woman, but also a foreign
woman with whom the true Japanese should never marry. In conclusion, Japan is a swamp in
which Christianity loses its original shape and becomes something else. Therefore, early
Jesuit mission bore no real fruit. The picture of Jesus which Rodriguez had before he came to
Japan helped him to endure one part of the torture, but he later steps on fumie. This moment
of apostasy presents the culmination of his faith. He is afraid of Gods punishment, but the
21

voice comes out of fumie: You should trample! You should trample! As the protagonists
physical circumstances deteriorate, so he comes to imagine less a figure of powerful authority,
rather a being whose clear blue eyes were gentle with compassion, with tranquil features and
a face filled with trust (Williams, M., 1999: 120). Suddenly, this humiliating image of Christ
on the fumie seems to Rodriguez like a true face of the Savior. He actually came to this world
to be despised and trampled on, but the fact of humiliating Him does not change His endless
love. Thats why Jesus says to Rodriguez from the fumie: You should trample! Christ forgives
Rodriguez for stepping on His image, and this particular scene shows how Endo understood
the faith of the Kirishitan. They were forced to offend Jesus, but only through this did Jesus
revealed Himself to Japanese Christians as a loving figure, forgiving all evil and identifying
Himself with the weak ones.
The image of compassionate and suffering Christ is even more developed in The
Samurai. The novel is based on actual historical events, of a journey made by a Japanese
group to the West. The main character, Hasekura Tsunenaga, was a low-ranking samurai who
journeys to Mexico, Spain, and Vatican. He meets various images of Christ on his voyage. His
companions are a Spanish missionary Velasco, an opposite image to the Japanese Hasekura,
and lord Tanaka. Both Hasekura and Tanaka are unwillingly converted to Christianity in order
to meet the Pope, thus sacrificing their honor for the benefit of Japan, but the shogun later
changes his mind and refuses to trade with the West. Tanaka commits seppuku (ritual suicide,
hara-kiri), and Hasekura abandons Christianity upon his return to Japan. Anyway, he lost his
honor by converting to enemies religion and the elders demanded that Hasekura commits
seppuku. Once again, Hasekura sacrifices himself for the sake of his country. By abandoning
his faith in Christianity, Hasekura realized the importance of his image of Christ. Since he
first saw the crucifix, he could not forget Christ. In the suffering of the samurai, Jesus Christ
suffered, and the suffering of Christ healed his pain. Hasekura saw Jesus Christ in his own
Japanese Buddhist context as an ever-faithful retainer, who accompanied him at any time, at
any place, and even to his death. At last, the samurai understood Jesus Christ as a savior and
the eternal companion of the despised, poor, neglected, and abandoned (Mase-Hasegawa,
2008: 106).
Hasekura understood that in human hearts there is a constant need for a partner in life,
the one who will never betray, abandon, or harm, as one priest in Tecali told him. Finally, in
the last moments of his life, Hasekura realizes that this partner was always Jesus, and he sees
the image of Jesus in his ever-loyal retainer named Yozo. By the corresponding narrative
identification of Yozo with the personal Christ, as extolled by the renegade priest in Tecali,
22

Endo finally and simply presented the image of Christ as an eternal companion a
sympathetic and loyal partner, the figure of a man who is abandoned, forgotten, despised, and
discarded by everyone like a slain dog but who stays with each person in need and takes on
the burden of humanity (Mase-Hasegawa, 2008: 109). Contrary to the image of Jesus which
Jesuits brought with them to Japan, this Jesus in moments of apostasies or certain death seems
more real. He is not an arrogant King any more, but rather a poor and compassionate Being,
ready to participate in ones sufferings and to understand him completely. He is a Judge, but
He also forgives, just because he loves all humans. The image is one to which Endo would
frequently return. Here is Christ, the companion (dohansha) figure so prominent in the
authors work, a being who, resolved not to look down in judgment, chooses rather to share in
the individuals pain and anguish as his companion (Williams, M., 1999: 122).
In Endo Shusakus novels we can see the end of general Japanese search for an image
of Christ who would be in the same time old Jesus of the Tradition and new Jesus of Japanese
culture. Endo returns to the very beginning of Japanese Christianity, in the era of Kakure
Kirishitan, and finds a true image of Christ there. This Jesus does not care if people
understand Him as a King, Judge, or a mere man. Jesus of the Kakure Kirishitan is Jesus on
the cross, suffering and dying for the sake of all mankind, no matter if they are arrogant
Europeans or arrogant Japanese. By finding Jesus among heretical Kakure Kirishitan, Endo
shows how European Christianity forgot the most important aspect of Jesus Personality: His
compassion for the poor and oppressed, because Jesus was poor and oppressed Himself.
Therefore, Endos Jesus is more present in the humiliating fumie than in glorious cathedrals of
Europe. While looking for Jesus in places and moments of early Kirishitan history, Endo
finally found the way to transfer Christianity into the mud-swamp of Japan, and thus
answered the question which occupied many generations since 1549.

Conclusion

23

Three distinctive images of Christ developed inside the borders of Japanese culture:
Jesus the Bodhisattva, Jesus of Protestant theology, and Endo Shusakus Jesus. At first,
religious tradition of shinbutsu shugo influenced the image of Jesus among Japanese
Christians more than Europeans might find acceptable. The difference between Him and
Amida was small in the eyes of the Kakure Kirishitan, but it was Maria Kannon who actually
entered their hearts. Due to the obscurity of Jesus Personality in early Japanese catechisms, it
was easy for new converts to understand Him in terms of an existing religious though. The
same problem is evident in writings of Japanese Protestant theologians from Meiji Restoration
to the end of World War II. Japanese mentality is extremely syncretistic, so the problem was
not in accepting Christianity as a religion, but rather in accepting it as an exclusive doctrine
which denies their entire tradition. They were expected to use the language of European
theology, as if their own philosophical schools were unable to offer similar terminology. The
main problem, therefore, lies in Westerners refusal to accept Japanese religious though as
equally valid and able to express Christianity, because Buddhist, Confucian, and Taoist
philosophies are barbarian, primitive, pagan, polytheistic, and inferior to Christian
thought in the West. If we look closer, only few Christian (especially Orthodox) theologians in
the West know about aforementioned religions more than what is written in textbooks of
apologetics. Therefore, the problem is not in the inferiority of Asian religious and
philosophical thought, but in racial prejudices which haunt our worldview.
This hypocrisy of the Westerners has badly injured Endo Shusaku. He understood that
European Christianity cannot be transferred to Japan, so he turned to Christ and found out that
He was in his homeland since long ago. Endos Jesus is not an arrogant white man who came
to the Japanese only to tell them that their religion and philosophy are inferior to European
thought. This Jesus wears kimono, dwells in the poor farmers houses, and participates in their
sufferings. Those who preached His message fought against honji suijaku, Yin-Yang, ren and
li of Confucius, and the multitude of the kami, while Jesus Himself was looking for a way to
Japanese heart. In the end, theologians failed; only pure faith remained, sowed in the mudswamp of Japan. Out of this faith, the true image of Jesus was born, unchanged but new in
the same time. Endos Jesus left all riches of Europe only to suffer once again among the
Kakure Kirishitan. Therefore, the way to Japanese Christianity is not through theology, but
rather through understanding, patience, and love for entire humanity.
Having all these facts in mind, it would be appropriate to recall the words of Raimon
Panikkar: Does one need to be spiritually a Semite and intellectually a Greek in order to be
Christian? It goes without saying that I put this question in full admiration for Abrahamic
24

spirituality and Hellenic thinking, further recognizing that these two notions are broad enough
to cover a great variety of interpretations. But they do not exhaust the humanum, I submit
(Panikkar, 2002). If Christianity tends to be a religion of the world, than it must have some
part that everyone can agree with. Of course, this part is Personality of Christ. The case of
Japanese development of His image shows that even the most alien cultures can agree with
Jesus and His message, but the religious customs or the way in which people worship Him is
not a matter of dogma. It is a matter of each individual culture, including Japanese. For us, the
problem of understanding Japanese culture still stands; no one can force such proud nation to
think in some other way, different from their old way of ta no wa. Therefore, in order to
understand the Japanese and to present them Jesus without forcing them to change their entire
culture, one must learn to love them and accept them as they are. In other words, we must
follow the way of Jesus to Japanese heart, as described by Endo Shusaku.

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Japan, Centers and Peripheries. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, pg. 212-244.
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