SHUSAKU ENDO

Table of Contents

Background to Endo's Life.......................................................... 1

Background to Silence ................................................................ 1
Historical Information on the Period .............................. 1
Hermeneutical keys from Zen.......................................... 2
Prologue ............................................................................. 2
Ch. 1 ................................................................................... 2
Ch. 2 ................................................................................... 3
Ch. 3 ................................................................................... 4
Ch. 4 ................................................................................... 4
Ch. 5 ................................................................................... 6
Ch. 6 ................................................................................... 7
Ch. 7 ................................................................................... 8
Ch. 8 ................................................................................... 9
Ch. 9 ................................................................................. 10
Ch. 10 ............................................................................... 10

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SHUSAKU ENDO

Historical Information on the Period

Jesuit approach to Evangelization (as contrasted with Franciscan
and Dominican)
Hideoyshi Invasion
1614 Edict of Expulsion
1619 Japanese Christian martyrdom in Kyoto (the Capital), cf. p.
xi.
Place of Portugal in the Church of the time and the early Society
1632 Christovao Ferreira apostasized

Key Concepts of Fundamental Values and Root Paradigms

and Ethnocentrism East & West

Buddhist/Shinto Cosmology
Omni-presence of spirits (especially in Shintoism): Shin-to
(divine path)
Notion of suffering and its causes: birth is suffering, aging is
suffering, illness is suffering, death is suffering; union with
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what is displeasing is suffering; separation from what is

pleasing is suffering; not to get what one wants is suffering
(from Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Noble_Truths [accessed
March 24, 2015])
Klesa (or Klesha) are inordinate attachments that cloud the
mind
Affect Karma and lead in turn to
Reincarnation (Buddhist Purgatory)
Principle of no action (wu-wei)
4 Noble Truths
o Dukkha: all temporary things and states are
unsatisfying;
o Yet we crave and cling to these things and states [Klesa
or afflictive attachments] which forces us to
reincarnation
o If we stop craving and clinging, we won't need to be
reborn;
o By following the Noble Eightfold Path, we can escape
this birthrebirth vicious cycle
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8-Fold Path (right view, right intention, right speech, right

action, right livelihood, right effort, and right mindfulness as
conditions for the practice of right concentration)

Hermeneutical keys from Zen

Vision, meditation, Koan, and path to Enlightenment.
First step is learning that what one sees is not the world,
then one learns to see in a different way,
then one learns to meditate,
then one does Koans, which break down rational pre-existing
patterns
and final one hopefully reaches Enlightenment (Satori)
For more on this background see Bretzkes Powerpoints Zen
Buddhism and Confucian Culture
Zen Buddhism:
https://www2.bc.edu/james-bretzke/ZenBuddhismAndConfucia
nismKeyConcepts.ppsx
Confucian Culture in Contemporary Korean Context
https://www2.bc.edu/james-bretzke/ConfucianCultureInKorea.p
psx
Theology, Spirituality and Orthodoxy Issues
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Christology
Sacraments (understandings of Baptism and Penance
especially)
Ecclesiology
Apostasy
Martyrdom
Genuine Inculturation vs. Syncretism or Theological
Imperialism

Cultural Imperialism and Postcolonialism

Definition/description of Postcolonialism from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-Colonialism [accessed March
24, 2015]:
Postcolonialism or postcolonial studies is an academic
discipline featuring methods of intellectual discourse that
analyze, explain, and respond to the cultural legacies of
colonialism and imperialism, to the human consequences of
controlling a country and establishing settlers for the economic
exploitation of the native people and their land. Drawing from
postmodern schools of thought, postcolonial studies analyse the
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politics of knowledge (creation, control, and distribution) by

analyzing the functional relations of social and political power
that sustain colonialism and neocolonialismthe how and the
why of an imperial regime's representations (social, political,
cultural) of the imperial colonizer and of the colonized people.
As a genre of contemporary history, postcolonialism questions
and reinvents the modes of cultural perceptionthe ways of
viewing and of being viewed. As anthropology, postcolonialism
records human relations among the colonial nations and the
subaltern peoples exploited by colonial rule.[1] As critical theory,
postcolonialism presents, explains, and illustrates the ideology
and the praxis of neocolonialism, with examples drawn from the
humanitieshistory and political science, philosophy and
Marxist theory, sociology, anthropology, and human geography;
the cinema, religion, and theology; feminism, linguistics, and
postcolonial literature, of which the anti-conquest narrative genre
presents the stories of colonial subjugation of the subaltern man
and woman.
Ethical Issues, including
Missionary evangelization and acculturation via contact
with foreigners
Economic issues (similar to forces of globalization
today)

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Relation to Chinese Rites Controversy, the 3

Self-Movement and the Patriotic Church, etc.
Ethical class and economic issues in Tokugawa Japan
Role of the State in governing religious practices and
beliefs

Theological Keys from Post-Vatican II

Rahner, Karl, S.J. "The Abiding Significance of the Second
Vatican Council," Theological Investigations, 20. London:
Darton, Longman and Todd, 1981. 90-102.
. "Towards a Fundamental Theological Interpretation of
Vatican II," Theological Studies 40 (1979) 716-727.
EPOCHS IN CHURCH HISTORY
*
"... theologically speaking, there are three great epochs in Church
history, of which the third has only just begun and made itself
observable officially at Vatican II. First, the short period of
Jewish Christianity. Second, the period of the Church in a
distinct cultural region, namely, that of Hellenism and of
European culture and civilization. Third, the period in which the
sphere of the Church's life is in fact the entire world. These three
periods signify three essential and different basic situations for
Christianity and its preaching." p. 721.
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"And yet I would still venture the thesis that today we are
experiencing a break such as occurred only once before, that is, in
the transition from Jewish to Gentile Christianity." p. 723.
-->"This, then, is the issue: either the Church sees and recognizes
these essential differences of other cultures for which she should
become a world Church and with a Pauline boldness draws the
necessary consequences from this recognition, or she remains a
Western Church and so in the final analysis betrays the meaning
of Vatican II." p. 724

Theological Cross-Fertilization Possibilities

Understandings of Jesuit Spirituality, especially the 3rd
Degree of Humility
Deeper understandings of Jesus Christ, soteriology,
sacraments, the Church, and especially what it means to be
a priest
Analysis of the Novel Silence
Background to Endo's Life
cf. p. xv.
Born in Tokyo, raised in Kobe after parents divorced
Baptized at age c. 11
Taught at the Jesuit-run Sophia University in Tokyo
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Background to Silence
First English Translation published in 1969.
Ideograms related to silence

Prologue
Opening Line: "News Reached the Church in Rome." [Where and
what is the "Church"?]
P. 7: "atone for the apostasy of Ferreira which had so wounded
the honor of the Church..."
His apostasy seen as a defeat for the Church and Europe

Valignano as Visitor (explain and show text)

P. 7 Where is Japan? "...this remote country at the periphery of
the world was not simply the failure of one individual but a
humiliating defeat for the faith itself and the whole of Europe." p.
7.
Ch. 1
Letter of Sebastian Rodrigues
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(genre of early missionaries)

Main characters begin to appear
Inoue, (p. 14) "cunning as a serpent..."
Kichijiro, p. 17, portrayed I think as Peter, in his weakness, doubt,
and denial (will this be the rock of the Japanese Church?)
Kichijiro: combo Judas and Peter? P. 17
In a literary sense Kichijiro and Ferreira function as foils to
Rodrigues' character, and as mirrors to his soul.
First mention of silence on p. 21: On the wall is a great big
cockroach. Its rasping noise breaks the solemn silence of the
night. [Foreshadowing the end of the novel)
P. 21 (turn to Christ foreshadowed): Jesus entrusted himself to
untrustworthy people like Kichijiro {and Ferreira, etc.??})
View of Christian mission: founded on last words of Christ in
Matthew's Gospel (cf. p. 22).
P. 22 (turn to Christ: go out to the world to preach the Gospel, and
"the face of Christ rises up before my eyes" [What did Christ look
like? The Bible passes over this point in "silence"] The key to
the novel will be listening to this silence.

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Theological irony in the last paragraph of this chapter, p. 22.

Rodrigues says they arrive with no luggage except their own
hearts (irony?)

Ch. 2
Arrival in village of Tomogi Ch. 2
P. 24 Faith could not be compatible with Kichijiro's cowardice
(irony)
Rodrigues speaks of this "abandoned and desolate land" (his
arrival lessens this?)
Letter of Sebastian Rodrigues
Hopes about the mission.
Description of Kichijiros conduct during the storm on the boat,
and Rodrigues judgment that he couldnt possibly be a Christian,
since Faith could not turn a man into such a coward. p. 24.
First mention of Kichijiro as possible betrayer, like Judas: p. 26.

Description of Japan as "this desolate and abandoned land" in

which a priest, crucifix in hand, had now arrived to give hope (p.
29)
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Ch. 3
Letter of Sebastian Rodrigues
Are the Japanese Christians abandoned because there are no
priests?? P. 31
P. 31: wants to let them know that they are not abandoned, since
now priests are with them. But hasn't Christ always been with
them??
Faith's continuance depends on the presence of priests?! p. 31.
Picture of the Japanese Church: modeled on that of Europe (a
poor imitation) cf. p. 32.
Latin as the "language of the Church" and same prayers, Angelus,
Pater Noster, etc.
Informers on priests receive 300 pieces of silver (ten times more
than Judas got for Jesus!), p. 33.
First real doubt expressed and beginning to ask a real theological
question: p. 34 "Why has God given our Christians such a
burden? This is something I fail to understand." [turn to the
Japanese]
Killing lice likened perhaps to killing of Christians, p. 36.

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Turn to Christ continued and realization (at least in words) that

Christ had not come to die for the good and the beautiful, but for
the miserable and the corrupt. P. 38.
Rodrigues trip to Goto and his tireless work there: describes the
peasants as an army marching through the desert and the arriving
at an oasis of water. P. 42 (oasis = priests? Sacraments? Or
Christ?)
Unease about the Japanese Christians desire for crucifixes,
medals, etc.their whole attitude makes me uneasy. I keep
asking myself if there is not some error in their outlook. p. 45
Guards enter Tomogi at the end of Ch. 3.
End of the chapter; end of the idyllic phase of missionary work, as
the officials get wind of the priests.
Ch. 4
Letter of Sebastian Rodrigues
Kichijiros drunken claim: If I am with you, you have nothing to
fear p. 48reminiscent of Jesus Christs last promise (K. as
imago Xti?)
Plot thickens: June 5th
Praying in the noonday silence (2nd instance of silence); similar
to the crucifixion?
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Fumie Japanese for stepping-on picture

[From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fumi-e
A fumi-e (fumi "stepping-on" + e "picture"?) was a likeness of
Jesus or Mary upon which the religious authorities of the
Tokugawa shogunate of Japan required suspected Christians to
step on in order to prove that they were not members of that
outlawed religion.[1] The use of fumi-e began with the
persecution of Christians in Nagasaki in 1629. Their use was
officially abandoned when ports opened to foreigners on April
13, 1856, but some remained in use until Christian teaching was
placed under formal protection during the Meiji period.]
Issue of whether to trample the fumie to save the village, and
Rodrigues says to trample on it (he has changed...) This is a
breakthrough! p. 54.
Kichijiro's theological question: "`Why has Deus Sama given us
this trial? We have done no wrong'" p. 54.
[Explain significance of the term "Deus Sama"]
Kichijiro's question linked to the silence of God: p. 55.
Two villagers are killed by the water torture
Unwonted sense of pity: Mokichi and Ichizo given a cup of sake
to drink, before their torture continues. P. 57

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Question: What is Martyrdom? p. 60 Killed by the seain

silence
Rodrigues laments the fate of the Japanese Christians who
believed our word (p. 60), but is this accurate? Did the peasants
believe the missionaries word or the Word of God that lies
beyond all human understanding?
Rodrigues realizes that "real" martyrdom is not as glorious as he
had imagined, p. 60.
Expresses doubt about why they had come in the first place, p. 61.
"What happened to our glorious dream?" p. 61.
Significance of one priest remaining in the catecomb p. 61.
[irony, as he will end up being that one priestand a priest is a
priest for ever]
Rodrigues and Garrpe part company
p. 62, still holds on to his clerical sense of higher duty
Begins to realize how their presence brought suffering to the
people of Tomagi
Rodrigues begins to see himself in a different light: as a bringer of
burden (rather than grace) to the Japanese Christians: p. 62.

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P. 67: Rodrigues begins to grow closer to Christseeing now his

life in reference to Christ, rather than reference to the Church or
evangelization. Relation, perhaps, to the third degree of
humility in the Exercises, or perhaps the whole trajectory of the
Exercises.
Rodrigues is alone, reflects on Christ crucified-more
Christocentric than before.
P. 68, sound of the cicada and silence, silence of God motif
returns
Cicada singing; everything else silent p. 68 [cicada in Japan
signifies the summer, especially the end of the summer, and is
also a symbol for reincarnation. It lives most of its life
underground as a nymph and when emerges as an adult it only
has a short time to live and reproduce before dying]
R. Questions whether God exists.... [Koan theme]
Rodrigues' own musings on the silence of God, including
doubts to his faith in God: pp. 68-69.
What is the "church"? Is it a building with spires and a cross?
or a mud hut? or? pp. 70-71.
Priest-centered ecclesiology: You and Garrpe are probably the
only priests in this whole country. If you die, the Japanese
church dies with you. You and Garrpe must live no matter how
great the injuries and sufferings this life entails. p. 72.
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Kichijiro mimics the miracle of Christ in feeding the hungry

(Rodrigues) with a few dried fish, p. 73.
Cultural evangelization model: seminary with Latin songs, etc.
"just like in Europe..." p. 74.
Meets Kichijiro on the road
While on the road R. Sees himself as Xt. And K. As Judas-but in
time he will have to see himself as Judas in order to find Xt., p.
75.
Christ came even to save men like Judas (keep this in mind at the
end of the story when Kichijiro asks for confession). P. 75
Two categories of men: the strong and the weak (more closely
Confucian?) rather than the Good, the Bad and the Ugly. p. 77.
Pleading for forgiveness due to his weakness, Kichijiro betrays
Rodrigues at the end of the chapter for some silver coins, p. 78.
Ch. 5
Rodrigues' ongoing identification with the person of Jesus Christ
in the latter's sufferings. (Seguela Christi).
Japanese Christian peasant woman who has learned a certain
amount of theology: "`...we are Christians. Those men are not
Christians. They are gentiles [Gei-jin?]'. Obviously she saw
deep meaning in this distinction." p. 81.
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R. Is captured, asks himself what he has left to give, p. 81.

Peasant womans view of heaven (no taxes, etc.), p. 82.
Inoue appears to Rodrigues, p. 82.
Rs prayer that God does not increase the peasants suffering, p.
84.
First face-to-face encounter with Inoue and R. Is asked to
apostatize, p.84
Inoues ruse: If youre a father at heart youd have pity on the
peasants (who would suffer because of you), p. 85.
Rodrigues' first prayer: realization of connection between sin and
suffering (rather than sin and "moral evil" etc.), and this
occasioned his "first real prayer" p. 86.
Rs realization of what real sin is: p. 86.:
Sin, he reflected, is not what it is usually thought to be: it is not
to steal and tell liew. Sin is for one man to walk brutally over the
life of another and to be quite oblivious of the wounds he has left
behind. And then for the first time a real prayer rose up in his
heart. p. 86.
Conversation with Interpreter (double meaning?!): helps
Rodrigues see another side to the mission of the missionaries. p.
88.
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First controversy with a Japanese (a paradigm shift,) IRD p.

88.
Rodrigues' reply based on Thomistic theology, p. 89.
Breakdown of the dialogue.
Pp. 90-91: R. Discovers that Ferreira is alive and has apostasized.
Lord why are you silent... p. 92.
Vow never to apostasize, no matter what: p. 99.
Deepening awareness and compassion for Kichijiro and his
betrayal on the part of Rodrigues (p. 100).
Ch. 6
In prison, could minister to the other Christian prisoners as a
priest, and he wished this life might go on like this forever (p.
105)
Looks on the face of Christ in prayer, and feels he's been
answered, p. 106.
Conversation with Lord Inoue: pp. 108-109
Inculturation and suitability of Christianity for Japan.

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Rodrigues' responds with the assertion that truth is universal, pp.

108-109.
R. Finally realizes who Inoue is.
Encounter with Kichijiro in prison and the latters insistence that
God has asked him to imitate the strong, though God made him
weak (p. 114). Japanese sense of karma??
Kichijiro confesses his faith and asks to be imprisoned. He is,
briefly, but then again tramples on the fumie and is sent away
from the prison.
Ch. 7
Further exchange with Inoue,
Rodrigues considers what he has experienced to be similar to
Christ being betrayed by Judas, p. 125.
Irony of living the life of a "priest" only in prison, p. 126.
Rodrigues is asked about the nature of Christian mercy, p. 132.
Garrpe reappears and is martyred.
Tries to pray the words from lyrics of Ave Maris Stella Hail Star
of the Sea, p. 133
Vitam prsta puram,
iter para tutum,
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ut videntes Jesum
semper colltemur.
Bestow a pure life,
Prepare a safe way:
That seeing Jesus,
We may ever rejoice.
Rodrigues realizes the great reversal, that the Japanese are laying
down their lives for him instead of the other way around, p. 133
He prays that Garrpe apostatize to save the villagers, and says to
himself that he would.
Finally meets Ferreira, p. 141 ff
Ferreira talks about self deception, p. 142 (Zen)
He also talks of being of some use to the Japanese, translating a
book.
Also writing a book exposing the errors of Christianity
Yet God is still silent, p. 145.
Rodrigues' meditation on Gethsemane and the silence of God
Several Zen-type Koans in this chapter, see p. 146 on mercy and
self-abandonment.

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"The path of mercy means that you abandon yourself." p. 146.

Encounter with Ferreira and deepening of Rodrigues' personal
doubts
Pp. 147-151 Key exchange between Ferreira and Rodrigues as to
whether Christianity could take root in Japan.
Question of term for God: p. 148 "Deus" and Dainichi
P. 152 Rodrigues' asks himself if anyone could die for a false
faith? Perhaps this is the key question.

Ch. 8
p. 157, Rodrigues still believes himself to be the image of Christ
in Japan
p, 159, consolation from drawing near to the suffering Christ
Deepening identification with Jesus Christ and his passion.
Significance of the words carved out by Ferreira in the prison
cell: Laudate Eum [which Rodrigues mistakenly believes has
been carved by a missionary "burning with faith" who had not
apostatized. p. 160]
Feeling of hearing the voice of Christ, speaking to him in the
midst of the suffering, p. 161.
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P, 161 God's silence begins to break, as he realizes that in his

sufferings Christ suffers with him.
P. 163-64 Kichijiro reappears, professing his faith, and asking for
absolution. Once again Kichijiro claims that God made him weak
and thus he cannot be a martyr.
Rodrigues says the prayer silently but it doesn't come from the
depth of his heart, but rather out of priestly duty. No true
Enlightenment yet.
Ferreira explains why he apostasized: p. 167-8.
P, 167. Key question: "You call yourself a priest-one who takes
on the sufferings of others?"
However, this ultimately is not the reason why Rodrigues
apostasizes!
Pp. 167-68. Ferreira apostatized because he believed God did
nothing for these people (a false god?).
P. 169, key conflict laid out: "apostasy" betrays the Church
P. 169, Ferreira's affirmation that to save others Christ would
have apostatized, and then night breaks to dawn.
Apostasy cast in terms of betrayal of the Church: p. 169.
Apostasy as most important work of love: p. 170.
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Yet I wonder if Ferreira finds the same insight that Rodrigues

ultimately hears: for Ferreira "reasons" that the imitation of
Christ asks the priest to do what he believes Christ would have
done, namely give up everything to end the sufferings of others.
But for Rodrigues in that moment finally finds see the true face of
Christ and hears the silence broken by Christ's voice. P. 171.
Ch. 9
Disillusionment with the superiors outside of Japan: p. 174-175.
Enlightenment of Rodrigues: "I wonder if there is any difference
between Kichijiro and myself. And yet, rather than this I know
that my Lord is different from the God that is preached in the
churches." p. 175.
P. 175 His insight is confirmed: he and Kichijiro are the same, but
the God preached in the churches and the God he has come to
know are different.
Pp. 175-76 the face on the fumie is not one of majesty or
endurance, but one sunken and utterly exhausted.
Complex feelings towards Ferreirahis mirror image
(doppelganger?) P. 177 [From Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doppelg%C3%A4nger It also
describes the sensation of having glimpsed oneself in peripheral
vision, in a position where there is no chance that it could have
been a reflection. Doppelgngers often are perceived as a
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sinister form of bilocation and are regarded by some to be

harbingers of bad luck. In some traditions, a doppelgnger seen
by a person's friends or relatives portends illness or danger, while
seeing one's own doppelgnger is said to be an omen of death.]
As he walked away, he would furtively look back at Ferriera.
Ferreira, too, would cast a glance back at him. Until next month
they would not meet again. And when they did meet, neither
would be able to plumb the depths of the others solitude. p. 178
[last sentence in the chapter, and last sentence in the novels main
plot until the sort of epilogue]
Ch. 10
Diary extracts.
Extracts from the Dutch journal
p. 186, Rodrigues meets Inoue and realizes it was not against him,
but rather R's own faith that he had fought.
P. 187, Rodrigues has to take a Japanese name and wife, but this
is made possible by knowing that Christ does understand this
insult (we finally have a true 3rd degree of humility).
P. 189 Kichijiro appears for the last time, asking for confession
(thus Rodrigues is still a priest). Again Kichijiro professes that
God has made him weak and he cannot be strong as a martyr.

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P. 190 last words of Jesus to Rodrigues, explain the words spoken

to Judas (not even Judas is outside of Christ's care...) Jesus
suffers with him
Rodrigues' final exchange with the silent Christ: p. 190.
Ultimate Enlightenment.
Appendix
Kichijiro seems to maintain Christian images and thus his faith,
p.197
Diary of an officer
Death of Rodrigues recorded.

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