In Search of Japan's Hidden Christians: A Story of Suppression, Secrecy and Survival

by John Doughill

The story of Japan's hidden Christians is the subject of a major motion picture by director Martin Scorsese, based on Shusaku Endo's famous novel, Silence. From the time the first Christian missionary arrived in Japan in 1549 to when a nationwide ban was issued in 1614, over 300,000 Japanese were converted to Christianity. A vicious campaign of persecution forced the faithful to go underground. For seven generations, Hidden Christians--or Kirishitan--preserved a faith that was strictly forbidden on pain of death. Illiterate peasants handed down the Catholicism that had been taught to their ancestors despite having no Bible or contact with the outside world.Just as remarkably, descendants of the Hidden Christians continue to this day to practice their own religion, refusing to rejoin the Catholic Church. Why? And what is it about Christianity that is so antagonistic to Japanese culture? In Search of Japan's Hidden Christians is an attempt to answer these questions. A journey in both space and time, In Search of Japan's Hidden Christians recounts a clash of civilizations--of East and West--that resonates to this day and offers insights about the tenacity of belief and unchanging aspects of Japanese culture.

Genres: History, Japan, Nonfiction, Religion, Christianity, Christian, Japanese History

288 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 1, 2012

Reviews

[Derek · Rating 3 out of 5]

Living in Japan and being a Christian is a rarity in itself. I and other Christians currently make up less than 1% of the population, so I was very interested to learn more about the early stages of Christianity in Japan and how it endured through heavy persecution.

Mr. Dougill's book is written as a travelogue interspersed with history, as he travels around mainly the southern part of Japan following the landmarks and talking with locals. I appreciated that he was open with the reader about his plan to travel around and research the history as he went, although I felt that a clearer, more systematic route could have been possible.

One thing that bothered me though (and it may not bother anyone else), was that Mr. Dougill appears to be somewhat of a pseudo-Shintoist trying to explain Christian doctrines and beliefs, and his theological understanding is average at best. Personally, I would've preferred this book to display a better grasp of the doctrinal beliefs of the early Jesuits, as well as the Hidden Christians, but that might just be me being picky.

However, I mostly enjoyed the book and the summary at the end was very helpful. In it, Mr. Dougill points out that those who call themselves Kakure Kirishitan or Hidden Christians today are very different than the Catholic or protestant churches and are more similar to a kind of Japanese folk religion with idols, superstitions, secret prayers and ancestor worship. I think the Christian martyrs of Japan many centuries ago would have a hard time recognizing what religion their descendants practice today.

[Lee · Rating 2 out of 5]

This seems to be meant as a travelogue/history/religious studies book but it's mediocre at best for all efforts. If the whole book had the in-depth descriptions and conversations with locals present in the final chapter, this would've been a great travelogue. But most of the book is dry, devoid of descriptive details and the author's reflections are cheesy. As far as the religious studies content, some of the author's determinations about Japan's religious practices are boiled down so much they are useless at best and offensive at worst. The history is interesting but presented non-chronologically and lacks the academic rigor I was hoping for. There is also the issue that some details are maddeningly left out for no apparent reason while other mundane details are repeated. For all these reasons, I wouldn't recommend this to anyone that hadn't already studied Japanese culture and religion.

[Zenith · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was disappointed that the book didn't describe the Hidden Christians' beliefs and practices until just before the end. Much of the book was devoted to describing the Jesuits' arrivals and departures and the atrocities that the Japanese believers had to endure because of their faith, but without an understanding of what that faith was and why believers were so devoted to it, I find it hard to understand how any of that history happened.

I also found the mixture of travelogue and more formal, academic history styles to be jarring. I'd get into the history of who was where, and then the author's voice would interject and talk about being on a boat from wherever to somewhere else. It wasn't bad, just awkwardly done.

[Antonio Coelho · Rating 3 out of 5]

O meu principal interesse neste livro, a chegada dos portugueses ao Japão, por volta de 1542, e o como as coisas aconteceram até à chegada dos holandeses e ingleses, por volta de 1600, foi cumprido até à pág. 98.
Dougill centra-se essencialmente na cristianização deste país, desde a chegada de Francisco Xavier à continuação com Luís Fróis e o papel de Alessandro Valignano na adaptação dos ritos cristãos à cultura japonesa que permitiu uma maior aceitação desta religião.
Refere também o papel da política e de como a necessidade do comércio português e em particular o conhecimento das armas de fogo contribuíram para a maior aceitação e tolerância pelos padres jesuítas.
Interessante embora não traga muitas novidades em relação ao que já conhecia.

[DarkStar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Autor opowiada w sposób interesujący, a lektura pozwoliła mi trochę uzupełnić wiedzę wyniesioną z historii przedstawionych w Milczenie oraz Tysiąc jesieni Jacoba de Zoeta. Wraz z autorem podróżujemy w czasie i przestrzeni, bo porusza się on od początków chrześcijaństwa w Japonii aż do czasów współczesnych i robi to chronologicznie, jednocześnie odwiedzając miejsca, w których rozgrywały się kolejne wydarzenia. Dla mnie to bardzo przystępna forma, która z łatwością pozwala śledzić historię chrześcijaństwa na tych terenach.

[Kuba Łagowski · Rating 2 out of 5]

Historia ciekawa, ale napisana książka jest fatalnie. Przeskakiwanie między współczesnością a przeszłością, zapowiedzi przyszłości w opowieściach o przeszłości przeplatane jakimiś historyjkami, bardzo mylące. Nie mówiąc o tym, że na siłę chce nazywać wszystkie terminy japońskie nazwami japońskimi przez co w połowie (kiedy się ich namnożyło) nie miałem pojęcia o czym mówi. Pełno nazwisk, niektóre pojawiają się na chwilę, inne wracają po nastu stronach i nie wiadomo kto jest kim. Szkoda :/

[Jon · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you are looking for places of Christian relevance in Japan, you should read this book despite its low rating. This is because of the relative dearth of material on the topic more than the book itself. This book is a mix of travelogue and history book, however it does neither satisfactorily.

The history portion is the only part of moderate value. It appears that this topic is relatively underexplored and I appreciate all of the work that the author did in finding / reading source materials, visiting the locations, and speaking with locals. I enjoyed the pictures also (though I wish they were distributed throughout the book rather than compiled in the center). I had initially considered giving this book three stars because I did learn things from the book - in particular, Japanese sites related to Christianity - but then I considered how I would compare this to most historical books that I've read, and that showed how poor it was. If I were an editor and someone provided me the materials in this book, I would have told them they needed to spend at least another year fleshing out all the historical context and background. I'd also have them do away with the travelogue portion and organize the materials in a way that made more sense for history than the writer's travels. I will say that I have doubts as to whether the author could have written a good historical book on this topic though, as the travelogue portion did not seem overly concerned with bias.

The travelogue portion lacks any particular value - it's not entertaining nor insightful. It appears the author was going for insightful, however his opinions were randomly and jarringly inserted in blocks of history, and weirdly at odds with the topic - while he understood some historical events related to Christianity, he did not appear to have more than a surface-level understanding of the theology of Christianity and frequently seemed to have an anti-Christian bent within his own syncretic/universalist commentary (I got the impression he was a Brit who moved to Japan and disdained his inherited worldview). Since this book is more casual than academic, it's a perplexing tonal choice for a book that I would think is most likely to be read by Christians. As I said, it also didn't provide anything insightful, instead frequently popping in with one-liners to say things like how perhaps some Hidden Christians stumbled on a greater truth when they syncretized the Virgin Mary with a native fertility figure - no further discussion on that assertion needed, apparently. I have no problem reading differing viewpoints from my own, but this felt more akin to that person who ruins an otherwise congenial dinner conversation with continual one-line allusions to how your political party is terrible. I did find one particular moment ironic. After the author spends a paragraph speculating that perhaps a daimyo intentionally sent Hidden Christians to another daimyo's land because he wanted to be rid of them (without any historical justification for this supposition), he captures this interaction with his local guide:

"What did Matsubara think of the idea? 'Tabun', he replied. 'Maybe.' Once I'd have pressed him for a clearer answer - 'Yes or no?' Now, after long years in Japan, I was happy to accept the vagueness and the implied modesty. Opinionated views are not the Japanese way."

I wish the author had taken a note from the Japanese and left his opinions out of the book.

[Eleanor · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was sent to me in Japan by my father, an Episcopal priest in America, after he had read it and found it disappointing but interesting enough to finish. I think that is how I would characterize it as well. The topic matter is fascinating, and this approach to it maybe a good idea not well executed. One also really has to have read or been fairly familiar with Endo's Silence to grasp the constant references to it. With that, I think my having lived in Japan for 23 years and picking up at least a passing grasp of the history, shintoism, and Japanese Buddhism helped me in reading this so that I appreciated it a bit more, or at least to follow it better.

There were so many times I wish the author had given more depth or more actual history, where instead he gave his commentary. A lot of skimming the surface of places and things. There also--and I cannot put my finger on specific examples to back this up--was a sense of judgement or condescension that came through at times.

Finally, the title is misleading. So much of the book is a travelogue mixed with information about the early missionaries and history of Christians in Japan, and so very little is about the Hidden Christians of today, or more recent times, that a better title would have been, "My Search for the Origins of Japan's Hidden Christians". I think, also, the addition of maps, more photos placed, not in a lump in the center, but within chapters where the elements are discussed, and a clearer timeline would have helped.

[Richard Fitzgerald · Rating 4 out of 5]

John Doughill tells the story of his search for the history of Japan’s hidden Christians. He relates the history of these hidden Christians along the way. It is a fascinating story of how the original Jesuit mission to Japan was successful, then brutally suppressed, yet Christianity persisted in Japan. It was a very secretive faith that often hid behind a veneer of Buddhism. And because the believers were mainly illiterate, they didn’t have the Bible or other writings, besides one book of prayers with multiple variants, to guide them. Their faith continued for centuries but is often not recognizable as Christianity. Ironically, with Japan’s more open culture, the hidden Christian faith is declining to extinction.

[Kiggachi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really great primer for learning the history of Christianity in Japan. If you can ignore the author's awkwardly offensive commentary, sprinkled like specks of fecal matter throughout each chapter, then it's a very gripping story. I very much want to follow his footsteps in Kyushu to see all the places mentioned in the book.

[Michelle Ule · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tedious read that really needed a map and a better understanding of Christianity.

[Gin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this over the Christmas period, and having just returned from Amakusa, one of the areas mentioned in the book, the content became much more salient than if it was otherwise. That said, I would have enjoyed it even if the above two points were not the case.

The book takes a journal like format, in which he started at Kagoshima, and weaving his way through most of Kyushu with a detour to what is now Gifu to include in the role that Oda Nobunaga played in how Christianity came to be. The first half of the book was more focused on the history of Christianity, its coming, establishment, spread and eventual prohibition, culminating in the Shimabara Rebellion. Thereafter, the narrative took on a more micro, almost religious exploration of Christianity during Tokugawa rule.

In doing so, we come to learn that because they had to hide the fact that they are Christians, and because of the proscription against the religion, they had to go underground and thus becomes the titular Hidden Christians over the course of Tokugawa rule. But the interesting thing is how because they had no priests or doctrine to refer to, no point of reference as to what constitute orthodox Catholic doctrine, the Christianity of these Hidden Christians come to be very different from actual Catholicism.

So much so that when the ban against Christianity was lifted in 1873 by the new Meiji Government, and when the Hidden Christians could now practice their faith in the open, there was a realisation that what they consider Christianity, the orthodox Catholics who were coming into the country after the opening considers to be anything but doctrinal Christianity. This is explored in much greater detail in the final
three chapters, where the author journeyed to Hirado and the Goto Islands, and where he delved into the specific practices of these Hidden Christians. It’s incredibly interesting to see how their practices differ, and how it comes to resemble more of an amalgamation of the Christian, Shinto and Buddhist faith.

One aspect that I think didn’t sit as well with me is how there is a strain of Nihonjinron in trying to explain why Christianity became the way it was. Part of it is because he cited Endo Shusaku’s work quite a bit - naturally so given Endo’s subject matter - but I felt that using Japaneseness as a way to explain was a bit culturally reductive and essentialist. I felt that there could be a better explanation than just concluding that the Hidden Christians and their practices are what they are because of some peculiar aspect of Japanese culture.

[W. Derek Atkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book because I wanted to learn more about the history of Christianity in Japan, and this book does not disappoint. John Dougill does an excellent job of tracing out the history of Christianity in Japan during the turbulent years surrounding the establishment of Japan's Shogunate Era. In particular, he aims to discover the origins, history, and fate of Japan's Hidden Christians. Along the way, he shows how these Hidden Christians ultimately came to practice a form of religion that is completely different from the historic Christianity their forbears originally embraced when Christian missionaries first arrived in Japan, and explains the reasons for this development.

I liked this book because I was able to learn a good deal about the history of Christianity in Japan. I especially appreciate Dougill's descriptions of the persecutions that Catholics in Japan endured, and am thankful for Dougill's perceptive insight that Japan's centuries of isolation were the direct result of her leaders' desire to keep Christianity out of Japan, as well as his equally perceptive insight that Japan's decision in the 19th Century to Westernize was catalyzed in large part by the realization of their leaders that their persecution of Catholics was preventing Western nations from fully opening up trade with them.

What I do not like about this book is Dougill's conclusion that all religions are essentially different paths to the same ultimate divine reality. This is manifestly not true, and despite the fact that this notion is a very popular one, it is still an instance of lazy thinking about religion. When you examine the core beliefs of the world's different religions, you'll find that they are fundamentally incompatible with each other. Islam claims there is only one God; Hindus worship some 330 million gods; and the original form of Buddhism, as taught by Gautama Buddha, is completely atheistic. Logic tells us that all of these different religions can't be the same, and logic tells us that they can't all be true. This is one of the reasons why Christianity's exculsivity does make good sense.

I recommend this book to anyone who wishes to know more about the history of Christianity in Japan, or who wants to know more about Japanese society in general. Dougill does a very good job of tracing out Christianity's history in Japan, and offers some very intruiging insights into Japanese culture and society.

[Brandon Dalo · Rating 5 out of 5]

In “In Search of Japan’s Hidden Christians” author John Dougill travels through Japan, retracing the history of the spread of Christianity there, through sites of persecution and martyrdom, and ultimately where pockets of Hidden Christians survived through Japan’s age of isolation up through to the present day.

With that aim, I appreciate the way in which this book was organized: as mentioned, the author actually travels to these locations, so we get, more or less, the history in chronological order. I appreciated though that there is no “fluff” in his approach, i.e. we don’t hear about his travel stresses or troubles, what hotel he stayed at, etc. His travels facilitated history, not him, which I liked.

In each location he travels to, he gets a local guide to show him around and explain what happened there in more detail. I also appreciated this as he wasn’t regurgitating information that he found in older books, but he was hearing from real locals who were descendants of those Japanese persons who were directly affected by all of this. In this way, he gained significant access to many locations that were off the beaten path, which gave a more complete picture of a lot of what happened to people there in regards to all of this.

The author seems to have a lot of respect for the Japanese. He comes across as level headed, professional, and straight forward. He sometimes gives opinions on situations such as the bombing of Nagasaki, but he says them in such a way to not be inflammatory to any side. I felt like this work is very important to document that which may be soon lost, as many of the people still practicing the religion of the Hidden Christians appear to be dying out.

I’ve decided to give this book five stars, not because it was the greatest book I’ve ever read, but because I think it accomplished exactly what I feel the author set out to do - tell an overview of the entire history of Christianity in Japan and reveal the story of the “suppression, secrecy and survival” that the Hidden Christians went through, through his travels in the area. To that end, I’d definitely recommend it if you are interested in these topics.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dougill provides a credible, informative history of Christianity in Japan in the context of his travels to various places where it developed in the 16th century primarily on the southern island of Kyushu.

The author did some things effectively to enhance my engagement with Search. Written in a direct, narrative style of prose the book was readily readable. Timely quotations helped to underscore points which he made. Chapters were subdivided into sections so as to make his arguments well organized. There was a map at the beginning of the book and there were numerous photographs. I do wish, however, that the latter had been placed in the part of the book they depicted instead of all in the middle

On the one hand, Dougill’s descriptions of the sites he visited were sometimes more thorough than I would have preferred. On the other, most of the historical figures he introduced were so succinctly discussed that I wished he had included more in this regard. There were two exceptions to this brevity. First, the author Shusaku Endo whose highly regarded 1960’s novel Silence about the persecution of Christians was thoroughly analyzed. Second, William Adams (the pilot in the novel Shogun) who lived in Japan in the early 1600’s was nicely explained as well.

Dougill provided a bibliography of 2 pages. Additionally, there were 5 pages of Notes at the end of the book. But these were nowhere near the number of times he referred to specific facts. For example, he provided the numbers of converts and executions in a number of places without any reference to the sources.

For those who are interested here is a description of Silence:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

Dougill wrote about the documentary film Otaiya (Christmas Eve) which was made in 1995. It portrays the last two Hidden Christian priests on the island of Narushima (near Nagasaki). It can be seen on Kanopy, a streaming service available through some public libraries.

[John Benson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't really know much about Japan's Hidden Christian communities before reading this book. John Dougill is a British religion professor at a Buddhist university in Kyoto, Japan. He gives us a sense of the the history of Christianity in Japan, a country with a very small percentage of Christians (only about 1%) from the time of the arrival of the Jesuits in the mid-1500s, the expulsion of all Christians from the country in the mid-1600s and their return seven generations later in the late 1800s. In between these times, a group known as the Hidden Christians practiced a very reclusive faith that combined elements of Catholicism and Buddhism. It remains a separate faith to this day. The author traveled around Southern Japan visiting key places in the early history of Christianity and locations that had larger Hidden Christian populations. The book is a mix of a travelogue, history, and an exploration of religious traditions in Japan.

[Deanne Davies · Rating 4 out of 5]

A facinating history, written in an engaging style. After abject persecutions by authorities toward Catholic converts and the expulsion of foreigners from Japan including the Jesuits. Two hundred years of isolation from the rest of the world and hidden from authorities within Japan, the hidden created a syncretic new religion passed down orally through the generations. Dougill questions why Christianity to this day is less than 1 percent of the population in Japan. He speculates that it is due to Japanese culture's inability to accept monotheism. I think it probable its likely because Catholicism came with many attempts at colonisation and Westernisation.

[Sebastian S · Rating 3 out of 5]

plus jest taki że nie wydaje się być stronnicza wyznaniowo I autorowi udaje się zachować pewien obiektywizm oraz autentyczność historyczną (ale to tylko moje wnioski i nadzieję patrząc na sporą bibliografię). Dosyć sporo tutaj opisow historycznych wydarzeń głównie o misjonarzach, co akurat jak dla mnie bardziej może stanowić dodatkowy konteks do takich dzieł kultury jak "Milczenie" i "Shōgun". Najbardziej zaciekawił mnie fragment zmierzenia się dwóch odrębnych kultur oraz wierzeń, które same w sobie są całkiem inne, a zarazem od zawsze jednak miały w sobie wspólne pierwiastki. Książka jednak bardziej do potraktowania jako ciekawostka, niż faktyczne studium analizy historyczno-religijnej

[Carola · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Mixed feelings on this book. Dougill successfully created links between catholicism and persecution in the past and Hidden Christians in modern times, but the book never went very deep. It was more of a travelogue and broad overview of Kyushu and its Hidden Christians. Interesting nonetheless (as someone who loves Kyushu and is interested in early catholicism in Japan I've now got a few more locations on my bucket list). Occasionally there were the author's more personal comments and ponderings but they were never more than 1-2 sentences and they constantly missed the mark - I could've done without those.

[Powersamurai · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading Endo Shusaku's Silence and watching the latest movie interpretation, I reached for this book that has been sitting on my shelf for a while to learn more about the Hidden Christians. Dougill does a good job of mixing history with his travelogue. He does a good job of also reminding the reader at times that persecutions were also prevalent in Europe at the same time the Christians of Japan were being persecuted in the late 1500s and early 1600s. An excellent book for people wanting to know more, without getting too deep in Japanese history.

[TT · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is more of a mixture of travelogue then formal, academic research on the history of Karure Kirishitan. An informative but easy read that gives an insight of painful journey of christianity in Japan. I find the comparison between incidents that happened at the same time at Japan and Europe utterly interesting. But some of the comment were rather offensive from Japanese standard. I picked up this book to know more about hidden christians of Japan after reading Endo's novels Deep river and Silence but without too much academic stuffs, which this book provide just enough.

[Tommy S. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wydawało mi się, ze jak na dziedzinę, którą się interesuję, wiem o Japonii prawie wszystko. jednak ta książka Johna Dougilla, osoby, która mieszka w Japonii i świetnie mówi po japońsku zburzyła to przekonanie.
Ukryci chrześcijanie, którzy przez ponad 3 wieku realizowali swoje przywiązanie do wiary chrześcijańskiej z początków siedemnastego wieku, gdzie nawet chrześcijaństwo ograniczało się tylko do chrztu i modlitw, pokazuje jak bardzo trudna do poznania jest Japonia i jej mieszkańcy...

[Irene · Rating 3 out of 5]

The other reviews put it very well. It's a book on an important and little-discussed topic, but it suffers from many flaws, including lack of vigor or depth on the subjects it investigates. However, it's still worth a read as a start, or if you've already read works of fiction like Endo's and want a bit more historical background.

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

The history is interesting and informative. The travelogue prose is enjoyable, but the unasked-for philosophical asides are an uninspired distraction.

[Abigail Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent! Written in a very unique documentary style. Lots of good information, well paced and very immersive.

[Lisa Church Sielen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The facts behind the novel Silence.

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. Professor Dougill's writing style feels like a conversation rather than a lecture. The book was easy to read and a good popular history clearly backed up with academic research and oral testimony from local people. My kind of historian! The author's personal insights were interesting, particularly on comparisons between religions. The tone was non-judgemental, questioning rather than didactic, and I thought that the travelogue style suited the story well, visiting the locations where the story unfurled, talking to local people, trying to find the remains of sites, seeing modern day memorials to the West's attempts to convert Japan to a different religion.

The preface made a good comparison between Pauline missionary activity at the start of the Christian church and missionary activity in Japan in 16th cent. I was taken with the parallels the author drew between the two eras, especially his perspective on the offer of equality through spirituality to the dispossessed and downtrodden, and the threat perceived by the ruling classes in both the Roman empire and Shogunate Japan. The idea that the lack of a figure like Constantine in Japan meant eradication of the faith was easier was an interesting one.

Professor Dougill also provides a useful timeline and breakdown of Japanese eras at the beginning, which helped put the story into a historical and political context.

I especially liked the context of what was going on in Japan politically - how the arrival of the Portuguese Jesuits was seized on by the shogun and daimyos as an opportunity to increase trade, and how the Jesuits used the offer of trade to make converts. The subsequent persecution under the Hideyoshi and Tokugawa regimes was also set within the context of political power and the shoguns' desire to maintain absolute power over a unified Japan, leading ultimately to the policy of isolationism.

There were some interesting thoughts on the feminine qualities of Japanese religion and culture (the sanctification of the mother, the adoption of the Virgin Mary as another version of Kannon), allied with social character of Japan (infantilisation of Japanese men, kawaii culture), with a link made to the nature of the Hidden Christian sub-religion and why the Virgin Mary became the focus of worship, not God or Christ.

I read the book to learn more about a curious aspect of Japan's history. I learnt a lot about those early years of trade with the Portuguese and why they were the dominant Western influence on Japan at that time (the loan words for bread and trousers, パン and ズボン, have Portuguese origins, and two cakes I've had in Japan are Portuguese), plus one reason behind why Tokugawa Ieyasu decided to close Japan off to the rest of the world. As someone with a vague interest in spirituality and why some people feel the need to connect with a higher power or powers, but who lacks in depth knowledge, I found the discussion of the different religions in Japan helpful in understanding how Buddhism and Shinto co-exist without apparently dominating Japanese society in the way Judaism, Christianity and Islam do their cultures/societies. The Japanese ability to assimilate different belief systems is very different to Western Christianity! I even learnt a little about the character of some Japanese through Professor Dougill's encounters with people on Kyushu and the surrounding islands where Christianity took its own peculiar hold.

Over all, I thought the book was an accessible way to understand Japanese history quickly. To my shame, my copy of Jansen's modern history of Japan is still unread on my bookshelves. The story of Japan's Hidden Christians, I expect, won't be covered in that book anyway. It's sad to think of the traditions dying out, after 400 years of upholding the way of life of those who were persecuted for their faith. As happens often in our global, capitalist, connected times, tradition is losing its relevance and the current generations are losing interest in the beliefs of their parents and grandparents. They are creating their own way of living that carries them through daily life. John Dougill wrote a good book that documents the history of this faith and the families that carried it across centuries just in time before it could disappear completely.

[Ian Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

An intriguing journey, as the author sets about telling a history through his journey around and about the places connected to the story.

In some ways the stories are convoluted or repetitive, likely the second to correct the first, but my first reaction is that I would advise reading Shusaku Endo's "Silence " before reading this book. This will give you a base to begin following Mr. Douglas.

Despite some difficulties I think this was an interesting journal of a trip with the specific goal of creating a linear story of this part of Japanese history (basically that of the hidden christians during Japan's isolation and the attack on outside influence). Probably my difficulties are tied mostly to the fact that this is not a lineal story and the author did his best to create a book for the populace out of what up to that point had mostly been a either simplified magazine pieces, or in depth scholarly works.

Through my reading I learned a good deal of specifics which furthered my interest in the subject as well as my pull to see Scorsese's newest work. As a travel guide of sorts it also mad me want to visit the sites described.

So, I recommend the book, but say that I think it is best for those interested in the subject, or willing to add further reading to assure a full grasp of the history and timeline.

Recommended

[Bonnie Parker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy to comprehend and interesting. It really flows. For those who want to learn about Japan and its Christian past in a more accessible way. No scientific talk, no sophisticated vocabulary, the author isn't opinionated.
I like that the author questions the logic of Christianity somehow sympathizing with the Japanese. I wish there were more pictures! The descriptions sound so magical when it comes to places/churches/landscapes.

[Bryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting story about christianity, or lack thereof, in Japan. This is a high level travelog that doesn't really sink it's teeth into the age it's covering or the religions during the period. Not a bad thing, I certianly did not want to read a research paper, but some more detail about the combating religions and tumultuous politics would have added more depth. Either way it's an informative book and easy read that provides insight into the journey of christianity in Japan. A good read.