‘Forbidden religion’ rites to be preserved on video

NAGASAKI >> Descendants of Kakure Kirishitans, or “hidden Christians” of the 17th to 19th centuries, are planning to make a video about the lives of their ancestors for posterity. The chronicle will feature baptisms, Easter and other rites that were held from the Edo period (1603-1867) through several decades ago by the devout Christians hiding their faith on Naru Island in Nagasaki prefecture.

The group is considering making the video available overseas with English subtitles.

This year marks five years since the Hidden Christian Sites in the Nagasaki Region was registered as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

From the 17th to 19th centuries, when Christianity was prohibited in Japan, hidden Christians secretly kept their faith even while becoming worshipers at Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines. In 1865 they confessed their faith to a visiting French priest at Oura Cathedral in what is now Nagasaki City; that revelation was deemed a miracle.

Many hidden Christians moved to Naru Island around 1800 from what is today the Sotome area of Nagasaki City, and may have lived in remote, barren areas.

Even after the Meiji government lifted the ban on Christianity in 1873, many hidden Christians did not accept the invitation of French priests to merge with Catholicism. Rather, they continued to practice as Kakure Kirishitans, with baptisms, Christmas and funerals held in the traditional faith they had developed.

The organization of Kakure Kirishitans was centered on a “chokata,” who supervised activities, and a “mizukata,” who administered baptisms. They recited “orasho” prayers.

Today, with their numbers diminished and the weakening of religiosity amid modernization, Kakure Kirishitan rites are no long­er in practice.

To document those rites, several Catholic priests, along with Kazutoshi Kakimori, a descendant of hidden Christians and a former Nagasaki municipal official, plan to reenact them in traditional clothing.

The group is considering the video for educational purposes, such as lectures, symposiums and other events about the history of hidden Christians.

After his retirement in 2008, Kakimori, 76, moved from Nagasaki City to Naru Island, where the population has dropped to 1,900 from 9,000 in 1960. He established a research center for the study of hidden Christians and other topics, interviewing elderly people and collecting religious objects.

“Objects won’t be enough to adequately pass down our ancestors’ faith to future generations,” Kakimori said. “We want to reenact the events of those days as faithfully as possible while we are still physically able to do so.”

Said Father Renzo De Luca of the Japan Province of the Society of Jesus: “There are few cases in the world where people had continued their faith for such a long time under oppression. We would like to cooperate as much as possible in the production of the video.”