How is "Kakure Kirishitan" written in Japanese?

There is no direct translation of the phrase, but the key term of the persecution era is 隠れキリシタン, かくれキリシタン: 隠れる means "to hide," and キリシタン is a borrowing from Portuguese christão, "Christian."

When did Christianity appear in Japan?

The beginning is considered to be 1549, when the Jesuit missionary Francis Xavier landed in Kagoshima and baptized the first Japanese. By 1587, according to various estimates, there were already over 200,000 Christians in the country, including several influential daimyo.

How did Japanese Christians survive under the ban?

After the bans of 1587 and 1614, some believers did not renounce their faith but went underground: they prayed in secret and posed as Buddhists. The faith was passed on orally from generation to generation, sometimes becoming noticeably distorted — until Christianity was permitted in 1873.

What is most often misunderstood about the persecution?

That the persecution was short and uniform everywhere. In fact, the ban was introduced gradually, from 1587 to 1614, and the severity of tests like fumi-e varied by province and decade over almost two and a half centuries.

How do you say "history of Christianity" in Japanese?

The history of Christianity in Japan is called キリスト教の歴史 (Kirisutokyō no rekishi), and the period of persecution and underground existence is a separate term 隠れキリシタン (Kakure Kirishitan), "hidden Christians."

History of Christianity in Japan — from Xavier to Freedom of Faith

The history of Christianity in Japan spans nearly five centuries of sharp turns. From the preaching of Francis Xavier in 1549 — through two and a half centuries of persecution and the underground Kakure Kirishitan — to freedom of religion under Meiji. The peak of persecution came in the 17th century: the edicts of Hideyoshi and Tokugawa, the execution of the 26 Martyrs of Nagasaki in 1597, and the suppression of the Shimabara Rebellion in 1638.

From the first baptisms in Kagoshima to the UNESCO sites in Nagasaki, nearly five centuries have passed. A key fact is often overlooked: the ban lasted not decades but almost two and a half centuries, and throughout that time the Kakure Kirishitan passed on their faith in secret, without priests or churches. We trace how Japanese Christianity went from favorable reception to fumi-e and back — to freedom.

Five Centuries of Christianity in Japan: From Xavier to Freedom of Faith

The history of Christianity in Japan falls into four sharply different stages: half a century of almost free preaching after 1549, bans and executions at the turn of the 16th–17th centuries, two and a half centuries underground, and legal existence from 1873. The key concept for the middle, longest part of this path is 隠れキリシタン (Kakure Kirishitan, "hidden Christians"): the name for Japanese who, after the ban, continued to practice their faith in secret, posing as Buddhists or Shinto followers. There is no single Japanese equivalent for the phrase itself — historians describe each stage with its own term.

Japanese	Reading	Translation
隠れキリシタン	kakure kirishitan · kakure kirishitan	Hidden Christians — secret believers of the persecution era
踏み絵	fumi-e · fumi-e	Icon for trampling — a way to test for Christianity
禁教令	kinkyōrei · kinkyōrei	Edict banning Christianity
潜伏	senpuku · senpuku	Concealment, underground — how believers lived for two centuries
信者	shinja · shinja	Believer — a simple word still heard today

Why "hidden Christians" is an imprecise translation

Translating "Kakure Kirishitan" simply as "hidden Christians" is not quite accurate. After the faith was permitted in 1873, some communities returned to the Catholic Church, while others kept their old secret rites and prayers in Japanese, little resembling European Catholicism, and did not join the official church at all. Historians distinguish these two groups, so texts on the topic sometimes specify "descendants of hidden Christians" rather than a literal translation of the term.

Kanji Breakdown: 隠れキリシタン

隠 — значение: to hide, to conceal, hidden — онъёми: イン、オン — кунъёми: かく.す、かく.し、かく.れる、よ.る — 14 штрих(ов). 隠 — "to hide, conceal": 14 strokes, N2 level. The same character appears in the verbs 隠す (kakusu, "to hide something") and 隠れる (kakureru, "to hide oneself"), from which the word Kakure Kirishitan is formed.

Write 隠 along the guides — the "hide" character from the term 隠れキリシタン.

What parts make up the character

On the left of 隠 is the abbreviated radical 阝 ("hill, mound"), and on the right is the phonetic component that came into Japanese writing along with the whole character from China. The meaning "to hide" here is connected not with the hill itself but with the idea of something fenced off, inaccessible to view — the same image lies in the related word 隠居 (inkyo, "to retire from affairs," literally "to hide in one's dwelling").

Common Misconceptions

Myth: Christianity in Japan was banned immediately and everywhere. In fact, at first, under Oda Nobunaga and in the early years of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, missionaries were more or less tolerated. Hideyoshi's edict of 1587 was aimed primarily against forced conversion of vassals, and only later, in 1614, under the Tokugawa, did the ban become universal.
Myth: fumi-e was a simple formality that was easy to pass. In fact, refusing to step on an icon of Christ or Mary meant execution or torture, and the test was conducted annually, for decades on end, especially in the Nagasaki area.
Myth: after the suppression of the Shimabara Rebellion in 1638, Christianity in Japan disappeared completely. In fact, some communities went underground for almost two and a half centuries and were only discovered in 1865, when the residents of Urakami came to a French priest at the new Oura Cathedral in Nagasaki.
Myth: freedom of religion in Japan was granted immediately after the Meiji Restoration of 1868. In fact, the ban was formally lifted only in 1873, and before that the authorities had exiled and tortured thousands of believers in Urakami during the so-called "fourth Urakami persecution."

FAQ

What does the history of Christianity in Japan include?: It is nearly a five-century path of Christianity in the country: from the preaching of Francis Xavier in 1549 through two and a half centuries of persecution and underground Kakure Kirishitan communities to official freedom of religion under Meiji in 1873.
How is "Kakure Kirishitan" written in Japanese?: There is no direct translation of the phrase, but the key term of the persecution era is 隠れキリシタン, かくれキリシタン: 隠れる means "to hide," and キリシタン is a borrowing from Portuguese christão, "Christian."
When did Christianity appear in Japan?: The beginning is considered to be 1549, when the Jesuit missionary Francis Xavier landed in Kagoshima and baptized the first Japanese. By 1587, according to various estimates, there were already over 200,000 Christians in the country, including several influential daimyo.
How did Japanese Christians survive under the ban?: After the bans of 1587 and 1614, some believers did not renounce their faith but went underground: they prayed in secret and posed as Buddhists. The faith was passed on orally from generation to generation, sometimes becoming noticeably distorted — until Christianity was permitted in 1873.
What is most often misunderstood about the persecution?: That the persecution was short and uniform everywhere. In fact, the ban was introduced gradually, from 1587 to 1614, and the severity of tests like fumi-e varied by province and decade over almost two and a half centuries.
How do you say "history of Christianity" in Japanese?: The history of Christianity in Japan is called キリスト教の歴史 (Kirisutokyō no rekishi), and the period of persecution and underground existence is a separate term 隠れキリシタン (Kakure Kirishitan), "hidden Christians."

Sources

Updated: 2026-09-11