Japanese Christian: Difference between revisions

{{Useful Notes}}

 

This was not always the case. When trade between the West and Japan was largely conducted though Jesuit priests, there was a pretty substantial Christian base. From the time the first Jesuit started a mission in 1548 to just 40 years later in 1589, there were about 200,000 Japanese converts, becoming the largest overseas Christian community (yes, even more than Mexico and South America, which had a substantially higher monetary investment, and head start) and was unique in that it was largely run and evangelized by Japanese. This was largely because Shinto tradition permits worshipers to openly practice multiple faiths. Buddhism, for instance, arrived earlier and was quickly integrated into Shintoism. Today, many temples exist next to shrines, and many Japanese practice both Shinto and Buddhist rituals.

* One of the stories in the ''[[Lone Wolf and Cub]]'' manga deals with the persecution and martyrdom of Christians during the Tokugawa era.

* In the manga ''[[Midnight Secretary]]'' Japanese vampires are specifically said to be weak against the piety of Christians. Luckily for him Japan is pretty secular, even on Christmas, but at one point Kyouhei is at a business dinner held by a Japanese family who were devout Christians and it made Kyouhei very sick.

* In ''[[Rurouni Kenshin]]'', one of Kenshin Himura's strongest opponents was Shougo Mutou aka Amakusa, a Christian [[Religious Bruiser]] trying to end the persecution of his fellow believers by helping a "holy man" overthrow the Japanese government, and basically an [[Expy]] of real life Christian leader [[wikipedia:Shiro Amakusa|Shiro Amakusa.]] Kenshin essentially ended up fighting ''[[Kung Fu Jesus|Samurai Jesus]]''. And ''winning''.

** Not only that, but Shougo and his younger sister Sayo were the leaders of a small Japanese Christian colony hiding in Shimabara, a rural area near to Nagasaki. {{spoiler|And several years before, they barely managed to survive a major massacre in the same Shimabara area, in which their parents and ''everyone'' in their [[Doomed Hometown]] were killed for their beliefs.}}

* In ''[[Total War]]: Shogun 2'', Christianity might play a serious role in the game. Being a '''Japanese Christian''' clan means you can access European guns and cannons, plus your Christian citizens will put up serious resistance against non-Christian clans who occupy their cities. Of course, since embracing Christianity means the rest of Japan will hate you, it's best taken by clans which are not based on the main island.

* The [[Corrupt Church|Messian Church]] (or you can spell it Mesian, whatever) in ''[[Shin Megami Tensei I]]'' is the "endtimes-crazy" type of Christian [[Flanderization|flanderized]] to such an extreme that they are willing to ''launch nukes'' to bring about their "Thousand Year Kingdom". Though the one that did said action was American {{spoiler|(or claimed to be)}}, the majority of Messians you encounter are Japanese.

 

== [[Visual Novels]] ==