SOAS, University of London (The School of Oriental and African Studies)

Christianity and sacred space in Nagasaki

Nagasaki was founded in 1571 and experienced a rapid growth as the port for the regular silk trade with Portuguese merchants. In 1580 the local lord granted the Jesuits administration rights over the city and the town came to resemble a temple town (jinai), with the Jesuit church of the Assumption as its symbolic centre, its protective moat and wall and the strong influence of the Jesuits on the religious and political life of the city. A decade of significant instability started in 1587, when Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the unifier of Japan, appropriated the port town and issued a decree expelling the foreign missionaries. Christian spaces in town were closed, Buddhists preached in the outskirts, and Mendicant missionaries from Manila arrived in Japan. The crisis culminated in 1597 when Toyotomi Hideyoshi ordered the first massive execution of Christians. Nevertheless, a “golden decade” began in 1601 with the establishment of Bishop Cerqueira in Nagasaki. The city became the centre of Japanese Christianity and the bishop implemented the Catholic parish system with the support of the lay confraternities, so that Christian rituals marked the rhythm of the city. Nagasaki functioned as a ‘Christian town’ until 1614, when the Tokugawa government banned Christianity from Japan.

Carla Tronu, MA Japanese Religions (SOAS 2003), is currently visiting lecturer in the Centre of East Asian Studies at the Autonomous University of Madrid, where she teaches Japanese religions and Japanese history. She has written her PhD dissertation on the Christian community of Nagasaki (1569-1643) and is currently doing research on sacred space and ritual in Japan.