Christianity in Japan is evaluated and compared to John Nelson’s paper on the CRA. To assess this paper, three references have been used including Kan’s article on “the significance of the protestant centenary in Japan”, Higashibaba’s book “Christianity in early modern Japan” and Ion’s book “The Cross and the Rising Sun: The British Protestant missionary movement in Japan”. The essay thus seeks to compare and examine John’s argument on the same.
The CRA argues that the failure of the institution of Christianity in Japan resulted from their lack of choosing appropriate strategies to help them attain their objective. They took with them their culture to a country that had a totally different culture. Higashibaba (163) supports this claim that the Jesuits did not have enough persons to help in the work and materials to help in their mission. He claims that even three decades after the Xavier mission, the gospel could not be adequately conveyed in Japan because the number of missionaries was as low as less than 30. The local catechists were unqualified and could not help either.
The institution of Christianity failed because the Japanese were being force into adapting the religion. They acquired followers through mass baptism in Kyushu and Kinai. With time however they were too enthusiastic to acquire followers that they forced people into baptism through use of orders from military lords. They became Christian on the face, but continued to practice their rituals. According to Kan, (1) two famous men were heard saying how they regret to have accepted baptism and feel they must have been very foolish. They thus represent what the others who had been forced into baptism feel.
The Christian faith was not clearly presented to the Japanese for them to get the basics of it. Though later the teachings about the gospel were made more available by the publications made by the Jesuits, many terms of kirishitan remained unclear because some Buddhist idioms were left un translated.
According to the CRA, the Japanese tried to adopt Christianity several times and failed. They instead accepted Buddhism with a great passion. However, according to Higashibaba (163), the Japanese at some point accepted Christianity and practiced it. They discovered that Christianity solved most of their problems and it became a powerful tool that enabled them to cope with their difficult lives. They were given foodstuff, tutored and medical attention from the mission. He demonstrates this by showing how the hideyoshi wanted to give Christian names to his servants in the quest to have them identify with the religion. This shows that they embraced Christianity, though minimally at some point (Higashibaba, 163).
The lack of establishment of Christianity amounted to the result of disagreements that came about among the missionaries. They at times chose to teach the gospel in some areas over others which were composed of les receptive people. This resulted to the lack of spread in some areas. Some Christian leaders that were appointed by the missionaries to help in teaching the gospel became more of denominational. They began moving from one denomination to another while some preferred to go back to work with the missionaries claiming that the other Japanese leaders sought to lord over the congregation. These slowed down the spread and adoption of Christianity.
According to Ion (261), the spread of the gospel was hindered when the Japanese government began to see the presence of missionaries as a threat to their progress. Meanwhile, the hideyoshi emerged as a military ruler. He thus banned the spread of Christianity which he saw was as a threat to his power. He ordered that missionaries be expelled. He therefore agrees with John when he claims that it was at this time that some Christians were burnt to death. Some had their ears cut off while others were crucified. This did not however stop the spread as some Jesuits and Franciscans continued with their teachings in Kyushu.
Another hindrance, Ion (266) claims, was the language barrier faced by the missionaries. Most of the Japanese were only familiar with the local languages and so it took them some time to learn Japanese and teach the locals English. The fact that the missionaries were Britons was in itself a problem. Japanese thought that the Christianity was intertwined with the nationality of the Britons. This made them to believe that they will have to drop their lifestyle and culture if they adopted Christianity. The Britons, no matter how much they tried could not hide the presentation of their British lifestyle and were thus unable to hide either the positive or negative consequences of being Britons, which greatly discouraged the Japanese.
The CRA article argues that the presentation of how the Japanese themselves felt about this whole matter has been left out. Their feeling is not included in John’s argument Ion (254) however gives us a picture of what the Japanese themselves felt about this whole issue. A time came when the British missionaries saw themselves as more superior to the Japanese because of their religion. They referred to them as “heathens” and the Japanese were unhappy about this. Most of them vowed that they would rather practice their own religion if they were not being appreciated by the Britons.
John argues in his document that the ideology of the religion from foreigners if adopted would change trade, enhance relationship of Japan with other states, and motivate the behavior of most Japanese. However, Ion (263) argues that Japan had nothing to gain out of Christianity. It was simply a religion that was brought as a gateway to rule over the Japanese. On the contrary he claims, it had much to lose. Japan as a country was able to modernize without the need for Christianity. John further claims that very few Japanese have accepted Christianity. They have developed as a country, nevertheless and are far much better than many Christian countries. Thus, the religion was not meant to develop Japan.
The missionaries disregarded the culture and practices of the Japanese and some thought they should hold on to them even more in return. They considered the practices backward and thought of Shintoism and Buddhism as idolatrous superstitions. This led to more suppression of Christian movements by the authorities resulting to minimal spread of the gospel.
The author of the CRA thus partially succeeds in discussing the failure of Christianity as a religion to be instituted in Japan. He however contradicts Ion’s argument that the institution of Christianity would have resulted to an improvement of Japan’s overall economy. He also contradicts Higashibaba’s argument that the Japanese adapted Christianity and practiced it, not only forcefully but out of their volition. This is evidenced when they gladly accept Christianity because they realized it was solving most of the problems they experienced in their lives.
Work Cited
Higashibaba, I. Christianity in early modern Japan: Kirishitan belief and practice. New York: Brill publishers, 2001.
Ion, H. The Cross and the Rising Sun: The British Protestant missionary movement in Japan. London: Wilfrid Laurier University, 2002.
Kan ,E. The Ecumenical Review: The significance of the protestant centenary in Japan
New York: World Council of Churches Publishers, Retrieved on 16th April 2010.
