The Sacred Disguised: An Instance of the Double Use of Space by Japan’s Hidden Christians
Christianity arrived on the island of Shikoku, Japan, from the neighboring island of Kyushu in the mid-sixteenth century, an event commemorated by a signboard and gravesite where some of the early converts to the faith were buried. The sancti"ed area exhibits what might be expected of Hidden Ch...
Main Author: | |
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Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
Journals Online & Print: | |
Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
Published: |
Sciendo
2021
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In: |
Review of ecumenical studies
Year: 2021, Volume: 13, Issue: 2, Pages: 214-238 |
RelBib Classification: | AB Philosophy of religion; criticism of religion; atheism BL Buddhism BN Shinto CC Christianity and Non-Christian religion; Inter-religious relations CE Christian art KBM Asia |
Further subjects: | B
artifact / object
B Shinto / Buddhist B Shikoku B Japan B Iconography B phenomenology of religious experience B Hidden Christianity B Philosophy of religion |
Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) |
Summary: | Christianity arrived on the island of Shikoku, Japan, from the neighboring island of Kyushu in the mid-sixteenth century, an event commemorated by a signboard and gravesite where some of the early converts to the faith were buried. The sancti"ed area exhibits what might be expected of Hidden Christian spatiality: a quasi-Buddhist nature, syncretistic Shinto elements, and o#ertory tools; each of which would be quite out of place in any other "Christian" context. What may the sacrality of this ground have entailed? What signi"cance did its objects contain for those who created them and visited them? Moreover, how "ecumenical" could worship there have been if one half (the Christian) was for political reasons forcibly kept hidden while the other half (Buddhist/Shinto) was open? These are the questions we pursue, although our conclusions can perhaps do no more than indicate a direction. |
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ISSN: | 2359-8107 |
Contains: | Enthalten in: Review of ecumenical studies
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Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.2478/ress-2021-0022 |