Japan's forgotten 19th century martyrs

A look back in time

Hi Religion Unplugged readers,

In today’s top story, contributor Paul Marshall shares findings from his summer travels in Japan. Researching the history of Japanese Christianity, he writes that there is an “ignorance not only amongst foreigners but also amongst Japanese themselves of that history, particularly the long history of persecution.”

The persecution of Japanese Christians has been explored, notably in the 1996 book “Silence” and Martin Scorsese’s 2016 movie of the same name, but these avenues depart in some ways from the history and are an incomplete picture.

Marshall writes on the perseverance of Japanese Christians through centuries of persecution and the importance of learning about this history.

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A Look Back In Time To Japan’s Forgotten 19th Century Martyrs

(ESSAY) In one theme of this summer's travels, the history of Japanese Christianity, I found a different issue. This is the ignorance not only amongst foreigners but also amongst Japanese themselves of that history, particularly the long history of persecution. Some of this, especially the dire persecutions of the early seventeenth century, is better known through Shusako Endo's gripping 1966 novel “Silence.” by Paul Marshall

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