thumb|The [[Guanyin|Bodhisattva Kannon as the Virgin Mary, Tokyo National Museum.]]

Kakure Kirishitan () is a modern term for a member of the Catholic Church in Japan who went underground at the start of the Edo period in the early 17th century (lifted in 1873) due to Christianity's repression by the Tokugawa shogunate (April 1638). During this time, many believers modified their religious practices to resemble Buddhist ones on a surface level, but which held hidden Christian meaning in reality. For instance, depictions of the Virgin Mary modeled on the Buddhist deity Kannon (Avalokiteśvara), goddess of mercy, became common among , and were known as "Maria Kannon". The prayers were adapted to sound like Buddhist chant, yet retained many untranslated words from Latin, Portuguese, and Spanish. The Bible and other parts of the liturgy were passed down orally, because printed works could be confiscated by authorities.

The still exist today, forming "what is arguably a separate faith, barely recognizable as the creed imported in the mid-1500s by Catholic missionaries". In 2025, it was reported that there were less than 100 Hidden Christians left on the island of Ikitsuki in Nagasaki, down from 10,000 in the 1940s.

See also

  • Haibutsu kishaku
  • Shinbutsu bunri
  • Shinbutsu kakuri
  • Shimabara Rebellion
  • Crypto-Christianity
  • Hidden Christian Sites in the Nagasaki Region
  • Kakure nenbutsu, a form of Jōdo Shinshū Buddhism secretly practiced on the Japanese island of Kyushu, during a period of religious persecution from 1555 to the Meiji Restoration.
  • Inquisition
  • Laramans
  • Mozarabs
  • Marrano/Anusim/Converso – comparable group of hidden Jews in Spain and Portugal
  • Nagasaki Prefecture

References

Further reading

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  • Orasho, "Website of Churches and Christian Historical and Cultural Heritage of Nagasaki", operated for the Nagasaki Prefecture.
  • Hidden Christian Sites in the Nagasaki Region, Nagasaki Prefectural World Heritage Division
  • Includes a descendant of the Kakure Kirishitan reciting the Orasho.
  • "Japan – Hidden Christians": Foreign Correspondent documentary