Japan Church Records: Difference between revisions

Christianity, in the form of '''Catholicism''', was introduced into Japan by Jesuit missions starting in 1549. These missionaries were successful in converting large numbers of people in Kyushu, including peasants, former Buddhist monks, and members of the warrior class. In 1559, a mission to the capital, Kyoto, was started. By the following year there were nine churches, and the Christian community grew steadily in the 1560s. By 1569 there were 30,000 Christians and 40 churches. Following the conversion of some lords in Kyushu, mass baptisms of the local populations occurred, and in the 1570s the number of Christians rose rapidly to 100,000. Near the end of the 16th century, Franciscan missionaries arrived in Kyoto, despite a ban issued by Toyotomi Hideyoshi. In 1597, Hideyoshi proclaimed a more serious edict and executed 26 Franciscans in Nagasaki as a warning. Tokugawa Ieyasu and his successors enforced the prohibition of Christianity with several further edicts, especially after the Shimabara Rebellion in the 1630s. Many Christians continued to practice in secret. In 1873, following the Meiji Restoration, the ban was rescinded, freedom of religion was promulgated, and Protestant missionaries began to proselytize in Japan, intensifying their activities after World War II. Today, there are 1 to 3 million Christians in Japan, most of them living in the western part of the country, where the missionaries' activities were greatest during the 16th century. Nagasaki Prefecture has the highest percentage of Christians: about 5.1% in 1996. As of 2007 there are 32,036 Christian priests and pastors in Japan. All major traditional Protestant denominations are present in the country, including '''Baptists, Pentecostals, Lutherans, Anglicanism, Methodists, Presbyterians, Mennonites, the Salvation Army''' and some others.<ref> Wikipedia contributors, "Protestantism in Japan", in ''Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia,'' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protestantism_in_Japan, accessed 3 April 2020. </ref><ref> Wikipedia contributors, "Religion in Japan", in ''Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia,'' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Japan, accessed 3 April 2020. </ref><br>