Aliens in This World

One of Daniel Mitsui’s commenters pointed us to this great site about Hidden Christians in Japan from some students doing a documentary on the subject. The website is full of wonderful photos and information.

One of the more interesting bits are the photos of the Goto Islands, where many Christians fled to escape persecution through distance. I know we’ve been reading a lot lately about the fascination some folks have with pictures of Jesus and Mary produced by natural phenomena (trees, overpass drips, oil tanks, windows in Florida). So it was fascinating to learn that the Hidden Christians used just such chance-resemblance stones to replace the statues they did not dare make, and regarded them as indeed special blessings and signs from God. The stones still are in use today. I was also touched to learn of the use of flowery cross designs in that area, and indeed, of the four-lobed Japanese heraldic symbol of the camellia (tsubaki) as a cross-in-disguise among all sorts of Hidden Christians. In some places, the tsubaki becomes a normal European quatrefoil, but still has that added significance.

Other good stuff you’ll find on the site: an Ikitsuki church panelled in butterfly-wing mosaics (you can see one on the homepage), Christian samurai tsuba (swordguards protecting the hand on the hilt from slipping up onto the blade, or from somebody else’s blade!), depictions of how hot springs towns were used as torture centers, Mary statues disguised as Kannon, a reliquary of St. Francis Xavier’s armbone, and other interesting stuff.