Why didn't Christianity spread in Japan?

 


I began to think about why Christianity didn't spread in Japan.
Seriously.

Currently throughout the world such as China, Africa, and South America,
it has been said that the population of Christians are increasing at an exploding speed.

We are no longer able to consider Christianity to be Western religion,
but the faith of people from all over the world.

Christianity has the most vast population among religions,
but in Japan the population has been kept under 1 % for decades.
What are the causes of that?

Reading some books and opinions on the web,
I found there seems to be peculiar causes.

In this article, i've sorted out the causes as simple and palpable as possible.

If you knew those causes,
you might find a breakthrough to spread the good news of the true love
that Jesus Christ died on the cross for us.


1.Characters of Japanese 
Japanese culture is famous for its uniqueness in the world
and of course when you take a look into the culture,
you see Japanese people.

What kind of people are they?
I listed up historically, and ethnically.

1-1. Aspect from history
1. Japanese have never been conquえred by another ethnic group.
2. Japan is separate from the Continent, and has no experience of invasion, plunder, or massacre by another ethnic group (especially, nomadic groups), and has never had its culture eliminated in history.
3. During Warring States period, there was a chance for missionary, but Hideyoshi Toyotomi distinguish it before it spread out. Afterwards, in Edo period, Japan completed the perfect mutuallly-supporting society.
4. Hideyoshi Toyotomi (the Order to Expel Christian Priests) and Ieyasu Tokugawa (Isolationism, the closure of the country) doubted the purpose of the Christian missionary is to colonize Japan.
5. People could afford relatively good happiness as long as they were in a good relationship with neighbors and diligently work in Edo period.
6. While the country accepted most of the European modern civilization and exceptionally developed quickly as a non-European country, it rejected Christianity which underlay the European civilization.

Historically there were several times that Christianity,
which is a foreign culture to Japan, is imported in the country

But it has never ever got the place to be planted and replaced with Japanese culture.

Japan has gone through the time of total closure
such as Abolition of trade with Zui (the old Chinese state),
the closure of the country by Ieyasu Tokugawa,
and nurtured its independent high-quality culture.

So it might be offensive for people to be forced a foreign culture
which required to stop worshiping the Emperor
and to believe in salvation afterlife instead of earthly benefit,
considering it damaged their pride for culture.

Historically, there was no benefit for Japanese to convert.


1-2. Aspect of ethnicity
1. People made their own living in villages or towns, so they continued working diligently in the hope of earthly benefit. (They didn't have to escape from the reality to salvation afterlife)
2. The biggest fear of people was exclusion from society, not the will of God.
3. As Ryunosuke Akutagawa wrote about "Japanese ability to transform" in his book, Japanese has transformed the religions and Chinese characters from abroad into the ones that fit their tastes.
4. Japanese tend to hate changing what they have inherited from their ancestors at their generation, such as the relationship to temples when it comes to funerals, or to shrines when it comes to report of new childbirth. They simply end up thinking they do the same as their parents did.
5. It was nonsense to convert and become Christian in spite of having a good social relationship with neighbors, rejecting some customary festivals.


It is easy to recognize that Japanese has the ability to transform
the things from abroad and change them for their taste
when you see the long history of Japan
and its uniqueness of religions and language.

Even the family of the Emperor, whose original religion is Shintoism,
took up Buddhism and took it in without no disharmony at the era of Prince Shotoku.

And the people have never summoned up energy to transform the culture
which has been rooted in the county for thousands of years.

Furthermore, deep down in the mind of Japanese there is a spirit called "Wa"
which regards no cooperativeness with others as evil.

That is, if you stand out by Christian faith,
you would never be able to avoid the conflict against others.

Here again, we can see the cause of why Christianity didn't spread among Japanese.


2.Religious view of Japanese
1. Not only Shintoism, but also Confucianism, and Buddhism. Japan took in whatever it liked.
2. Japan absorbs and utilizes anything convenient, but never wanted to sell the soul.
3. Japan has been polytheism from the beginning, not harmonious with Christianity that is monotheism. (Christ is also the one of many gods for Japanese. There shouldn't have been a conflict?)
4. There is no necessity for Japanese to call for salvation afterlife, losing earthly benefits.
5. Japan formalized Buddhism at the early phase and Shintoism to wish earthly benefits.
6. Japanese think religion and faith are different.
7. For Japanese, faith is a means to earn earthly benefits, different from what missionaries hope for.

In the first place Japan is a polytheistic country,
so it is easy to imagine that Christianity that denies it was
counted as one of a great deal of gods.

Therefore the teachings of missionaries, who came in the past,
must have been reflected in Japanese eyes as very opinionated and exclusive faith.

And very purpose of having faith for Japanese is earthly benefit,
so they never could have an idea that "sin" dwelt in them.

"Someday we will be rewarded as long as we work diligently.
"This thought has been rooted in the minds of Japanese of all ages.

Furthermore, it is also a problem that "sin" is translated into the word
which is almost equivalent to the meaning of "crime".

"sin" should be precisely translated,
meaning "rebel against God" or "ignorant of God",
which is religious stigma, and should be different from"crime"
which means "activities against social regulations such as morals or laws".

When you tell Japanese people the gospel, you might say "sin",
but people hear it, thinking "Did I do harm to society at all?".
This could be one of normal impressions they get.

Japanese has unconsciously naturally cherished "Wa",
so it was unbearble to be said, "You sinned."


3. Impressions that Japanese have on Christianity
1. Idea and history of sacred massacre on paganism, surreal ideas such as resurrection and the Immaculate Conception.
2. As Christians grow more and more religious, even though they don't intentionally have evil thoughts, they become less empathetic with other Japanese at spiritual level.
3. Christians don't admit Japanese spirituality or gods, which means they don't acknowledge Japanese civilization, culture, and spirit either.
4. Christianity didn't show generosity and was very exclusive about Japanese whose religious life was centered with worshipping their ancestors.
5.Missionaries promoted individualistic faith. They didn't attempt to include society or entire life groups.

Initially, "religion" is a bad image in Japan,w
hich includes Christianity.

"Religion" has caused so many mass killings by the difference of beliefs,
and has been still creating so many conflicts until now.

Japanese hope "religion" to be something like air.
They cannot accept the thing that intervenes daily life,
or threatens the stability of peaceful normal days.

Christianity requires its believers to conflict against their indwelling sin daily.
Japanese, who like peace, didn't like the teaching of the Bible.


4.Simple questions from Japanese
I would like to introduce some anecdotes about gospel missions.
You might see the slight vision of Japanese national characteristics.

---------------------------------------------------
Francis Xavier was on his mission all over Japan.
At times he was often asked a certain thing by Japanese who he met.

It was,
"This teaching is so gracious,
but why didn't it come to Japan earlier?"
In addition they continue asking,
"Our ancestors didn't hear this gracious teaching,
so where are they now and what are they doing?"
We are able to be baptized and saved,
but what about our ancestors who already died without baptism.
Surely they fell to the hell...

Japanese at the time question Xavier like these.
Inevitably Christianity sends those who didn't get baptized to the hell,
so he said yes.

Then they kept on,
"The god that you believe in is such an merciless impotent god!
If you say he is omnipotent, why don't he save our ancestors too?"

Xavier became upset, and wrote a letter to his friend.
"Japanese has a high cultural standard, so unless you are really good missionary,
it would be tough to spread the gospel in Japan."

---


Other than the questions above,
he was asked a question below and perplexed.

"If the god created everything on earth,
why did he create devils together?
(it doesn't make sense that devils exist in the world the god created.)"

Xavier came to Japan in 1549,
and went back to his country in 1551, 2 years later.
But honestly confessed "I'm exhausted. Got my limit shown."
In his letter to his college of Society of Jesus.

For Japanese, who live upon the group society principle,
the salvation of soul is not an individual problem to solve
but everybody's problem from ancestors to descendants.

"Those who believe shall be saved."
="Those who don't believe will not be saved."

Japanese at that time were instinctively able to discover the fact
that the Christianity's answer above attributed all to individualism,
so gave tricky questions to Xavier.

---------------------------------------------------

Similar to the story above,
following is another story.

"So you say those who don't believe Deus go to hell.
You mean my grandfather went there as well?", a farmer said.

A missionary replied,
"Yes, but you are still in time,you can be saved, so why don't you believe now?"

"Even if I pray fervently," the farmer said,
"Deus never saves my grandfather, right?
Then I don't need him. I would go to hell with my grandfather."
And he rejected converting.

---------------------------------------------------

Hakuseki Arai, a famous scholar in Edo period,
asked missionaries these questions.

"Why did he redeem the Fall of first humans after thousands of years?"
"Couldn't he save our ancestors? (He is a powerless god.)"

He pointed out the unjustness of Christianity,
but the missionaries could not answer well.
So the missions in Japan were not permitted.

---------------------------------------------------

Like these anecdotes, there are bunch of questions for Japanese
which they naturally have toward Christianity as a doubt.

Unfortunately, missionaries couldn't give proper answers.
It might be one of the biggest causes that Japanese failed to come before Christ,
and the crucial reasons why the gospel didn't spread in Japan.


5.Causes of the failure of biblical missions after WW2 and afterwards.
As we see the background of Japanese history,
we can understand that Japan didn't have a good soil for Christianity seed to grow.

The nation was developing, the lives were improving.
No war, no hunger. Every single one can receive an equal education.

It was stupid to talk about afterlife in the nation
which has never been invaded or forced.

Even after WW2 ended and people stop worshiping the Emperor,
there was no room for the gospel to slip in among the unity
that Japanese uniquely have when they recover from the devastated burned-out field.

Well, still no room now?


We know Japan is a narrow country on islands,
but there are some places where the gospel reached people's heart.

Christians who were martyred in Nagasaki.
Sapporo Agricultural School which is famous for William Smith Clarkand,
and his students Inazo Nitobe (the author of "Bushido"),
Kanzo Uchimura (the author of the "Representatives of Japanese Men")
Also, Yokkaichi city, Mie, where my friend lives, was the place where the population of Christians are more than that of larger cities.

It seems in particular areas the Bible has an influence.

And, you cannot say Japanese is a peaceful country
when you see the statistics of yearly suicidal rates.

You can imagine there are many hearts which aren't fulfilled
while the lives are being enriched.

What if the gospel reached those people?
They could have considered more deeply before they had chosen death.

Besides, there are so many minority who cannot get in "Wa".
What if we could tell those people the gospel?

What I should add here is modern young people don't take it important
to worship ancestors like people in the past did.

Those who are in 20s now were born after the bubble economy in the late 1980s.
When they were born, the country was already wealthy and abundant in materials.

Their parents, who underwent the period of high economic growth,
work hard, thinking "We don't want to let our sons and daughters carry burdens."

As a result, it became normal for their children to be prodigal.
After they graduated from university, they were said,
"You don't have the spirit." or "Yutori" (This means the previous governmental policy of letting elementary school and junior high school students have more of their own time. Saturday became holiday in public school, and some modules are reduced. Thus, they stop studying hard. All turned out to be epic failure.)

For children, they don't understand why the adults blame them
(because the policy was carried out by adults, right?)
and became stressful, irritated, and pissed off.
Their stress is absorbed by diverse entertainments around them.

They attribute the cause of something to someone.
They let the convenient entertainments deal with their stress.

No purpose in their life.

But on the other hand, seemingly they have space in their heart to receive the gospel.
If only they could know from their heart that they are deeply loved.

Among them,
there are some who eventually ended up finding no extreme purpose in life,
and received a religion.


Good example is me.


I didn't understand why I was alive in my teenage.

"You are blessed."
I've been said so many times by my parents.

Each one of the times I hated myself
when I realized that I forgot the fact that
many people suffer from conflicts and hunger daily outside of this country,
and I myself live such a wealthy life. Joyful.

When I thought that was the human's terrible aspect,
I couldn't think I was blessed.

My life was wealthy,
but my heart was empty.

After all I started to think like this way,

Japan considers "Wa" very important,
but it doesn't care about "Wa" for the world.

And this is, just crazy.

If the gospel can reach,
I assume many people begin to think "Wa" for the world,
viewing the things with wider perspective.

In the end, as I receive the gospel at the deeper part of my heart,
I started to seek for the richness of heart, not of life.

In Japan, there are many people who seek for the richness of heart like this. Maybe.

If we can tell them the gospel, probably we will receive.
What's important is patiently continuing.

But how?

Let's think about that next time.