Hello and welcome to the History of Japan podcast.

Episode 38.

Japan's Christian Century, Part 1.

This week we'll be starting our first three-parter on the introduction of Christianity to Japan.

Christianity arrived with the Portuguese in 1453, and eventually began to gather a great deal of momentum

until by around 1600 one of the major Japanese islands, Kyushu, was considered to be a Christian

stronghold. However, just as meteorically as Christianity rose, it would also fall. Its former

patrons turned against it, and the religion was repressed

until finally it was functionally destroyed 95 years after arriving on Japanese shores.

For the next few weeks, we're going to look at the factors that contributed to the rise of

Christianity in Japan, the changes that led to its collapse, and the legacy of Japan's

Christian century. Before we get started, however, one of the reasons I wanted to talk about

this topic is that it illustrates something very important about history. You see, human

civilization has always been global to a certain extent, and this story

illustrates that very well.

It makes very little sense without a knowledge of what was going on in China, Europe, and

even the New World at the time Westerners first arrived in Japan.

Now, to be sure, I'm not saying that society in the 1500s was anywhere near as global as society

as today, but still, globalization is not a new thing.

It's simply much stronger now than it was before.

So, what did Europe look like when Christianity came to Japan?

Well, in 1453, Europe was in the midst of the most tremendous upheaval it had ever

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