Church union movement and the establishment of the “United Church of Christ in Japan / Ziming Wang

Religions 15 (2024)

Local access dig.pdf[Wang-Church union movement.pdf]

Abstract: The establishment of the United Church of Christ in Japan (nihon kirisuto kyōdan 日本基督 教団) marked the culmination of the Church Union Movement in Imperial Japan. Although the Church Union Movement can be traced back to the Meiji era, no significant breakthroughs were made until 1939 due to the refusal of some denominations. In this article, I aim to clarify the pro‑ cess and causes behind the formation of the united church, while also attempting to understand the interaction pattern between the State and Christianity under an increasing wartime totalitarian regime. In April 1939, the Diet passed the Religious Organizations Law (syūkyō dantai hō 宗教団体法), a bill aimed at strengthening state control over religions, which required Christian denominations to establish religious organizations. With the war intensifying Japan’s antagonism toward Western countries, Christianity as a foreign religion faced progressive attacks from the nationalist sects. Some denominations, like the Salvation Army, were accused of espionage due to their international con‑ nections and were monitored by gendarmerie (kenpeitai 憲兵隊). Facing harsh pressure, Christians sought to project a patriotic image, ultimately leading to the formation of the United Church as a survival strategy amidst a hostile social‑political environment.

Igunachio to iezusukai イグナチオとイエズス会. [Saint Ignatius Loyola. Japanese] / Francis Thompson [author], Nakano Kii 中野記偉 [trans.]

Japan in the early modern world : religion, translation, and transnational relations / edited by Triplett, Katja  Orii, Yoshimi  Jolliffe, Pia

https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-662-70424-0

Local access dig.pdf [Triplett_Katja_Orii_Yoshimi_Jolliffe_Pia_Japan.pdf]

About this book:

Early modern transnational relations and personal encounters were influenced by interactions between Japan and the regions that had become connected to it through expanding global trade and missionary networks. Translation activities linked to Christian missionary activities, overseas trade, and political upheaval in these places all contributed to shaping these interactions. Adopting an interdisciplinary perspective, this volume explores religion, translation, and transnational relations in the context of the colonial and missionary enterprises involving Japan, between 1550 and 1800. It focuses on the early Catholic mission to Japan, discussing both Protestant and local religious reactions to it, and the publications of the Jesuit mission press in Japan. A survey of the subsequent centuries of scholarly involvement with translational materials in Asian languages further suggests that translation had a formative influence on the intellectual world in the Early Modern period.

Table of Content:

1 Introduction: Japan in the Early Modern World—Religion, Translation, and Transnational Relations   1 Katja Triplett, Yoshimi Orii, and Pia Jolliffe

Part I  Reconsidering Language and Materiality in Missionary Translation

2 Revisiting Native Agency: Cultural and Material Translations of Christianity in Early Modern Japan  19 Ikuo Higashibaba

3 From Nanbanjin to Kabukimono: Portraying Iberians in Early Modern Japan  39 Alexandra Curvelo

4 Translating European Punctuation into Japanese: Investigating the Printing of the Sanctos no gosagueô (Acts of the Saints)   61 Emi Kishimoto

5 To Wish and to Pray in Jesuit Japanese Grammars  77 Mari Kurokawa

Part II  Translocational Books and Their Histories

6 Translatio of the Sanctos no gosagueô (Acts of the Saints, 1591) Published by the Jesuit Mission Press in Japan: An Overlooked Copy in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France  99 Yoshimi Orii

7 Bridging Religion, State, and Asian Trade in the Seventeenth Century: John Evans and the Bodleian Japanese Jesuit Missionary Print of 1596   119 Katja Triplett 

8 Early European Owners of Jesuit Prints and Manuscripts from Japan: A View Based Chiefly on Book Sale Catalogues    145 Sven Osterkamp

Part III  Crossing Legal, Political, and Denominational Boundaries

9 Women in Repudiation and Divorce Cases in the Christian Mission: Jesuit Translation Strategies and Normativities in Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century Japan    183 Luisa Stella de Oliveira Coutinho Silva

10 Cultural Translations and Editorial Processes: A Study of the Translated Jesuit Texts Linked to the Japanese Mission Included in The Principal Navigations (Vol. 2, 1599) by R. Hakluyt    211 Paula Hoyos Hattori

11 ‘This Iaponian Palme-Tree of Christian Fortitude’: Jesuit Letters from Japan in Early Modern England   229 Pia Jolliffe

Part IV  Appendix

12 A Hand-List of Prints from the Jesuit Mission Press in Japan and Related Materials    265 Sven Osterkamp

Index 285

Kirishitan kyōrisho キリシタン教理書 / Ebisawa, Arimichi 海老沢有道 ; Kishino, Hisashi 岸野久; Ide Katsumi 井出勝美

キリシタン文学叢書

キリシタン研究　第三十輯

Nanban no bateren 南蛮のバテレン / Matsuda Kiichi 松田毅一

Includes bibliographical references, pp. 269-272.

Supiritsuaru shugyō スピリツアル修行 / Ebisawa, Arimichi 海老沢有道

キリシタン文学叢書

"Translating Catholic heritage through local environment : materiality of Japan’s world heritage" / Yamada Toru

Published in the International Journal of Asian Christianity: Vol. 8 (2025): Iss. 2 :
Special Issue: Asian Catholic Materials and Space

Abstract:
For years, Nagasaki officials discussed and negotiated with residents from local communities in each municipality in order to prepare their nomination proposal for unesco’s World Heritage list. The core heritage narrative of the “Hidden Christian Sites in the Nagasaki Region” proposal took shape around Catholic church buildings and heritage materials. In this article, the author argues that as the World Heritage narrative emphasizes the historic materiality of these heritage buildings, Catholic materiality has been somewhat secularized as the nomination progressed. In order to avoid stirring up controversy, Nagasaki’s public officials delicately used the heritage churches as the material intermediaries to moderate the uneasy relationships among the locals as well as to connect it with the interests of the national actors.

Yusuto takayamaukon : ima orideiku hitoe ユスト高山右近 : いま、降りでいく人へ / Furusu Kaoru : Nihon katorikku shikyō kyōgikai ressei retsufuku tokubetsu iinkai 古巣薫 : 日本カトリック司教協議会列聖列福特別委員会

Includes bibliographical references p. 197-199.