Local History Course 2022 Lecture at the Ibaraki City Cultural Properties Museum
The Ibaraki City Cultural Properties Museum, Osaka Prefecture, holds an annual local history course of six lectures. KOBAYASHI Koji, a senior fellow, was invited for the first lecture of 2022 and gave a lecture titled Three Seigan and One Zushi: What We Can Know from the Four Portable Christian Shrines Left in Sendaiji and Shimo’otowa Areas on July 16th at the museum.
The Sendaiji and Shimo’otowa, located in the northern parts of Ibaraki City, are villages in which many residents converted to Christianity when Justo Takayama Ukon, a Christian lord, also known as Dom Justo Takayama, took over the areas in the late 16th century. Their religion survived over a period of fierce repression of Christianity during the Edo period until the modern period. Thus, they are widely known as “hidden” Christian villages. Their Christian culture is unique as they passed down many varieties of Christian relics in high volumes. “Miracle” is never overstated because such varieties of relics have not remained in any other hidden Christian areas or villages in Japan. It is well known that the extremely famous painting St. Francis Xavier, Important Cultural Property housed in Kobe City Museum, is among them.
I have studied various Christian objects passed down in these villages, especially seigan, Christian shrines which are containers for holy Christian paintings including images of Christ or Madonna and Child, to explore the reality of Christian belief in Japan. The seigan passed down in these areas are simply coated with black urushi lacquer. This fact and their history obviously show that they were made for domestic believers. Conversely, seigan, categorized as Namban lacquer with the same shape but with gorgeous makie and mother-of-pearl decorated, which were ordered to Japanese workshops by Europeans for export to Europe and Latin America, are also recognized. These two types of seigan show distinct differences despite sharing the same function as Christian objects. The sacred paintings stored in these seigan are associated with its frame with a western conjunction structure, supposed to be made of ebony, and with its frame decorated with makie and made in Japan respectively. These facts imply important questions regarding their backgrounds and manufacturing techniques. Conversely, the zushi exhibits an ivory-made crucifixion on the black cross possibly made of ebony. However, either this crucifixion or zushi have attracted almost no attentions so far and neither their original manufacturing place nor date are yet identified.
This lecture featured the reality of these seigan and zushi; and the ways of Christian acceptance and its religion in Japan from the Momoyama period to the early Edo period, which were revealed through the studies of these seigan and zushi. Approximately 40 participants who were selected by lot during another peak of the COVID-19 pandemic enthusiastically asked questions. I sensed a great interest in Christian culture and history during this time.
The Christian culture and related relics passed down in these areas are precious and unique historic milestones. I would like to further conduct this research and disseminate the outcomes.