CHRISTIANITY IN JAPAN

Auckland Star, Volume LII, Issue 282, 26 November 1921, Page 17

CHRISTIANITY IN JAPAN

THE PEOPLE'S ATTITUDE TO RELIGION.

(By FREDERICK STUBBS, F.K.G.S.) It is not easy to write about religion for the readers of a secular journal, but it is eueh an important factor in Japanese life, and, indeed, in the life of tile Orient generally, that it would be fatal to any right understanding of Japanese character if it were omitted. LIBERALITY. I have already described in previous articles the Old Faiths of Japan: t>hintoism, which teaches the Japanese to reverence the Emperor as a ecmi-divine I being, and himself as a member of a! superior race; Buddhism, with its ritual tind rosaries, its gorgeous vestments and its appeals to the humanitarian in-»-tfincU>; Confucianism, with its lofty precepte and worship of ancestors (an; impossible form of worship to most of ue!). All these exist and flourish side by 6ide today, and, indeed, may all be held by the same individual. A man worships at the simple shrine of .Shinto, and Itlßen bows before the elaborate altar of Buddha without any .-en.se of incompatibility. .Some Japanese even think that Christianity may be adopted without sacrificing the old faiths. It is certain —1 have known instance* myself —that .some Japanese Christians also bow before the Shinto shrine. How then does the modern Japanese conceive of religion? What is his attitude towards religion, and especially towards the Christian faith, at the present time?

INTRODUCTION OF CHRISTIANITY. The first effort to Christianise Japan was in 1549, when Francis Xavier, the great Roman Catholic missionary, landed there. A considerable measure of success attended his efforts, and by 1552 it is computed that there were 000,000 Chriotian=. But the arrogance and greed for power which this success generated led to the expulsion of the Jesuits by the great Japanese Generalissimo. Hideyoshi. By 1614, all foreign Christians wiqre expelled; the native Christians were ordered to abjure; and the final act of suppression came with | the rebellion of Arima, a beautiful little! town I myeelf have visited, in 1H37-S, when 40,000 Christians were massacred. I give below a translation of a noticeon an ancient board I saw at Robe: — NOTICE. Ac in former years, the Christian Religion is strictly forbidden. 'a::,l consequently any suspicious person must be reported. Rewards will be given as follows: —

For a Priest, 500 pieces of silver. For a brother, 300 pieces uf silver. For a member going back to Chris- , tianity, 100 pieces of silver. , Anyone reporting those who have been living in the same house with Christians, or the presence of Chris-j tians in a village, will be given 100 pieces I of silver. i Even Christians may report on the above, and in such case they will be | given r>oo pieces of silver. In the case of the concealment of Christians where they arc discovered from some other source, all connected! with them shall be severely punUiied,! even to the Mayor and Five Counsellor*! of the village. j THE GOVERNOR. May, 1083. Thus through the foolish and nn-CrJs-tian ambitions of the clergy the land became strictly barred against all foreigners except the Dutch. After this the country remained in seclusion for •230 years. But as Japan and China now recognise, no country can remain secluded from the rest of mankind for ever, and the email colony of Dutch which had been allowed to remain on the little island of Deshima became the medium through which a knowledge of Western nations trickled into Japan. Repeated efforts to break through the barriers in the first half of the Nineteenth Century were repulsed, but in 1853 Commodore Perry landed, and the following year two ports were opened for commerce with the United States. Five years afterwards, in 1559, the first Protestant missionaries arrived, and met with gratifying success. Thousands of copies of the Bible were distributed; societies were formed for the distribution of Christian literature; schools were built: organisations suih as the V.M.C.A., orphanages, and reformatories sprang up. Indeed it seemed thirty years <i<ro as though the whole country might become Christian, and it was seriously debated in Japan whether Christianity might not be adopted as the National

religion, whilst allowing the older faiths to continue unmolested. The tiling that helped the spread of Christianity most was the newly-awakened interest of the Japanese people in regard to things Western. It had been brought home to them by irresistible argument.-? that the European nations were in many respects far ahead of them. They were above all things eager to become the political and commercial equals of the W,q Western nations. Religion seemed to present an insuperable barrier. If only they adopted I Christianity as the national faith the j desired end might be hastened. And so j large numbers —including some of Japan's most eminent mcn —were baptised. | To-day there are said lo lie about', 200,000 nominal Christians in Japan, a much smaller number of course than existed before the suppression of Christianity in the 17th century, but including many able men. with valuable cc.le.-i.io-tical and education properties. The Christian schools and colleges of Japan— chiefly owned and worked by American missionaries—are especially eileeessful. The Japanese value Wi-stern learning even where they do not fare fur A\ extern theology. The "pupil* arc, ot course, not all Christiane, but the atmosphere, of the schools ought to make it easier for them to become so. JAPAN'S >O( IAT. PROHLKJr. The most serious tiling for Tiipan is that old sanctions and restraints are being weakened, without new ones taking their place. The spread ..( W -tern , knowledge has o-nainlyn..tl.e..n an un-i mixed bh'.-.-inR to Japan, though it luw. and political and military ,».«.-r. H , would lie absurd and ini.i"-<t •> "'■»"•_: Christianity for.Ms. Astern p1,,-< ; -> and science would liaye sprea.l i«. J»|w ~yen if Christianity had never .-\i.-ti<i. i»s«d. all M-no,HJ .udents in Japan, are alarmed at the students iil. [ ,; j. :<li ,.. a fter, Kmpcror exhorting the people to the pw-j ■* of I" • i hikl virtue National ethli'S are [au-ht by the Emperors command in every stliW- Patriotism ami reverence J

for tho Gods is continually inculcated. Every year the scholars are taken for purposes of worship and instruction to distant shrines.

JAPAN AND AMERICAN MISSIONS.

As far as Christianity is concerned. such organisations as the V.M.C.A., an<l the Salvation Army have received substantial aid from the Governmont. The Marquis Ukuma (a non-Christian) not long ago presided at a meeting of the former, and entertained the officers oi the latter at his own houso. Only last. year the Emperor donated r>o.ooo yen "(about £8,0011) towards the expenses of the 'World's S.A. Convention held in Tokyo. One can hardly imagine Kin;; George donating an equal anu-unt to a Buddhist Couventi on in London! So that the Japanese liovernnwnt is by no means unfriendly to Christianity. Where it has in dome respect? appeared so in recent year* has been on account of the teaching of 6omc of the American Missionaries in regard to individual liberty; the right of the people to determine its own form of Government; tho extension of the franchit-e; the limitation of the ri-jlus of Kinrfe, etc.— all very good subjects for debate in j Australia or America, but hardly likely to be viewed with favour by the Japanese Government, and so during the last three years there has undoubtedly I grown up a Ims friendly attitude to- | wards missions— especially those of the I American Church.