The Beginning of Heaven and Earth: The Sacred Book of Japan's Hidden Christians

Preface

vii Preface Anyone seeking primary documents written by Japan’s Kakure Kirishitan (Hidden Christians) about their experience of persecution will be disappointed. Such documents do not exist. The only works available on the subject are national and local histories. These may contain sections on the Kakure Kirishitan as a historical phenomenon, but they are not written by contemporary Kakure Kirishitan. Although the Kakure Kirishitan have lacked the circumstances or simply the desire to write or rewrite their own history, they did, however, compose one unforgettable work—The Beginning of Heaven and Earth (Tenchi Hajimari no Koto)—their sacred tale. But without knowledge and experience of the Kakure Kirishitan , this fascinating and bewildering amalgam of legends and tales is difficult to interpret. In an effort to understand Kakure Kirishitan religion and society, I adopted an anthropological approach to their study. From September 1991 to August 1992, I spent eleven months in fieldwork among the Kakure Kirishitan in the Gotò Islands. My aim was to live as closely with them as they would permit. Only in this way did I think it would be possible to acquire the necessary keys for interpretation of their complex traditions and sometimes convoluted means of expression. In my translation of this text, I have utilized the Japanese edition of Ebisawa Arimichi, which is based on the reconstruction of two manuscripts (Zen and Hatakeda). I have opted to leave the viii Preface Japanized Latin and Portuguese words as they are in the original text since much of the hybridized spirit would otherwise be lost. The Tenchi is written in Edo-period (1603–1868) Japanese with numerous honorifics. Since to render these into English would be to stultify and distort this folk gospel, I have tried instead to have the text speak in the manner of the Kakure Kirishitan people I have known in the Gotò Islands. ...