Thesis:
The present malaise of Christianity in Japan can primarily be traced to the European and
North American liberal and Unitarian theologies which were common to Buddhist anti-
Christian apologists and liberal missionaries around the turn of the century. These Western
concepts continue to make Japanese Christians unable to withstand persecution and
vulnerable to recidivism. Despite the fact that Japanese collectivism is a barrier to
Christianity, history shows that it is not insurmountable if the foundations of Christianity are
presented in a credible way.
Introduction
According to Operation World, 2001, Christians comprise only 1.56% (1,976,742) of
Japan. From this 1.9 million “Christians” one must subtract many groups such as 282,000
Jehovah’s Witnesses, 240,000 Moonies, 96,000 Mormons, and others who reject the
essentials of Christianity (e.g. creation, inspiration of the Bible, deity of Christ, and
salvation by grace instead of works) (Johnstone & Mandryk, 2001). Despite its religious
freedom, modern economy, and Western educational system, Japan continues to be
referred to by some as the "graveyard of missionaries,” because many missionaries have
spent their lives their and have made few if any converts. This paper will explore the
reasons that Christianity has not made greater gains in Japan and to consider solutions to
these problems in the hopes that Japanese Christians and foreign missionaries can utilize
this understanding to strengthen their respective churches and ministries.
Exploring the reasons for Christianity's lack of growth in Japan is a broad topic but because
of its eternal significance, it needs to be studied. On the surface, one could argue that
Japanese collectivism is the main reason why Christianity has not taken root in Japan.
However, this paper will demonstrate that at different time periods, Christianity has both
thrived and withered in Japan. Collectivism has been a stable feature of Japan for many
centuries.
The strong focus on the collective in both China and Japan stems largely from
Confucianism and, to a lesser extent, from Buddhism. Confucianism, founded by Confucius
(551-479 B.C.) during the Han Dynasty, became a system of social ethics more than a
religion. Confucianism persisted as a great and pervasive ethical tradition, western
societies, politics and economics have been influenced by industrial, business and trade
groups, but in China, such matters, as well as the general conceptions of family and
cultural life, still have Confucian roots. Those values today blend with the needs of the
village economy. (Winfield, 2000: 329)
This project will break the various history of Christianity in Japan into several eras which
exemplify the various factors that have both supported and discouraged the growth of
Christianity in Japan. These factors are then analyzed in greater detail and hypotheses
were formed in terms of, "lessons learned."
These hypotheses can be tested in two ways. First modern ministries that are successful
can be studied to see how they are dealing with issues such as liberalism and division.
Second, other ministries can be encouraged to adopt these "lessons" and their success
can be judged in the future. The main goal of this project is to increase the understanding
of the situation of Christianity in Japan so that steps can be taken to help it to grow once
more.
Japanese Christian History
Entrance and Extinction 1549-1640
The Christian History of Japan provides the background for understanding both the
present status and trends of Christianity. Surprisingly, the history of Christianity in Japan
spans more than 400 years. The first missionaries were Jesuits who reached Japan in
1549. In the mid-seventeenth century, the Japanese government began to see Christianity
as a threat. They forced all citizens to become Buddhist, expelled the missionaries and
systematically persecuted the Christians to extinction by 1640. (Thelle, 1987: 5).
Return, Revival, and Rifts 1859-1889
In 1859, Japan once again opened its doors to the West and accepted missionaries. The
Catholics returned and were able to regain Christians who had been faithful to their faith
for generations since the time of the persecution. This time, Protestant missionaries
entered. However, the Christians still carried some baggage of being considered by the
masses as part of a "heretical and evil religion." (Mullins, 1998: 21). The first Protestant
churches were inter-denominational in that Congregational, Reformed, and Presbyterian
missionaries joined to form the "Church of Christ." There desire was to be the "body of
Christ in Japan," and thereby avoid the pitfalls of denominationalism. This church
eventually formed fifty branches but, sadly, they split along denominational lines. (Mullins,
1998: 15) Still, Christianity grew rapidly during this period. There were those who
projected that Japan would become fully Christian in a short time.
Pressure and Compromise 1889-1945
However, when the Meiji government established the new constitution in 1889 which was
based around official Shinto and emperor worship, this growth spurt was slowed. From that
point until the end of the Second World War, the state systematically restricted the
activities of the church. Growth continued from the 1900's until 1930. Protestant churches
grew from 50,785 in 1901 to 193,937 in 1930. Catholicism also grew from 56,321 to
92,798 during the same period (Mullins, 1998: 18).
In the 1930's the Meiji government became totalitarian. Shinto became an institution of the
state and participation in its rituals was defined as patriotism. In 1939, the government
passed the Religious Organizations Law, which gave it the power to disband any religious
organization that taught things in conflict with state policy. All denominations were officially
forced to recombine by the government. Due to this pressure, Protestant and Catholic
denominations eventually, "instructed their members to participate in the rituals of civil
religion. By the late 1930's most churches had also created some form of theological
rhetoric to legitimize the Imperial Way, including support for Japanese military
expansionism." (Mullins, 1998: 20) This "United Church of Christ in Japan," went as far as
to raise funds for to purchase a warplane for the military in 1943. (Mullins, 1998: 21).
Post-war Growth 1945-1971
After WWII, Shinto was placed on a level playing field with all other religions in Japan. The
churches separated once again into their pre-war denominations. Following this period
Christianity grew again. Following General Douglass MacArthur’s call for missionaries to
Japan, many American missionaries came to Japan. From 1942 to 1960 Protestantism
grew from 190,000 to 400,000 while Catholicism grew from 100,000 to 323,000 during the
same period. Since 1971 the church in Japan has stagnated into almost no growth (Lee,
1999: 46).
Buddhist Opposition and Persecution
Although Buddhism is often presented as a purely Japanese religion, Mahayana Buddhism
was imported to Japan from China by Tao-sheng (A.D. 360–434).(Geisler, 1999).
Siddhartha Guatama (Buddha) was born in India in 560 BC and lived there until he died of
food poisoning in AD 480. (Geisler & Brooks, 1990: 134). Tokugawa shoganate, Oda
Nobunga, attacked the Buddhist strongholds and brought the religion under his control in
the sixteenth century. When the Jesuit missionaries arrived, in the 1500's, the political
structure of Japan was closely controlled by the shogunate. The state operated under the
philosophy of Confucianism but used Buddhism for political reasons to suppress
Christianity (Thelle, 1987: 8).
Buddhist temples, under supervision and financial support of the Shogun, became the
government’s primary agency for Christian persecution. All Japanese were required to
register at the temple. This registration certificate was necessary for "weddings, travel,
changes of residence, and to employ servants. In order to receive the certificate, the
Japanese had to trample on pictures of Christ or the Virgin Mary in order to prove that they
were not Christians (Thelle, 1987: 8).” This time of persecution resulted in the martyrdom
of 250,000 Christians. (Thirumalai, 2003: 119). Further demoralization of the Christians
came through the Christian retractions of Fabian Fucan, a former Jesuit and through other
anti-Christian tracts written by Buddhists (Thelle, 1987: 9).
Because of Buddhism's favored position within the Tokugawa government, the morality of
the Buddhist priests declined. They became infamous for corruption and sexual
debauchery (Thelle, 1987: 18). When the Christian missionaries returned in 1859, the
people were sufficiently disenchanted with Buddhism and desired Western learning so
Christianity could grow, despite the fact that the treaties forbade, "interference," in
Japanese religious matters by foreigners. Even though the foreigners were allowed to
practice Christianity, Japanese were still persecuted for doing so. Until 1873, signs were
posted in Japan which read, "Evil religions like Christianity are strictly forbidden. Suspicious
persons should be reported to the proper office. Rewards will be granted. (Thelle, 1987:
13)." In 1866-1868, Japanese Christians were severely persecuted through deportation to
other provinces and the decapitation of Japanese Christian leaders. (Thelle, 1987:10).
As soon as the anti-Christian signs were removed and the government allowed open
evangelism, many Protestant missionaries began apologetics-evangelism. Japanese
Christians moved their messages out of the church and into the public arena.
"They appealed to the public in great open-air meetings, or apologetics lectures
in public halls. So-called theater meetings were held all over the country; they were a very
popular way of addressing the public, drawing large audiences in cities and towns. A
missionary described the situation: "The apologetic age is begun; no other topic will draw
the multitudes together in Japan like discussions on Christianity. The masses are
appealed to as judges, and surprised that they are of so much importance, they gladly
accept the honour
(Thelle, 1987: 56)."
Because Protestant Christians challenged Buddhism in the public arena with such
confidence, the number of Protestants in Japan increased by 600% from 1882-1892 (5,634
to 32,334) (Thelle, 1987:54). This new confidence and growth of the, "evil religion" forced
the Buddhists to respond. Buddhists priests began to purchase boxes of Bibles and
commentaries and to study Christianity so that they could argue against it. Others went so
far as to become the students of missionaries and even to be baptized so that they could
infiltrate the Christian church and learn its secrets as ammunition for future apologetics
works. Buddhist seminaries integrated anti-Christian apologetics into their curriculum. As
a result, new anti-Christian literature could be distributed.
Once Buddhists realized that their apologetics literature was not successfully stemming the
tide of Christian expansion they began to adopt, "more aggressive methods, including
violent obstruction of Christian work, intimidation, social pressure, and ostracism." (Thelle,
1987: 13). Their slogan in 1883-1885 called for the, "extermination of Christianity." Once
the government became more open to westernization after 1885, this onslaught subsided
for a while. However, once the nation became nationalistic in 1889, Buddhists, were able to
attack Christianity once again on the basis of not being loyal to Japan. (Thelle, 1987: 93).
Darwinism and Liberal Theology
Direct Buddhist attacks on Christianity both in the arena of ideas and even their violent and
social persecution of Christians were unable to successfully defeat the Christian
movement. The most damaging attacks on Christianity did not originate in Japan but rather
in Europe and North America. In 1872, the first delegation of Japanese Buddhist priests,
traveled to France, England, Germany, Holland, Switzerland, Italy, the Middle East, and
India. Others went to the United States. On these trips, the Buddhists were able to gather
their most effective anti-Christian apologetics materials. They brought back critical
theology from Europe and books such as Self-Contradiction in the Bible, by Henry Ball
along with the works of Voltaire and Renan. Others brought back the philosophies of
Comte, Mill, and Spencer; and the evolutionism of Darwinism and Huxley. This new
ammunition brought new confidence to the Buddhist apologists (Thelle, 1987: 78-85).
These new Buddhist attacks were difficult to defend against because at the same time,
"American liberal theology, represented by the Congregational Andover Theological
Seminary, and German liberal theology, represented by the so-called Tubingen School," as
well as Unitarian Universalism began to be introduced in the 1880's by various Christian
missions such as The Evangelical Protestant Missionary Society (TEPF). TEPF, "wanted
liberal Christianity to engage in missionary work on a declared liberal basis (Thelle, 1987:
177).” After a little while, higher criticism and liberal theology were being advocated by
some of the most influential Japanese Christians. (Thelle, 1987: 179-180). When liberalism
joined forces with the "Japanization" movement, the belief that Christian theology was
unchangeable vanished. One leader, Yokoi, "advocated consistently that the central
concern of Christianity was not doctrines, asceticism, worship, or rituals, but religious and
ethical life. With his weakening of the doctrinal aspect of Christianity and his emphasis on
benevolence and love, moral and religious life, Yokoi inevitably had to acknowledge similar
ideas in other religions (Thelle, 1987:180)."
Once liberalism became popular in Japanese churches, orthodox Christianity based on the
doctrines of Divine inspiration, inerrancy of the Scriptures, and the historical Christ began
to fade. The foundations of Christianity were eroded by these beliefs so much so that
Christians began to remold the doctrines of Christianity to suit their own desires. It is little
wonder that when the government required emperor worship, the Christians quietly
submitted, because they no longer had any Biblical basis for resisting. When faced with
the choice between persecution and compromise, the Japanese church chose the latter.
Christianity did grow rapidly after the war, but without any foundation of truth, the main
draw of Christianity was the temporary comforts that it could provide to Japanese in their
post-war poverty and discouragement. Once the nation became prosperous, Christianity
ceased to grow because the number of people leaving the church equaled the number that
was entering (Lee, 1999: 46).
Indigenous Christian Movements
Indigenous Christianity grew out of disenchantment with Western missionaries.
Denominationalism was the prime source of their disappointment. Uchimura Kanzo, the
founder first indigenous movement, the Nonchurch Movement, spoke of this in 1890.
The sectarian bigots revive on a heathen land their own petty jealousies, for
which their forefathers fought and burned one another. Nothing is more ugly and
repugnant to Japanese eyes than these sectarian quarrels and jealousies; worse the
Japanese seekers find themselves puzzled by the maze of conflicting teachings of
different Christian bodies (Mullins, 1998: 24).
As a result of this confusion, several leaders in Japan decided to go off on their own and
start their own forms of Japanese Christianity. While is praiseworthy that each of these
leaders took ownership of Christianity not just as a world religion but also developed a
robust Japanese expression of Christianity, it appears that the founders of these religions
moved to the limits of essential Christian doctrine, and in most cases beyond. Even though
it could be assumed that the primary driving force behind the theology of these indigenous
movements was the contextualization of Christianity to Japanese culture, its real
foundations are on American and European theological liberalism and Japanese
nationalism (Thelle, 1987: 179). Due to the doctrinal erosion of liberalism, these leaders
were freed to incorporate non-Christian elements into their Christianity. Some returned to
a veneration of Buddha and Confucianism along with Christ. Others were influenced by
Darwinism and Unitarianism (Mullins 1998: 75).
Emperor Worship
Even though Japan is thought of as a homogenous society; before the Meiji Restoration,
Japan was divided into a weak federation of feudal domains. The Meiji Dynasty
successfully united all of these parts into a unified nation-state. Using the emperor's name,
the government confiscated the lands of the samurai feudal lords and abolished the
hierarchical social structure in which samurai, farmers, craftsmen, and merchants were
separated. The masses were empowered and became upwardly mobile because of the
emperor. Finally, the emperor "blessed" the people with a constitution which made all
people citizens in a modern nation. Because the average Japanese person benefited so
much from the Imperial Way, they began gratefully began to see the emperor as divine.
The government used this gratitude to form an indigenous Shinto/emperor worship civil
religion. State Shinto drew on past Shinto beliefs and made the emperor a direct
descendent of the founding sun goddess, Amaterasu. Even though the emperor declared
that he was not divine following WWII, many Japanese people continued to believe in his
divinity. State Shinto is slowly regaining power in Japan. (Lee, 1999: 46).
The fact that Japanese identity owes so much to the emperor system makes it difficult for
Japanese people to become fully devoted to Christ. Their loves for Jesus and Japan are
often equally strong. As one indigenous Christian leader said, "I love two J's and no third;
one is Jesus, and the other is Japan. I do not know which I love more, Jesus or Japan."
(Lee, 1999: 33). This underlying conflict in the heart of Japanese is one of the reasons
that Japanese Christianity has not continued to grow.
Recidivism
After the war and the disavowal of divinity by the Emperor, many Japanese turned to
Christianity because it offered hope that they did not have within their traditional society.
However, within a generation churches either stopped growing or even shrank. The
reason for this was that many people began to leave the church and return to more
popular beliefs.
[T]he conversion of individuals who were first, generation Christians could not be sustained
if the family members were not Christians. In short, recidivism has become a major issue of
evangelism, because two out of three first-generation converts leave the church at the first
signs of family conflict, company disapproval, or community opposition (Lee, 1999: 46).
Cultural Barriers
In Japan, there is a saying, "The nail that sticks out, gets hammered down." This illustrates
that members of the culture are not expected to stand out." Japan is has a very
collectivistic society (Gudykunst et. al, 1996: 23-25). Japan's collectivism makes it difficult
for Christianity to grow because in order to become a Christian, one must acknowledge
their individual sins and need for personal salvation. Even though, salvation may happen
in groups, each individual must make their own commitment. Secondly, because Christians
are such a minority in Japan, becoming a Christian guarantees that one will "stick out."
The fear of the consequences of "sticking out," keeps many Japanese from becoming
Christian.
Another aspect of Japanese collectivism that impedes the acceptance of Christianity is the
Confucian concept of truth. “ It is clear that Confucius did not espouse individual
wisdom, or purport that “man” individually could discern truth.. . . In other words, the
determination of truth is a top-down process in a direct, linear form. Politeness is stressed
over candor; people
should say they are ill instead of coldly refusing invitations (Winfield et. al, 2000: 333).”
This impedes Christianity because it is essentially a truth based religion. I Corinthians 15
places the validity of the Christianity under one simple test of truth—the resurrection. In
addition, Christianity requires a personal decision to follow Christ and a personal belief or
faith in the truth of the gospel message. Because Japanese tend to value politeness over
honesty, short term missionaries have often been led to believe that a Japanese person
has “accepted Christ,” after a short evangelistic conversation. Sadly, it is more likely that
they merely went along to avoid a confrontation but no real decision was made. These
issues need to be addressed in any evangelistic effort. Evangelistic programs which
combine the development of personal and community relationships with other Christians
along with a solid multi-faceted truth component have been able to overcome this
obstacle. The Alpha Course is an example of such a program which has had some
success in Japan.
The fact that the collectivism of Japan impedes the growth of Christianity does not mean
that collectivism is inherently anti-Christian. Acts 2: 43-47 demonstrates that the first
Christians were very collectivistic. Furthermore, Christians in more individualistic cultures
are often admonished by on the basis of these passages to: "pay more attention to the
needs of others," or to "think about the Body instead of only your own needs." In fact,
Christian collectivism would strengthen the Church and actually prevent recidivism. The
fact remains that collectivism brings stability of values and beliefs within a culture. If the
culture is predominantly Christian, collectivism will tend to maintain the Christianity.
However, if the culture is non-Christian, collectivism will maintain the status quo. If Japan
were to become predominantly Christian, its collectivism would cause it to remain a
Christian stronghold for centuries.
Rev. Hideki Kita (MA in Missions), argues that one of the reasons that Christianity did not
take root in Japan is that missionaries failed to focus on the poor. In Korea, the
missionaries served the poor and build orphanages. In Japan, the missionaries focused on
the Samurai class. As a result the common people of Japan came to believe that
Christianity was only for the elite while the Koreans believed that it was for the masses
(Personal Conversation, 11 April 2005).
Successful Churches
After studying the history of Japanese Christianity, one could easily become discouraged.
However, there is reason for hope. While many of the more liberal churches in Japan are
in decline, there are other churches that are growing rapidly. These churches are under
the direction of Japanese pastors rather than foreign missionaries. If missionaries are
present, they are there to partner with and support the Japanese pastor rather than in a
supervisory role. Most importantly, each of these growing churches has a strong Biblical
theology which rejects liberalism (Snider, 1985).
Decline of Buddhism
Buddhism in Japan is also declining. "Many temples are deserted, temple grounds are
overgrown with weeds, and in some cases temple doors are closed as priests have died or
gone elsewhere." (Snider, 1985: 22) In some cases, Buddhists priests have accepted
Christ and left the priesthood to preach Christianity (Wakabayashi & Terry 1989). This
decline only indicates that Japanese are less committed to Buddhism and not that they are
moving toward Christianity.
Lessons from History
There are three main lessons that we can learn from the Christian history of Japan. First,
the fact that despite persecution, Japanese Christians remained faithful in secret from 1600
‘s to the 1860‘s demonstrates that even systematic persecution could not destroy the faith
of the Japanese Catholics (Mullins, 1998). Unfortunately, these "secret Catholics," were,
"isolated groups [who] imperceptibly drifted from Catholicism into a syncretic folk creed
tinctured with Buddhism and Shinto." Eisonas, 1991 as quoted in Lee, 1999: 369). Even
so, they still were able to maintain their faith. Rather than impugning their record, it should
highlight the need for missionaries to ensure that their disciples are well grounded in the
essential doctrines of Christianity so that these people will remain true to the faith even if
they are isolated and persecuted. These "crypto-Christians," should serve as an example
for all those who leave the faith because of social pressure in the modern time. The
Christians of that time were systematically persecuted to extinction yet, they were able to
continue in the faith and maintain it for generations.
The second lesson is that the rise of denominationalism and division within the Body of
Christ weakened the cause of Christianity from within and ultimately disenchanted some
Japanese Christians. Denominationalism is dangerous on the mission field because it
confuses local Christians about which are the essentials of Christianity. When the
indigenous leaders rejected the petty denominational doctrinal disputes, they also rejected
many essential doctrines. Of course, Calvinists and Charismatics may disagree on issues
such as tongues and predestination but they agree on essential doctrines creation, the
inspiration of Scriptures, and the deity of Christ. These essential doctrine agreements
must be emphasized so that non-Christians will see the unity.
The third lesson is that, compromise is costly. It was liberal theology and Darwinism that
weakened the church. This led many churches to compromise on the issue of emperor
worship. In the face of potential persecution, the church willingly submitted to emperor
worship and nationalism. As a result, the Japanese church as a whole lost the respect of
the Japanese people. It is my contention that the present stagnation of Christian growth in
Japan is because of the disenchantment with liberalism rather than Biblical Christianity.
When the church was boldly proclaiming the truth of Christianity through apologetics in the
1870's revival took place. When the church compromised its faith, it declined.
In the modern context, Churches in Japan may be able to build on this foundation and use
more evidence-based apologetics in their evangelism and discipleship. This might help to
counteract Darwinism and liberal theology. It might also help to strengthen the faith of the
believers so that they will be able to withstand persecution because they know that
Christianity is true. Apologetics might also embolden the Christians to share their faith
because they would be equipped to confidently proclaim the Christian message as true with
evidence to support their claims. It should be noted, that in Japanese culture, the
credibility of the speaker is of equal or greater importance than the strength of the
message. Still, the quality of the message is important so we must earn the right to be
heard and then speak the truth with wisdom and love.
Conclusion
It is my prayer and hope that Japanese Christians and missionaries working in Japan will be
encouraged by the knowledge that the culture of Japan is in fact compatible with the
Gospel. The successes of the 1870's demonstrate that when the Gospel is seen as true, it
will be accepted by Japanese people. The decline of Buddhism combined with the recent
economic decline may provide an opening for Christianity to grow once again. The key is
to roll back the influence of liberal theology and Darwinism on the Japanese churches,
religious schools, and universities. While this is not an easy task, there are many
apologetics resources now that can help them do just that. When Christian community
becomes united around the truth of God's word, denominational disputes will be put into
perspective and the church will be able to confidently share these truths within their own
communities. Spiritual awakening in Japan could be just around the corner.
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