Attached Paper In-person November Annual Meeting 2025

Stepping on the image of Christ as a form of deconversion, Venerating a Buddhist bodhisattva as a form of preserving the Christian faith

Abstract for Online Program Book (maximum 150 words)

In 17th-century Japan, after the expulsion of Catholic missionaries, the Shogunate enforced the ritual of efumi (image-trampling) to suppress Christianity. All citizens were required to register with Buddhist temples, and Christian practice seemingly disappeared on the surface level. However, some Christians maintained their faith in secret while publicly conforming to state mandates. This paper examines how hidden Christians navigated religious oppression by performing efumi and practicing Christianity clandestinely. Forced apostasy through torture and trampling on sacred images inflicted deep psychological and spiritual trauma. Hidden Christians, at the same time, however, venerated  a statuette of the bodhisattva Kannon as a figure of Mary, adapting Buddhist imagery to sustain their beliefs. The use of Maria Kannon statuettes illustrates how these communities exercised agency, blending cultural familiarity with covert devotion. Despite persecution, hidden Christians preserved their faith through adaptation and resilience, demonstrating how religious identity endured under suppression in early modern Japan.