Kirishitan Yashiki

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The “Christian hill ” ( 切 支 丹 坂 , Kirishitan-saka ) on a city map ( kiri-ezu ) of Edo from 1771
Hillside path on the "Christian Hill" today
Reconstruction of the prison complex
Memorial stone marking the Christian prison in Kohinata, Bunkyō , Tokyo

The Kirishitan Yashiki ( Japanese 切 支 丹 屋 敷 , Christian estate ' ) in the Japanese capital Edo (today Tokyo ) was a prison , built soon after the country was closed between 1635 and 1639 , in which missionaries were housed who, despite being banned from the country had entered.

About history

In the area of ​​the secondary residence of the Commissioner for Religious Issues ( shūmon bugyō ), Inoue Masashige (1585–1661), a prison for ten missionaries who had been picked up and transferred to Edo was built soon after the land was closed. Some of the people admitted to this prison included the following:

  • Father Pedro Marques (1575–1657), Portuguese Jesuit, came to Japan in 1643, was immediately apprehended and imprisoned, and lived there for 13 years.
  • Father Francisco Casalla, Italian Jesuit, also came to Japan in 1643 and was imprisoned. On the Japanese side, it is said that he married a Japanese woman and lived in the house of Inoue Masahige for a number of years. Exact life dates unknown.
  • Brother Andrea Vieyra, Japanese by birth, came from Manila in 1643, was imprisoned and took the name Nampō, died there in 1678 and was buried in Muryō-ji.
  • Father Giuseppe Chiara , in prison from 1646 to 1685.
  • Jikuan, an Annamite Christian. He came to Japan on the last Jesuit mission in 1644, was brought to the Yashiki and died there in 1700 at the age of 78. He was buried in the Muryō-in.
  • Giovanni Battista Sidotti (1668–1715), came to Japan from the Philippines in 1708 and was the last to be held prisoner there. He is known as the conversation partner of Arai Hakuseki , died there in 1715.

In 1792 the commissariat was abolished and at the same time the prison complex was closed. The site (today: 1-24-8 Kohinata, Bunkyō -ku) is indicated by memorial stones and a plaque. The hillside path to the prison is marked as "Kirishitan-saka" on city maps, but there is no sign on the path indicating it.

literature

  • Tokyo-to rekishi kyoiku kenkyukai (Ed.): Tokyo-to no rekishi sampo . chu. Yamakawa, 2000, ISBN 4-634-29630-6 .
  • E. Papinot: Historical and Geographical Dictionary of Japan . Tuttle, 1977, ISBN 0-8048-0996-8 (reprint of the original 1910 edition).

Web links

Coordinates: 35 ° 42 ′ 48.6 ″  N , 139 ° 44 ′ 18.1 ″  E