By LiCAS.news
JAPANESE manga artist Kan Takahama is using her craft to retell the story of Japan’s “hidden Christians,” a community that preserved its faith during centuries of persecution.
Her work will be presented in Italy this week during a series of events marking the 440th anniversary of the historic Tensho Embassy.
“How can the treasure of a testimony of faith that took place centuries ago, of which only a few traces remain in historical documents, be passed on to new generations?”
This is the question Takahama addresses through Shishi to Botan (“Lion and Peonies”), a manga based on the 1638 revolt of Christian peasants led by samurai Amakusa Shiro.
In the 17th century, when Christianity was banned and missionaries expelled from Japan, Catholics continued their faith in secret.
“The village chief led the community, established religious solemnities according to the liturgical calendar, and safeguarded the holy books. The catechist taught the children; those who knew the baptismal formulas administered the First Sacrament; a messenger visited families to announce Sundays, Christian feasts, and days of fasting and abstinence,” reported the Vatican’s Fides News Agency.
Continue reading in LiCAS.news.
