Blood Letters of Edo: Emotional Compression in 17th–18th-Century Japan’s Christian Ban
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.64744/tjiss.2026.54Keywords:
Tokugawa Christian ban, Kakure kirishitan, Martyrdom, Fumie, Emotional compression, Religious persecution, Edo-period Japan, Hidden Christian communitiesAbstract
This paper examines the phenomenon of emotional compression among Japan’s hidden Christians (kakure kirishitan) during the 17th and 18th centuries, a period marked by the Tokugawa shogunate’s systematic suppression of Christianity through edicts, surveillance mechanisms, and ritualized acts of apostasy. Under the increasing pressure of state-enforced religious conformity, particularly following the institutionalization of the fumie ritual and the temple registration (terauke) system, Christian communities were forced into secrecy, resulting in the internalization and transformation of religious emotions rather than their eradication. Drawing on missionary records, survivor testimonies, and oral traditions preserved within isolated villages, this study investigates how faith was sustained through domestic rituals, syncretic practices, and intergenerational transmission via coded language and clandestine networks. The concept of 'emotional compression' is introduced as a framework to understand the psychological and spiritual adaptation of believers who endured public renunciation while maintaining private devotion, often accompanied by profound grief, guilt, and spiritual longing. Particular attention is paid to the Shimabara Rebellion (1637–1638) as a turning point that intensified persecution and reshaped the collective memory of martyrdom, giving rise to what are conceptualized as 'blood letters'—symbolic, embodied transmissions of faith and trauma that persisted across generations despite enforced silence. By analyzing European ecclesiastical narratives alongside indigenous counter-narratives, the study reveals divergent constructions of sanctity and sacrifice shaped by cultural and emotional contexts. Furthermore, comparative perspectives with other early modern persecuted groups, such as Huguenots in France and English recusants, highlight the broader implications of emotional resilience under confessional repression. This research contributes to the historiography of religion in early modern Japan by foregrounding the affective dimensions of religious survival and offering methodological insights for interpreting non-institutional forms of belief. It argues that emotional compression functioned not merely as a passive coping mechanism but as an active mode of spiritual resistance, redefining our understanding of religious continuity in conditions of prolonged duress.
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