Abstract
The Tenchi Hajimari no Koto (Concerning the Creation of Heaven and Earth) is a work consisting of 16 000 characters divided into 15 chapters. It may be justifiably regarded as the secret Bible of the underground Christians of Japan, who kept the faith alive between the expulsion of foreign priests in 1614 and the granting of religious freedom in 1873. So successful were the Senpuku Kirishitan (secret Christians), that when European missionaries returned in 1865 many groups of them chose not to be reconciled with the Catholic church, and stayed both separate and secret. These Kakure Kirishitan communities, many of which still exist, effectively constitute a separate Christian denomination in Japan.1
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© 1996 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
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Turnbull, S. (1996). Acculturation among the Kakure Kirishitan: Some Conclusions from the Tenchi Hajimari no Koto. In: Breen, J., Williams, M. (eds) Japan and Christianity. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-24360-0_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-24360-0_5
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-24362-4
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-24360-0
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