Abstract
It is observed, in recent years, that some of the Kirishitan bands (descendants of hidden Christians) in the Goto Islands are breaking and indeed have broken due to the advanced ages of religious officials as well as the absence of their successors. Here I like to discuss on the principle and the the process how a large number of people in two Kirishitan villages in Shimo-Goto were conversed to Omoto, one of the sect Shintos. The phenomenon of the mass conversion of Kirishitans is a very rare case in Japan since the Meiji period.
The conversion principle consists of three sub-principles ; the transmission principle, which is related to consciousness, attitude and action of a missionary and their correlations ; the acceptance principle, which is related to the inner and historical necessity which caused the Kirishitan villages to accept Omoto ; and the selection principle of the mechanism of their selection of none but Omoto. The conversion principle is based on the magico-religious character existing commonly in the two religions, which includes two elements, namely a concept of earthly blessing and ancestorworship.
The conversion process consists of the conversion action and the subsequent institutionalization process on the cultic level and the organization level. In terms of the social relations in the conversion, “soil relation and implicit” pattern in another were analysed. Furthermore, the significant difference of these two patterns seems to regulate the subsequent institutionalization process. From my observation, the contrast of such conversion processes in these two villages was quite clear.
