Abstract
The idea that Christianity was a heretical religion was deeply entrenched among Japanese since the persecution of Christians in the Edo era. This discrimination finally disappeared after World War II. During the Meiji period, on the other hand, Christianity was assumed to be a symbol of Westernization, progress, and high quality, and was accepted by urban intellectuals. Research on Christianity in Japan has focused on doctrinal issues and the history of propagation and martyrdom, hardly ever mentioning the everyday life of the Christian people. In this essay I will introduce the daily faith life of Kakure-Kirishitan believers of Ikitsuki Island in Nagasaki, who represent a tradition handed down from the time Christianity was introduced and continued during the "hidden" times and through the late Tokugawa period. In conclusion, it can be said that the daily faith life of these converts does not reveal a radical break from Japanese views of the buddhas and kami, but rather shows an acceptance of Christianity as reliance on a "powerful kami." There is a strong tendency to maintain the belief in the magical to attain this-worldly benefits as a basic aspect of their faith.
