Christianity in ancient Japan

1551 Francis Xavier and other Jesuits returned from Japan.

The introduction of Christianity to Japan is frequently, one might say usually, credited to St Francis Xavier, a disciple of St Ignatius of Loyola, and the date given is 1549. For example, Kondansha's Encyclopedia of Japan makes that claim, and Schaff-Herzog Encyclopaedia of Religion seems to accept the received wisdom.

However, modern research indicates that the Christian gospel was already ancient in Japan when Xavier first set foot there.

Christianity first arrived in Far Eastern Asia about 1,800 years ago along the 'Silk Road,' passing through China to Nara, central Japan. Evidence is found in a copy of the Gospel of Saint Matthew in ancient Chinese script, dating back to the ninth century, found inside the Koryuji Buddhist Temple in Kyoto, near Nara. That temple was built about 818 on the ruins of a Christian church erected in 603 ...

Tagged: japan, christianity, religion