COVER PAGE
Center Top
MANGA
CHRISTIANITY IN HIRADO
OTENPENCIA
THE WHIP OF PENANCE
Artwork Yonekura Yuji
Story Tanaka Yoshitaka
Bottom left
UNESCO World Heritage
Hidden Christian Sites in the Nagasaki Region
Extreme bottom left
Published February 2020, by the Culture and Exchange Division; Department of Culture, Tourism and Commerce and Industry; Hirado City Hall
PAGE 1
No. 1
THE YEAR IS 1565. MANY CHRISTIANS HAVE ASSEMBLED IN THE VILLAGE CHURCH TO LISTEN TO A SERMON.
NO. 3
THWACK!
THIS WHIP IS CALLED A “DISCIPLINE.”* IT IS USED FOR PENANCE.
I BEAT MYSELF WITH IT TO EXPERIENCE THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST.
NO. 4
※ I CHANT “MISERERE MEI, DEUS” (HAVE MERCY ON ME, O GOD), WHILE MORTIFYING MY FLESH.
FOOTNOTES x2
LEFT: ※ From a letter of Friar Fernandez dated September 23, 1565
RIGHT: * The whip went on to be called “otenpencia” in Japanese.
PAGE 2
No. 1
※ THE JAPANESE FAITHFUL SEEM TO BELIEVE THAT SELF-FLAGELLATION CURES SICKNESS AND EXPELS ANYTHING BAD FROM THEIR BODIES.
AND TIME PASSED . . .
No. 1 Note
※ From a letter of Luis de Almeida dated October 25, 1562
No. 2
IN 1614, THE EDO SHOGUNATE PUBLISHED AN EDICT BANNING CHRISTIANITY THROUGHOUT JAPAN. FOREIGN MISSIONARIES WERE EXPELLED. CHURCHES WERE TORN DOWN.
No. 3
MANY JAPANESE CHRISTIANS RENOUNCED THEIR FAITH. THOSE WHO REFUSED TO DO SO WERE PUT TO DEATH.
No. 4
SOME CONTINUED TO PRACTICE THEIR FAITH IN SECRET AS “HIDDEN CHRISTIANS,” OR KAKURE KIRISHITAN, ADOPTING ELEMENTS OF BUDDHISM AND SHINTO.
PAGE 3
No. 1
WITH THE MISSIONARIES GONE FROM JAPAN, THE WHIP OF PENANCE BEGAN TO BE USED AS AN INSTRUMENT OF PURIFICATION. IT WAS USED IN THAT WAY EVEN AFTER THE BAN ON CHRISTIANITY WAS LIFTED.
No. 2
JULY 2018. THE ISLAND OF NAKAENOSHIMA IS DECLARED A WORLD HERITAGE SITE.
No. 3
THE ISLAND IS A SACRED PLACE FOR THE KAKURE KIRISHITAN.* THEY PASSED THEIR FAITH DOWN OVER GENERATIONS THROUGH RITUALS SUCH AS CHANTING “ORATIO” (PRAYERS).
No. 4
THE WHIP, WHICH ORIGINATED AS A PRACTICAL TOOL OF FAITH, CAME TO BE CALLED AN “OTENPENCIA.”* IT IS STILL REVERED IN JAPAN, ALONG WITH OBJECTS LIKE SACRED PICTURE SCROLLS AND BOTTLES OF HOLY WATER.
LEFT VERTICAL: * The name derives from the Portuguese “penitencia” (penance).
BOTTOM HORIZONTAL: * The Japanese name “otenpencia” is a corruption of the original Portuguese.
(New footnote needed for No. 3)
Kakure Kirishitan did not return to the Catholic Church after the ban on Christianity was lifted, nor did they abandon the rituals practiced during the ban.
