Perceptions and Experiences of the Healing Effects of Fundamental Faith
Practices in Kakure Kirishitan Society

Perceptions and Experiences of the Healing Effects of Fundamental Faith
Practices in Kakure Kirishitan Society

Roger Vanzila MUNSI

Keywords:
Kakure Kirishitan survivors, Perceptions, Healing experiences, Health outcomes,
Fundamental faith practices, Orasho, Ohatsuhoage, Nagasaki Christians

１．Introduction
As I investigated the present-day remnants of Kakure Kirishitan communities in
Nagasaki settings, my understanding of what are actually the least distinctive aspectsof their lived- religious experiences and articulated beliefs has greatly improved,
allowing me to better understand how and why the prsisting communal participation in
Kakure Kirishitan religion and private spiritual devotion have had beneficial effects on
their physical, spiritual, and emotional health. So far, however, there has been relatively
little discussion about these facets of the subject. It is therefore of signal importance that
research be conducted to examine the nature, extent, and contours of this seldom
explored religious phenomenon against the backdrop of the Kakure Kirishitan survivors’
psycho-religious life and imagination. Here I would like instead to provide a close-up
review of some salient perceptions and experiences surrounding the significant positive
healing effects of fundamental faith practices within individual Kakure Kirishitan
households, and discover their specific meanings (including personal, collective, religious,
moral, and cognitive significance of affliction and recovery) and implications for these
seemingly integrated religious minorities.
The synthesis includes mainly ethnographic information gleaned from threereligiously active Kakure Kirishitan communities found in Shimo-Kurosaki, Shitsu, andWakamatsu districts, on various dates between 2004 and 2018. Specifically, I
triangulated three methods—open-ended, in-depth semi-structured interviews; longterm direct observations documented in field notes; and review of published and otherdocuments—to improve the validity of the findings and explore diverse perspectives.
Adopting an ethnographic lens (Tedlock 1992: xiii; Kielmann 2012: 236), I tried tounderstand various aspects of their religion and historical [hidden] memories from themember’s point of view, not merely analyzing them from a third-person perspective. In

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particular, I pose three important questions: (1) how do the performance of religious
ritual, the engagement in religious practice, and the shape of religious belief, contributeto, or hinder, health and well-being in Kakure Kirishitan society? (2) How does Kakure
Kirishitan religion—faith-based community address questions of disease and healing?
(3) How does religious engagement with health (broadly defined) negotiate indigenousand Western epistemologies in this specific setting? It was also important to understandwhether the healing stories were based on isolated instances or from a number ofspiritual encounters/experiences, and how recent the perceptions and observations had
been formed. Following Hovi’s (2013: 187) analytical tool, I further took into
consideration what is included in the idea of health in this specific context, what iscounted as healing and how it is strived for; and finally what are seen as healing effects
and where are the (possible) limits of healing in question.
By eliciting patterns of ritual healing and symbolic actions reflecting Kakure Ki
rishitan survivors’ spirituality (personal relationship to the transcendent) and relig
ious belief systems (as hopefully unveiled by ethnography), I hoped to have constr
ued some experiences and potential healing effects of their fundamental faith prac
tices set in motion. With the help of narrative analysis, I focused more specificall
y on meanings given to illness and healing in the interview material (Riessmann2008 reviewed by Hovi 2013: 188). At the most basic level, I have identified andinterpreted Kakure Kirishitan prayers ( Orasho) and the age-old ritual event of O

hatsuhoage as constituting two fundamental faith practices that are deeply embedded and inscribed with a set of healing meanings. The overall discussion therefore provides an understanding of synthesis and interpretation which articulates pra
yers and healing within the continuous spiritual path of Kakure Kirishitan surviv
ors. More specifically, it is dealt with by framing these vital themes of the study
within the practitioners’ pursuit of well-being as a sacred journey in the least res
tricted environment.
２．Background: Kakure Kirishitan Survivors in Nagasaki Settings
The History of the Roman Catholic Church in Japan, particularly in the Nagasaki area,spans nearly 500 years, originating in the mission of the Jesuit Priest, Francis Xavier,and his companions (1549-51). Despite his amazing success, Xavier’s missionary work
did not last as expected. In 1587 a religious culture and tradition surrounding thepersecution of the Japanese Catholic Church and Christian holocaust thus developed
under Tokugawa Hideyoshi (1536-1598) and temporarily ceased in 1598. The reasons forthis are varied. The most likely explanation is that their persecution, including that of
26 martyrs of Nagasaki that occurred in 1597, had more to do with the conversion ofwarlords and vassals who ended up on the losing side than with anything doctrinal.

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The new ruler, Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616), was reportedly quite tolerant of
Christianity for a while but scattered local persecutions did take place. There were 132
recorded Christian martyrdoms between 1600 and 1612 and thousands more of theJapanese Christians were stripped of their property and banished. From 1614
persecution increased. Ieyasu became determined to stop all Catholic Christian
missionary activity in Japan and then to eradicate the faith from among his subjects.
After his death, a much more brutal persecution was carried out. All kinds of horrible
torture methods were created, such as sawing bodies with bamboo, stabbing with a spear,
placing people in boiling hot springs, burying people alive and worst of all “ana-tsurushi”,
which was hanging the victim bound upside down in a pit with the head in excrement
until they suffocated. And further, related to this whole system of surveillance was thefamous Fumi-e (“stepping on pictures”), which were first used in Nagasaki in 1628.
Suspects were asked to step on a holy picture or small bronze metal picture of Jesus as
proof that they were not Christians. This “Christian Century” then came to a halt in
1639 when the shogun closed Japan’s borders from foreign contact in order to solidify
control over the nation.
Many early Japanese Christians (Catholics) courageously chose not to step on thefumie and died as a result of their strong faith. There were reportedly over 2000
executions by 1650, and several systematic persecutions of individual Kirishitancommunities as late as 1873. Others, however, in an effort to escape—as far possible—
the persecution and preserve their Christian/Catholic faith, remarkably demonstrated
their propensity to organize themselves into distinctive underground Christiancommunities. By so doing, these Kirishitan faith practitioners, for the most part, poorly
catechized and ill prepared believers, transformed the implications of the hitherto
external and internal policies to their own advantage (Ohashi 1996: 59-60) and over time
gradually established their own Japanese version of Catholicism. Hence, they
remembered the story of Christ through religious ritual practices, prayers, and beliefs
in secret without Catholic priests and without any sacrament other than baptism,
marriage and funerals, while at the same time pretending to follow the hitherto stateimposed Buddhism. Left without priests, they therefore developed their own rituals,
liturgies, symbols, and a few texts, adapting them from remnants of 16th century
Portuguese Catholicism and often camouflaging them in forms borrowed from thesurrounding Buddhism and Shinto. (For a concise overview of this history, see Endo
1982; Morioka 1975; Higashibaba 2001; Lee 2010; Dunoyer 2011).
The most notable production during this period was a sacred book (Bible-likenarrative) called “Tenchi hajimari no koto” (The beginning of Heaven and Earth), which
comprises familiar Bible stories, apocryphal Christian material, Japanese religion, andfolklore, as well as stories of Japanese martyrs (see Figure 1-1). The historicalbackground is that this book was probably committed to paper in about 1823 (Tagita

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Figure 1-1

Tenchi Hajimari no Koto Bible-like Narrative (Murakami

Community in Shimo-Kurosaki) Photo by the Author, 19-07-2004
1978:36), and as such it is particularly associated with the Kakure Kirishitancommunities in Sotome (present-day Kurosaki) and Gotō archipelago (For further details,
see Turnbull 1996; 1998; Miyazaki 1996; Whelan 1996; Mase-Hasegawa 2015). Moreover,the early Japanese Crypto-Christians produced an annual calendar of worship called“Basuchan reki or Basuchan no koyomi” (the calendar of Bastian), “which tradition says
was revealed in a vision to Bastian (a Japanese Catechist), who was martyred in 1659
(See Figure 1-2). Other major productions by the early Japanese Crypto-Christians
included a set of payers called Orasho—after the Latin Oratio (see Figure 1-3) and theAge-old Ritual practice of Ohatsuhoage briefly discussed below.

Figure 1-2

Calendar of Bastian-Figure 1-3

sama (Murakami Community)Photo by

Orasho (Kakure Kiri

shitan Prayers)

the Author, 19-07-2004(Murakami Community)
Photo by the Author, 31-10-2014

154Perceptions and Experiences of the Healing Effects of Fundamental Faith
Practices in Kakure Kirishitan Society

After the ban of Christianity of 1614 was lifted in 1873, a sizeable number of believers(Senpuku Kirishitan)—especially from Gotō archipelago and Urakami (Nagasaki)—eventually returned to the Catholic Church. In Part 17 of a series entitled “Great
Moments in Catholic History”, published in 1983 in the journal The Catholic Register,Fr. Jacques Monet aptly calls it “one of the most extraordinary acts of preserving faith
in the long history of the Church.”, while Pope Pius went to far as to describe it as a‘miracle.’ Although the hidden Christian communities have been tolerated by theJapanese State for almost 150 years now, remnants of the communities have continued
their separate and partly private lives as independent, Christian communities. Indeed,
they have long kept to the religious activities and culture left behind by their deceased
predecessors or righteous ancestors in faith with whom they share ethnicity, historicaland Christian/Catholic roots—while allowing permutations of form and content. It canbe suggested that the ‘hiddenness’ has become part of their continued Christian life andworship. The present study therefore focuses on these Kakure Kirishitan survivors—
generally labeled as descendants of the early Japanese Christian converts and theunderground Christians/Catholics (Senpuku Kirishitan), who survived the severe
persecution by the Japanese authorities, especially between 1614 and 1873.

The number of religiously committed Kakure Kirishitan individuals in Nagasaki
settings was relatively stable in the years after the first systematic study of them
reported by Tagita (1978), but subsequently there has been a dramatic decrease.
According to our tally, there were only 3,000 Kakure Kirishitan survivors as of 1 July155

『人類学研究所 研究論集』第 6 号（2019）Research Papers of the
Anthropological Institute Vol.6(2019)2004, and 1,500 to 2,000 practitioners as of November 2014, living exclusively in six
remote localities: Sotome (present-day Kurosaki), Shitsu, Kashiyama, Wakamatsu(Shin-Kamigotō), Ikitsuki, and Hirado (see Figure2). Today these faith-based

communities constitute a tiny, marginalized minority of the local populace, and theirsurvival is in question. The unprecedented demographic shrinkage is the result ofvarious historical events, together with sociological, structural, and economic threats
which are, except tangentially, not reflected here. A major factor contributing to themembership crisis, however, is the rarity of new adherents to a community that isalready in decline due to the aging of the members (Munsi 2014b: 41).
Three factors seem to be particularly significant in reviewing the present-day Kakure
Kirishitan survivors. First, it should be kept in mind that each community of Kakure
Kirishitan practitioners has a distinct history and character (Filus 2003). Yet, it lives
according to its own established regulations under the leadership of recognized religious
authorities or community formal leaders (Chōkata 帳 方 ), who also represents thecommunity to the rest of society, and who also are seen as relating the community to the
Trinity (God, Jesus Christ and Holy Spirit), the Blessed Virgin Mary (whom they referred
to as Maria Kannon), the “divine” ancestors and in some instances, to the protective“deities”. This form of religious organization, which, in some respects, reflects the
traditional Japanese value pattern (Bellah 1970: 116-117), helped preserve and nourish
cultural idioms that, theological considerations apart, distinguished these seemingly
integrated minority religious communities. It is difficult for researchers to even makefairly accurate generalizations, given their limited personal experiences with any
particular community, and any such generalizations must be scientifically treated withsuspicion. Second, the cultural heritage of Kakure Kirishitan communities is traceable
in their traditional customs, faith and organization. They continue to display a close
association with the earlier Japanese Christians and martyrs (their righteous ancestors
in faith), even though allowing permutations of form and content. This is so because themembers of Kakure Kirishitan communities have long created their religious identity inremote areas, remaining steadfast to the beliefs and traditional ideals set forth by theolder generations.
Finally, a third important consideration is that the present-day Kakure Kirishitancommunities in Nagasaki settings reveal a kind of community participation which isboth a process toward an end and an outcome in itself. In the present-day Kurosaki,
Shitsu and Wakamatsu districts, for instance, the remnants of Kakure Kirishitan
Communities underwent radical transformations concomitant with changes in the
structure of their society as whole. Thus, the visible presence of the tiny, minority of
marginalized Kakure Kirishitan communities in this context should be seen as a resultof their dynamic creativity and their adaptability to challenges of survival, rather thanto conclude that they are conservative and are simply holding on to old ways. On current

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evidence, moreover, the specific characteristics of the San Jiwan Karematsu Shrine
Festival (Shimo-Kurosaki) were regarded as the most visible nexus between religious
expression and social context (Munsi 2008: 226-227, 241; see also Munsi 2013: 101-108).
San Jiwan was reportedly a Portuguese missionary who took particular care of the
Kakure Kirishitan survivors in the present-day Kurosaki district (formerly Sotome)
during the period of persecution. Despite some fine legendary tales that serve to define
the saint’s identity and his marvelous deeds in the region, including his supernaturalqualities according to some believers, little is known about him. But, this fact, according
to Kakure Kirishitan informants, does not seem to really matter, for their longstanding
religious sentiment towards San Jiwan depends on oral report of his deeds, transmitted
over generations. (For further details on the cult of San Jiwan, see Munsi 2015: 269-270).
But an additional emphasis is necessary. A difference should be made between the
decline of Kakure Kirishitan communities and the continuity of their faith. It is not to
be expected that the faith of Kakure Kirishitan communities we know today will
disappear in the immediate or near future. On the contrary it will be interesting toobserve for a couple of decades the continuation of the faith of Kakure Kirishitancommunities ‘focused on individuals’ rather than ‘focused on community.’ In general,
therefore, it seems that the survival of contemporary Kakure Kirishitan communities
remains a question, not because it is intrinsically and inevitably doomed, but becausemuch of their religious vitality and affirmation will depend on the individual and thecollective past experiences, their perceptions and interest in finding alternative ways ofsurvival, and how these all combine to create their anticipation of future events (Munsi
2012; 2014. For an encompassing, detailed, and intricately woven ethnography of these
seemingly integrated religious minorities in Nagasaki settings, see Tagita 1978; Masaki
1973; Kataoka 1997; Furuno 1969; Miyazaki 1996, 2001, 2014, Harrington 1993, 1998;
Turnbull 1998; Filus 2003, 2009; Lee 2010; Munsi 2012a, 2012b, 2015, 2018 among
others)). With this background, it remains now to review more closely the main themesof this article, before delving into our subject matter.
３．Reviewing Religion, Prayer, Spiritual Healing, and Kakure Kirishitan Patterns inContext
Here I would like to provide an outline review of the vital concepts and themes
characterizing this case study. This is particularly articulated against the backdrop of
the intersection between lived religion, spirituality, and well-being.
3-1. Religion
It is evident from the scope of this study that “the pathway toward healing leads mostoften through the realm of spirituality and religion” (Sorajjakool 2006: xii). In this157

『人類学研究所 研究論集』第 6 号（2019）Research Papers of the
Anthropological Institute Vol.6(2019)respect, the term ‘religion’ is used here to simply denote “a covenant of faith community
with teachings and narratives that enhance the search for the sacred and encourage
morality” (Dollahite 1998: 5). Consistent with this startling definition, I concur with theframework developed by Dollahite and Mars (2009: 375) suggesting that “religion
consists of at least three dimensions of experience: (a) spiritual beliefs (beliefs, framings,
meanings, and perspectives that are faith-based); (b) religious practices (expressions offaith such as prayer, scripture study, rituals, traditions, or abstinences that are
religiously grounded); and (c) faith communities (support, involvement, andrelationships rooted in one’s congregation or less formal religious community).” Thesesame themes can be inferred from the current study.
3-2. Kakure Kirishitan Religion
Even if Kakure Kirishitan religion has some traits in common with the abovementioned definition and dimensions of religion, it should nevertheless be fully
understood within its specific cultural and socio-historical context. On account of its
essence, worldview (metaphysical conceptions) and framework, as well as in relation to
the evolution of Japanese society, Kakure Kirishitan religion as we know it today should
be appropriately labeled not simplistically and cartoonishly as Kakure Kirishitentism(Furuno 1969) or “folk religion” (Miyazaki 1996, 2001, 2014, 2018), but rather as“Japanized Catholicism” (Filus 2009) translating a kind of Indigenous Catholicism in a
relative sense.
One might, however, suppose that the overall religious phenomenon of this minority
religion is profoundly marked by the creative adaptation of the Kakure Kirishitan
individuals and communities. What indeed surfaces in this specific setting is aninteraction between physical characteristics of the faith-based community and thepatterned action of its individual members. As will be discussed further on, thiscommunity dynamic is significant, partly because frequent rituals and religious
imagination in the individual Kakure Kirishitan families and communities have not only
shaped a sense of belonging but also strengthened the identity formats and adaptation
processes for generations. This seemingly clear fact should be acknowledged and given
due attention by researchers. One more important point should be kept in mind. It was
not until Tagita’s (1978) seminal work that Kakure Kirishitan religion really became
prominent in the public consciousness and highly regarded as being lived as communionand commitment.
However, on the basis of my long-term experience with Kakure Kirishitan
practitioners, I would like to acknowledge and highlight the fact that the inter-related
important aspects of this striking “Japanese Catholicism’ (in all its variegated,
multifaceted, intertwined dimensions of the many forms of local Japanese cultural andChristian spiritualties) are not things to be taken lightly. Rather they can be, to use

158Perceptions and Experiences of the Healing Effects of Fundamental Faith
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Bloch’s formulation (1989: 167), “identified and further explored (with appropriate
interpretations), of course after a certain amount of in-depth analysis and by bringing ina certain amount of contextual ethnography”. Such inquiry could, in turn provide somevery fundamental insights into this restricted field of Kakure Kirishitan studies.
Whatever needs saying about this, it seems more likely that within Kakure Kirishitan
religion is a vision of the human-being that is quite grounded in a strong considerationof the virtue of community belonging, religious beliefs, unpublished spiritual writings,
relics of veneration, specific prayers and ritual practices bequeathed to them by theirdeceased predecessors.
An interesting detail here is that the present-day “individual Kakure Kirishitan
families have an ever-present fear that they would betray their righteous ancestors infaith by giving up the Kakure Kirishitan faith, especially when they are still active
physically. It transpires from narratives and interviews that those who promptly obeyed
this principle of preserving the Kakure Kirishitan faith would make things easier forthemselves both in this and the next world. One thing is therefore clear from this:Kakure Kirishitan communities have re-emerged in urban settings as corporate
religious minorities who struggle to achieve transition while retaining thepersistence of the past, sustaining a kind of dialogue between the past and thepresent. Because of their religion particularly defines who they are, to change
religions, for most remnants of Kakure Kirishitan survivors, means to give up theiridentity and the support and security that are embodied in it. Unlike their deceased
predecessors, they are confronted with a diverse set of contextual, socio-cultural,and ethical issues and settings (Munsi 2014b: 40).
We may be able to say that, when actually confronting a health crisis, these seemingly
integrated religious minorities often rely upon their religion—which dictates theirfundamental faith practices—to eventually seek for the divine intervention. Next I will
briefly discuss the particularly intriguing question of precisely how it is that prayer andhealth are intersected and symbolically represented within the scope of the ritual
constituencies’ religiosity (subset of spirituality).
3-3. Prayer and Healing Prayer
In the narrative perspective, prayer can be broadly defined as a dialogue with thesacred or divine or transcendent. As the foremost practice of cultural and religious beliefs
and practices, it “manifests among religious believers regardless of faith tradition”(Castelli 1994). But, at the macro-level, it is also viewed as a kind of dialogue between
history and modernity, and between the individual and the community. In his book The

Fulfillment of All Desire, which draws upon the teaching of seven spiritual doctors of the159

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Roman Catholic Church, Dr. Ralph Martin describes it in a way that is succinct and yet
comprehensive and inclusive of diverse expression: “prayer is at root, simply paying
attention to God” (2006: 121). In the context of emerging interest in the healing power ofprayer, the Baylor Religion survey has greatly improved our understanding of thepeculiar fact:
Among the most pressing reasons for prayer—for prayerfulness in general andthe act of focused praying, in particular—are challenges to health or well-being,such as due to acute or chronic illness or to an injury […] For active believers andpeople of faith, prayer, including for healing, is more than a situationally motivatedresponse to one’s own suffering; it is an ongoing expression of piety and of taking
up the yoke to be of service to others by acting as a liaison or advocate between
suffering individuals and God (Levin 2016: 1136-1137).
On the basis of this preamble, the common understanding of healing prayer would
then refer to a conversation with God, requesting a cure for a physical aliment, arisingfrom “faith healing” practices in various Christian denominations. The point for now is
only that healing in those contexts is rooted in a deeply personal relationship with aloving God (Luhrmann 2013). Evidently, the psychiatrist and anthropologist Laurence
Kirmayer (2004: 34) has the merit to emphasize that healing rituals and other symbolic
actions can thus have effects on physiology, experience, interpersonal, interaction andsocial positioning. Of all ways that healing is conceptualized and understood, that faithhealing is perceived and expressed, “at the heart of any healing practice, however, aremetaphorical transformations of the quality of experience (from illness to wellness) andthe identity of the person (from afflicted to healed)”. The broad discussion on therelationship between prayer in its different forms and health outcomes has been
carefully reviewed recently (Baesler &Ladd 2009).
3-4. Kakure Kirishitan Prayers (Orasho)
Considering especially the actual psycho-religious and socio-cultural contexts of
Kakure Kirishitan practitioners studied, it is evident to me that they have longcollectively shared witness stories that fit squarely into the above interpretations ofprayer and healing. In particular, however, their set of prayers is most well-known as

Orasho, a term that derives from the Latin word Oratio (prayer). As such, it should be
more accurately regarded as a set of distorted Catholic prayers. Since its earliest
formulations in the period of Christian persecution in Japan (1614-1873), the Orasho
has increasingly come to occupy a central place in the ritual life and imagination of
Kakure Kirishitan survivors. Even more importantly, its recital constitutes anexpression of their spirituality (part of the structure of being). Nevertheless, Orasho still160

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remains “unintelligible” in content. This is so because it consists of “an amalgam ofprinted 16th century Portuguese, Latin and Japanese texts and a number ofundecipherable words, of which formal leaders of Kakure Kirishitan communities
hitherto had no knowledge. In fairness, however, I learned that they include the Our
Father (Lord’s Prayer), Hail Mary, Creed, Salve Regina, and other standards” which themembers of Kakure Kirishitan communities hold and remember collectively (Munsi
2008: 230, 238).
In regard to ethnographic claims involving beliefs and practices within Kakure
Kirishitan communities, Orasho is perhaps—alongside their Bible–like “The beginningof Heaven and earth [Tenchi hajimari no koto]”—the most discussed specific prayer
pattern of this kind (Tagita 1978; Kataoka 1997; Minagawa 1981, 2004; Miyazaki 1996,
2001, 2015, 2018; Turnbull 1998; Nakazono 2018). It was clear then, and is even clear
now that, for the most part, Kakure Kirishitan practitioners do not understand thecontours and implications of what they recite during their prayer meeting; neither dothey seem very interested in the specific psycho-religious and theological meaning of
their specific prayers (Orasho), behavior, or various symbols they intelligibly use in a
concrete spatio-temporary location. In the light of Durkheim’s (2001) principle, it mustalso be mentioned that some texts of the Orasho also inform us that, at times, Kakure
Kirishitan survivors are more interested in being involved with forms of the sacred whichare “consistent with their ongoing beliefs and values”, and hence strive to preserve agreat common heritage bequeathed to them by their distinguished forebears in faith. In
this specific setting, it is interesting to note that the many various implications of suchconnection to the past in these religious practitioners’ sociological experience andexisting strivings for physical and spiritual well-being have been highlighted in myprevious reports.
Characterized by the use of a fixed and elaborated liturgy (the foremost religious event
being the age-old ritual practice of Ohatsuhoage (briefly discussed below), recited atprescribed times and accompanied by certain forms of ritual, Orasho has, moreover,become part of the psycho-religious and ethical formation of Kakure Kirishitan faithbased communities. Beginning perhaps with earlier Kakure Kirishitan communities, it
is posited that both the singing and reciting Orasho in this quasi-religious setting
inherently involves the ritual constituents into feelings of connection to each other, totheir respective communities and tradition, and more importantly, to the Trinity, theBlessed Virgin Mary, and their deceased predecessors or righteous ancestors in faith,
whom they will eventually become. The whole picture thus renders a framing in which

Orasho effectively creates comfort, support, strength, agency and thanksgiving, andhence catalyzes emotional shifts and spiritual transcendence. On the very basic level,
what is pointed up cogently is that Kakure Kirishitan survivors of my sample havetraditionally subscribed to the belief that Orasho, like any structured prayer, often gives161

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them what cannot be imagined. Put differently, it gives them all that is beyond the borderof the mind’s eye. The same can be said of the Ohatsuhoage ritual event as explained in
the following.
3-5. The Age-Old Ritual Practice of Ohatsuhoage
3-5-1. Institution and Aims
In their religious development during the period of Christian persecution in Japan,
Kakure Kirishitan survivors consistently generated the so-called Ohatsuhoage, a ritual
practice or an institutional cult established as the unique and unprecedented
consequence of their religious actions. These patterns specifically involved a synopsis
and syncretism of Christian, Buddhist, Shinto, and local patterns through which theritual constituencies ostensibly experienced vertical relationships with the Trinity, theVirgin Mary, and their deceased predecessors or righteous ancestors in faith, including
San Jiwan—their local Patron Saint enshrined at the Karematsu Shrine in ShimoKurosaki (Nagasaki).
The age-old ritual practice of Ohatsuhoage (precious offerings) represents, for manyreasons, by far the most important time-persisting event observed within Kakure
Kirishitan society. From the outset it is clear in this specific context that the chief
purpose or meaning of its performance is twofold: first, it is basically celebrated (with arestricted but elaborated repertory and unpublished spiritual writings) as a symbolic
equivalent or ritual substitute of the Eucharist during which they reach the highest formof approach to God, experiencing his presence and power. The second, and seldom
explored, aim of this ritually-prepared communal meal is to stimulate the imaginationof individual participants, while at the same time conjuring up their cherished memories
and beliefs. In such a way, they become integrally involved in a communion and/or
communication with their righteous ancestors in faith, much like the way Christians
believe in the presence of Christ in the sacred meal of communion. Such an event’s
symbolic significance also reflects the common belief in various rites of conspicuous
consumption which usually involve food and drink, highly regarded as objects withspecial material and symbolic value and “solemnly consumed in forms of feasts [and]banquets” (Falassi 1987).
3-5-2. Sequence of sub-categories
What also emerged from the analysis of the age-old ritual practice of Ohatsuhoage—
which I was fortunate to have been able to observe closely—is especially its functioning
as a sequence of sub-category. Just as Catholics have the opportunity to intimately
experience the Eucharistic celebration, so too during the course of the Ohatsuhoage
religious ceremony Kakure Kirishitan believers are in a sense “renewed”, and leave theirset “tatami spiritual/prayer room” once again pure. This is evident for instance in the162Perceptions and Experiences of the Healing Effects of Fundamental Faith
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recital of the distorted version of the Nicene Creed that very effectively reaffirms thevalues of the Roman Catholic Church in which Kakure Kirishitan survivors claim theirroots. In one way at least, the ritual celebrant and co-participants, we can posit, also
display some signs of deference as they repeatedly bow during the most significant partof the Ohatsuhoage ritual practice: the preparation of the communal meal. In otherrespects, the ritual celebrant shows deference to the Trinity, the Blessed Virgin Mary,and righteous ancestors in faith through his gestures, enhancing clues about theirimportant associated spiritual beliefs and sacred space-time. Yet it is necessary toemphasize that the repetition of the same prayers (Orasho) and pious actions among
Kakure Kirishitan practitioners both defines and determines their respective
communities and, more importantly, preserve the Ohatsuhoage ritual practice in quasiurban contexts. That is perhaps the very reason why a great number of Kakure
Kirishitan informants indicated that non-participation in the Ohatsuhoage ritual
practice prescribed by their communities would mean not only taking the risk of losing
membership in them, something that would not do justice to the righteous ancestors infaith, but also being unable to learn the persistent religious behavior and patterns
particular to its performance.
3-5-3. Climax and Communal context
The climax of the Ohatsuhoage ritual activity integrally involves the consecration of
the gifts—three bowls of rice and three cups of sake (including food items such nishimeand sashimi)—and a prayer that asks God to transform the offered rice into the body of
Christ and the sake into the blood of Christ, in much the same way that

Figure 3 Table set as Altar for the Age-Old Ritual Practice ofOhatsuhoage(Murakami Community)
Photo by the Author, 31-10-2014163

『人類学研究所 研究論集』第 6 号（2019）Research Papers of the
Anthropological Institute Vol.6(2019)transubstantiation is effected in the Eucharist (see Figures 3).
As important, if not more so, is the Kakure Kirishitan believers’ substantial spiritual
conviction that these two elements (rice and sake)—products of the land of thepractitioners’ own righteous ancestors—correspond closely to the notion of bread andwine—without which this religious ceremony would lose its original, meaningful context
and sense. This acute awareness of substituting patterns, which characterized theOhatsuhoage ritual event from its inception, is in line with Bloch’s (2005: 21-22) startlingassumption that:
The ritual process is always focused on special type of substitution, where one
thing ‘becomes’ another, in the same way as wine ‘becomes’ the blood of Christ
during the Mass (Levi-Strauss 1962: ch.8). These transformations are not arbitrary.
When one thing is changed into another, it is clear that some sort of empiricalconnection between the two still exists. It is commonality that is to be the channel
for the achievement of ritual […] Ritual transformations depend therefore on
connection that links different states and on difference sufficiently obvious to makethe transformation worthwhile and arresting. Transforming wine into blood istypical of ritual; transformations of wine into whisky would not do. I view suchtransformative potential as the central fact of ritual symbolism.
The consecration of these food items is followed by an effective symbolic communal
meal, whereby the ritual celebrant (who is the community formal leader commonly
known as Chōkata 帳方) drinks first the consecrated sake (representing the blood of
Christ) in distinct movements and passes it on to the co-participants. What happens isthat he does the same for the consecrated rice (representing the body of Christ)—using
chopsticks, which curiously comes in the end to vividly delineate both a reverse patternof the communion service observed in the Eucharist and a cultural pattern of a
traditional Japanese meal (whereby rice is commonly served at the end). This emphasis
on ritually-prepared communal meal or sacrament (similar to the Christian Eucharist)
thus culminates in a focus on collective spiritual gestures. Looked at more simply, theconsecrated sake is first consumed, and then the consecrated rice is placed in the palmof the cupped left hand very similar to the way the Communion host is received in thehand in the present-day Catholic churches. The consecrated rice is then eaten directlyfrom the palm without using the fingers.
It is important to consider that the Ohatsuhoage ritual activity is virtually always at
the center of the distinctively religious activities of the Kakure Kirishitan communities
studied. Moreover, it seems to be a characteristic of this ritual event that it symbolizes
the mystical and social unit of its participants. Evolving from more psycho-religious

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meanings and determinants, it has therefore become a specific religious setting whereby
all community members are united by a great common heritage, religious and historicalbonds, and cherished memories, narratives, and emotions, while at the same timesharing both repeated co-presence in the sacred space and a worldview, which in turnbring them imaginatively into interaction them with their righteous ancestors in faith.
One can only speculate at this point, yet it is worth noting that when the Ohatsuhoage
ritual event is intelligibly performed at Christmas and Easter vigils, it almost becomesan ecstatic celebration of the highest sort, binding Kakure Kirishitan survivors together
in a surprisingly real ‘holy communion,’ much in the same way as happens at the Catholic
Mass. Seen from a historical perspective, consumption thus becomes, for Kakure
Kirishitan practitioners, a single creative directional process which is sustained by thepsycho-religious/spiritual aspirations and desires of their individual faith-based
communities.
3-5-4. Symbolism and Implications
Often overlooked, the symbolism of religious forms (including the representation of thesacred) and member bonds have proved to be very important dimensions in the lived
religious experiences and continuing struggles of Kakure Kirishitan survivors. This is
unsurprising perhaps, as it tells us that the distinctively religious activities afford
Kakure Kirishitan believers the opportunity to practice their persuasive religious
patterns and all that entails (Munsi 2015: 273; 2016: 10). I argue that it is precisely interms of all these persisting activity patterns of the Ohatsuhoage ritual practice and its
attendant beliefs that Kakure Kirishitan survivors typically bring to the foregroundtheir minority religion (labeled as “Japanized Catholicism”). The point can thus be madethat the situated specific and interactive dimensions of this religious setting ultimately
involve them in a collective sense of identity and heritage, sense of belonging (which
together with the sharing of values, symbols, practices, obligations, emotions andmemories created in this setting work to produce sense of “spiritual kinship”),
religious/spiritual aspirations, and minimal survival in urban settings. By ‘heritage’, I
refer more specifically to the embodied meaning of a congregation or community’s “sacreddeposit from the past” (Son 2014: 108), while the term ‘identity’ merely denotes its“sentient” boundaries. Most essentially, the latter includes not only “history, myths,
values, mores, beliefs, emotions, and traditions, manners of informal conversation”, butalso “explicit sentiences as seen in its creed, constitution, by-laws, and mission statement
and its particular history; implicit sentiences that “give more influential messages suchas worship style, dress codes, friendliness or judgmental attitude” (Son 2014: 104-105).
From the perspective of the event-centered ethnography, I would strongly suggest thatthe construction and interplay of the salient elements (material symbols of religious life
and their emotional significance) of the Ohatsuhoage ritual activity largely translates

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into actual practice what it is perhaps more appropriate to speak of as the significancepositive intersection of identities and various forms of ritual resources. It also bears
observing that the way these fundamental faith practices are perceived in this specificcontext is not only reflected in the Kakure Kirishitan survivors’ identity but also in theirsubsequent feelings toward specific locations within their specific prayers, ritual
practices, and festivals. My sense from the field is that these time-persisting religious
activities are significant in that community solidarity forged in the powerful andemotional moments sequentially allowed Kakure Kirishitan believers to learn thepatterns of Orasho and of the Ohatsuhōage ritual practice, which often create the statefrom which potentially healing can emerge. With some exceptions, there has been very
little theorizing about the specific links between these two fundamental faith practicesof the Kakure Kirishitan survivors and the various measures of their well-being such as
physical, mental, and emotional health. A detailed description and interpretation of thesubject can be found in Munsi’s forthcoming (2019).
Turning to the results of structure and healing effects in this specific socio-religious
setting, we should note, finally, that these further dimensions to Kakure Kirishitan
practitioners’ faith practices highlight their shared conception according to which the

Orasho and the Ohatsuhōage ritual event embody and entrench power relations, being
potentially functional for their well-being. This stems from the intriguing field-based
realization that these fundamental faith practices, when used for health-directed prayer
and modes of spiritual intervention can often heal them from the root, from the soul tothe subtle body, to the physical body. In a similar sense, these two distinctively religious
activities are therefore, following Koen’s formulation (2011), “used as potent practices ofhealing where beliefs in the supernatural or spiritual dimension frame the contexts
where healing occurs”. During my ethnographic fieldwork I indeed came across many
examples illustrating this statement. Tellingly, what I recorded includes diverse stories,
many of which a modern scholar would probably be more comfortable in classifying as‘folk literature” rather than as biography or hagiography. This synthetic review, in turn,leads us to the appreciation of the interactions between faith and healing among the
Kakure Kirishitan survivors.
４．The Relationship between the Kakure Kirishitan Society and Healing
It is increasingly recognized that religious healing comes in many forms, frommiraculous supernatural intervention, to the manipulation of metaphysical energies, tothe proper ordering of healthy human relationships and societies. This can also be shownin many examples within Kakure Kirishitan society. From in-depth interviews, ittranspired that the Kakure Kirishitan faith-based communities allow individual
members to explore the meaning of their spirituality, minority religion, and personal

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beliefs and to define and determine as clearly as possible, potential facets of theirreligiosity. Within that context, the connection of the Kakure Kirishitan practitioners totheir respective faith-based communities has been identified and proven to be aprotective factor in the individual healing experience. At the heart is the focus on
spirituality. And it is arguable that prayers and rituals of Kakure Kirishitan believers
constitute a highly significant part of the mechanisms through which their community
interconnectedness operates in the different healing cases outlined and discussed below.
Remnants of Kakure Kirishitan communities are still scattered over Nagasaki settings,
representing a significant religious phenomenon. Today, perhaps more than before, theirminority religion has been on the whole highly regarded as a benign force of motivationto action and virtue, while their fundamental faith practices have been instrumental inenabling community connectedness to buffer effects of illness and the implication for
divine intervention. Eventually, healing outcomes occur here both within theperformative organization of the fundamental faith practices—liminal period, and in thecontexts of meaning and action which extend around them—post liminal period. One
might argue, in turn, that Kakure Kirishitan practitioners really discover, in this liminal
context, their minority religion and tradition which, embedded in the socio-historical andreligious/spiritual processes and contexts, significantly define and determine them.
We have known for some time that many Kakure Kirishitan informants significantly
express a deep-felt sense of community belonging and a strong belief in the potential
effect of their fundamental faith practices for health benefits. There is substantial
evidence that a strong sense of community (sense of belonging, influence, integration andemotional connection) among individual members of Kakure Kirishitan faith-based
community readily influences options for collaboration of their respective communities
with other communities representing different religions. How then does it account forindividual religious practitioners?
The truth (as many social scientists following Durkheim have indeed pointed out)is that religion is fundamentally a matter of community identity and belonging.
Most believers do not convert to a faith; they are born into it. And neither is it that
common outside Europe (and more recently America) for them to overtly reject theirfaith, even if their practice of it becomes more casual (Walters 2018: 3).
It is perhaps not surprising that Orasho (specific Catholic prayers) and the age-old
ritual practice of Ohatsuhoage (a ritual substitute for the Eucharist) are consideredamong the Kakure Kirishitan survivors as powerful, determinative and credible, since
they provide them with an important source of social coherence and psychoreligious/spiritual support. This, in turn, will reiterate the point that the power of thesefundamental faith practices is evident in this dynamic interplay between the religiously167

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committed Kakure Kirishitan community and members. If individual members feel thatthey have contributed to the achievement of the overall spiritual goal, then the wholecommunity benefits and healing is fostered accordingly. If the community is either
thriving or in decline, or even disbanded, then it will be able to influence its individual
members both physically and spiritually. This is a cycle that, at least in my opinion, willcontinue as long as these seemingly integrated religious minorities stay intact and aresuccessful in fulfilling their needs.
There is accruing evidence that a Kakure Kirishitan faith-based community that
influences its individual members and has influential members and prominent figures
may have a strong position in Kakure Kirishitan society, and may be able to combine
religious forces with another community (preferably, another faith-based community
because, like I said earlier, of their common goals). In this way, the re-incorporation ofthe Ōura community into Fukaura Community (Wakamatsu) in December 2011 is a caseto the point. The Fukaura community can be, in this particular case, identified as“surviving’, simply because members have maintained their original corporate
ownership and structure. While the Ōura community first experienced survival “inname,” because members have retained their “brand” after the death of their leader, prior
to the death of its leader, Ōura Moriye (101 years old) on 4 February 2013, and secondly,
it finds itself now in the state of “disappearing’, because its members’ religious activities
have been absorbed into those of the Fukaura community (Munsi 2014:48). In addition
to this is the tranquil and high centered Kirishitan shrine festivals held annually in
Shimo-Kurosaki and Wakamatsu (Munsi 2011, 2014: 51-53, 2015: 270-273, 2018). As
such, these religious events provide particularly fruitful examples of how such interfaith
gatherings can give resources to and enhance the religiosity of the faith-based
communities.
More significantly, the above-mentioned patterns purport to say how the present-day
remnants of Kakure Kirishitan communities have especially empowered themselves
personally, collectively, and spiritually by incorporating their specific religious
experience. The psycho dynamics of these events reveal striking patterns determining
religious traditions in urban settings, allowing us to study them as “religious emotional
regimes characterized by balanced dialectical connections between self, society andsymbols (Riis/Woodhead 2012: 121). In any case, suffice it to emphasize here thatcollaboration between these two faith-based communities, or among more than two
religious communities, may be difficult at the beginning (e.g. the crisis of the Karematsu
Shrine festival accurately described by Munsi 2018) because members may be wary of
the others’ differences (or what appear to be differences). Opportunity for trust building
must continuously take place so that the two or more communities begin to see eachother as one.
One general point inevitably emerges from all this, and that is that the perceptions

168Perceptions and Experiences of the Healing Effects of Fundamental Faith
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and experiences of the healing effects of the fundamental faith practices make Kakure
Kirishitan believers implicitly encourage Kakure Kirishitan believers in their own
spiritual identity. It is precisely in this way that they tend to reconcile their sense of thesacred and express the Kakure Kirishitan faith, both in private and public sphere. We
may also note that such experience often makes them come away with a heightenedawareness of the spiritual dimension in lived-religious experiences and an awareness ofthe mysterious divine in their least restricted environment. Allowing Kakure Kirishitan
practitioners not only to tell their story but also to explore it in a way that encompasses
fundamental faith practices can be healing psychologically, emotionally, and spiritually.
Asking questions about their relationship with the Divine and how this relationshiphelps to heal or hurt therefore enables us to further inquire about their core religious
beliefs and faith systems. Each of the healing experiences and stories of Kakure
Kirishitan patients both emphasizes the potential power of their contemplative practices
and prayers and fits squarely into physical and spiritual healing results, something that
surpasses our understanding of the material and physical nature of our world. It is
moreover not the case that healing is the sole feature or function of their minority
religion but restoration of wellness and wholeness is a central component of their lived-religious experiences and minimal survival in Nagasaki settings.
Here more than one point of view has been apparent: the Orasho and the Ohatsuhōage
ritual event are defined and understood not just by their functionality, or even their
healing properties—but they are fundamental faith practices with social and spiritual
meaning, as they express the community’s highest aspirations. They reinforce in each of
the Kakure Kirishitan practitioners the awareness that they are part of the faith-based
community, which in turn makes them continue to learn about the connections between
spirituality and healing, faith and spirit manifested in their present localities. It is partof my basic argument that Kakure Kirishitan practitioners in my sample group, believe
in a God of supernatural miracles. This seems to be evident across their minority faithbased communities, though any attempt to understand such lived-religious beliefs andexperiences as they relate to supernatural physical healing is often subject of muchdebate theologically and scientifically. For these seemingly integrated religious
minorities, however, such a debate appears to be a minor, almost peripheral concern. I
would agree nonetheless that if we look more closely at Kakure Kirishitan practitioners
in my sample, we will find that they seem, much more like the Merina of Madagascar
studied by Bloch (1989: 122-123): “little interested in what their beliefs consist of, they
are horrified at the suggestion that those beliefs, whatever they might be, would not be
totally shared by everybody”.
Between 2008 and 2018, I conducted a survey to examine closely the healing
experiences of 30 Kakure Kirishitan practitioners from three religiously active
communities in Shimo-Kurosaki, Shitsu and Wakamatsu. I focused mainly on these169

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particular faith-based communities because I initially during my pilot study looked atwhat they were about (their joint enterprise as understood and continually renegotiatedby their members), and how they did function (the relationships of mutual engagementthat bind members together into a socio-religious entity), and what capability they haveproduced (the shared repertoire of communal resources—routines, sensibilities, artifacts,
scripts, vocabulary, symbols, styles—that members have developed over time. The firstpart of the data was collected with attention paid to the degree of healing results throughthe divine intervention experienced by Kakure Kirishitan patients themselves andwitnessed by their community members. It transpired that the majority (70%) of Kakure
Kirishitan practitioners indicated their belief in supernatural healing through theirfundamental faith practices. This majority was made up equally of those who either
strongly (40%) or somewhat (30%) agree that it is possible to be physically healed
supernaturally by God through the intercession of the righteous ancestors in faith. The
remaining one-third (30%)—most of them young practitioners who either received Infant
baptism or adhered to Kakure Kirishitan communities through marriage—were
skeptical, amounting to those who either strongly (20%) or somewhat (10%) disagree (seeFigure 4).

20%
70%

Agree strongly
Agree somewhat

10%

Disagree somewhat
Disagree strongly
30%

Figure 4

Proportion of Belief in Supernatural Healing among the
Kakure Kirishitan Survivors

On the surface, it transpired that Kakure Kirishitan practitioners from Shitsu district
experienced less supernatural healings than those from Shimo-Kurosaki and
Wakamatsu who recorded many supernatural healing experiences within theircommunities and surroundings. In this we see clearly the particularity of the Kakure
Kirishitan worldview in which the visible world of human experience and the invisible
world of the spirits and God exist along a continuum and form an organic reality. Equallythese quantitative findings delineate how Kakure Kirishitan practitioners live170

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significant religious experiences and share naturally the deep convictions that induce
them: Heaven often answers them in a most unexpected way. Thus, ironically, it may beargued that these convictions are so taken for granted that they are seldom articulated.
Yet, they infuse every aspect of the Kakure Kirishitan practitioners’ fundamental
religious forms or ritual processes by which ideology is created both individually andhistorically. Quite simply, it seems that their individual and collective piety, religious
aspirations and expectations somehow rely traditionally on the judgments rendered
about the divine grace and miracles in the Roman Catholic Church’s teaching, preaching
and theology.
Another part of the data collection was designed to determine the prevalence of theuse of healing prayer in response to a medical issue. In findings from this interview
survey of Kakure Kirishitan practitioners in Shimo-Kurosaki and Shitsu which asked
respondents to select from a lengthy list of ‘‘therapies and treatments’’ that they had
used in the past year, 40 % reported using ‘‘spiritual healing’’ by others’’ and 60 %reported using ‘‘prayer’’. Both categories, however, confessed to having often combined
their belief in supernatural healing with ordinary medical treatment. There was no
mention of any kind of physical exercise as a suitable therapy. Our follow-up 2014 survey,
however, found that the past-year prevalence of ‘‘spiritual healing by others’’ was now
35 % and ‘‘self-prayer’’ was now 65 %, perhaps due to the aforementioned decline inmembership. In the 2018 interview survey it transpired that 70 % of Kakure Kirishitan
practitioners of my sample clearly indicated a lifetime prevalence of healing prayer for
either their own sake or for individual members’ health benefits, while 30% emphasized
the importance of having a healing ritual or “sacrament” performed for one’s health. One
important predicator to consider in these data is that most respondents were over 40
years old and aging persons predominated. The practitioners’ belief in the healing powerof their fundamental faith practices brings substance to their prayers and ritual
practices, which in turn reaffirm the community’s social, psycho-religious and spiritual
cohesion. And whenever healing occurs within individual Kakure Kirishitan
households it takes the form of enhancing consciousness, as the two fundamental faithpractices —Orasho andOhatsuhoage ritual practice—bring their participants into

contact with the supranational beings (Trinity, Blessed Virgin, and righteous ancestors
in faith).
A final part of the data collection focused on the degree of health security that
Kakure Kirishitan practitioners felt themselves to have. Individual members who
remained active within their respective faith-based communities were differentiate
d between those who described their presence and participation in prayers and rit
uals as “very secure” or “secure” , and those who regarded it as “insecure or very
insecure”. Those who were not religiously active within communities were divide
d between those who said they were seeking an alternative religious denominatio

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『人類学研究所 研究論集』第 6 号（2019）Research Papers of the
Anthropological Institute Vol.6(2019)n, such as conversion to either to Buddhism or Catholicism, and those who werenot.

Thus, there were four categories: (1) secure-participation; (2) insecure-parti

cipation; (3) non-participation; and (4) permanently removed from the community’scommitment. I tried to determine whether change in illness between the intended sampling and follow-up differed between respondents in the four categories of r
eligious participation after 17 March 2015, when the local Catholic Church celebr
ated the 150th anniversary of the return of many underground Christians (Senpuku Kirishitan) on the 17 March 1865, following the confession of Bernadette Sugim
oto and his companions in the presence of the Paris Mission Priest, Fr. BernardThaddée Petitjean (1829– 1884) in Ōura Catholic Church (Nagasaki). In so doing,
I purposely used secure-participation as a referential group. The proportions in e
ach of the four religious participation categories were as shown in the following f
igure 5:
Religious participation

Number%

Secure-participation60

75

Insecure-participation

10

12.5

Non-participation

8

10

Permanent exit from Kakure Kirishitan community

2

2.5

Total

80

100

Figure 5 Proportion of the relationship between Religious Participation and
Health Security

These quantitative findings provide us with important insights into the relationshipbetween health status and religious practices, but they tell us little about the actual
experiences of those involved. More specifically, they do not explicitly help us to fully
understand how Kakure Kirishitan practitioners manage and negotiate theirfundamental faith practices and health benefits within their specific environments. With
this said, while much can be gleaned from our survey results, we are dealing only withmore subjective feelings and emotions of the Kakure Kirishitan believers involved. In
addition, it should be admitted that our data collection methods here initially provided
respondents with a limited number of response options. Still, much study is needed inthis area to determine how they perceive, interpret and explain what is really happeningaround them. For this, qualitative methods (in-depth semi-structured interviews,
narrative interviews, direct observations) somehow provided us with a deeper and richer
source of data. Clearly I cannot examine all such empirical data gleaned from different
Kakure Kirishitan communities. In what follows, however, I propose in the limits ofspace, to offer a general understanding of them by outlining only four single case studies,
which are of central importance in this article. They signify four different striking
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narratives gleaned from four different settings (hospital, home, and the temple) thatoffer us useful insight into the claims made above.
５．Divine Intervention as a Potent Mechanism for Healing
My focus here is particularly on the use of health-directed prayer and other modes ofspiritual intervention for purposes of healing, for oneself and for others. I will thenexamine its social, psycho-religious and spiritual implications for Kakure Kirishitan
practitioners.
Case Study 1

Healing of Fukaura Fukuemon (Wakamatsu)

I what follows, I shall recount the story of Kakure Kirishitan survivors in
Shinkamigoto, more precisely in Wakamatsushima (present-day Wakamatsu-chō), using
a somewhat unconventional scheme, in which faith and health are intertwined. The area
had its share of Christian martyrs, such as Callisto (Kuemon), who was arrested andbeheaded in 1624; an account is given in The History of Christianity in Goto by Urakawa
Kazusaburō. Christians suffered martyrdom in Tabuto, a place-name that has notsurvived. According to my informant, an old man, Tabuto was located behind the presentday City Hall of Wakamatsu. A monument to these martyrs was erected in 2001 at the
Doinoura Catholic Church. The traces of the persecuted remain all over the islands.
Kakure Kirishitan survivors migrated to the region seeking to preserve their faitheven at the cost of abandoning their homelands. But the new locations were not reallysafe either, and the inhabitants despised them. Consequently they had a difficult
struggle to find land between the mountains. When freedom of religion was given
throughout the country in 1873, a great number of the descendants of the migrated
Kakure Kirishitan practitioners in this area chose, surprisingly, to become Buddhists,
while a small number converted to Shintoism. Converts to Catholicism were few, perhaps
for financial reasons. In the Catholic Church it was required that they contribute money,
whereas in the Shinto shrines one only needed to pay for amulets, and in Buddhism there
was no charge at all, except on the occasion of burial.
The following is excerpted from interviews I conducted on 6 November 2008 with
Fukaura Fukuemon, the eighth Taishō (大将, formal leader) of the Kakure Kirishitancommunity in Wakamatsu:
Around 1628 my ancestors, a couple names Kajirō and Ume, left Omura village
for Tsukiji to escape the persecution of Christians ordered by the local authorities.
After much hardship on the sea they finally arrived in Tsukiji (present-day
Wakamatsu-chō). The present-day Kakure Kirishitan families or practitioners inWakamatsu are all descendants of those early migrants.
I was born on 20 September 1920. This year I am turning 88. I always feel that173

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God defends and protects me, and I am really grateful to him. I think that my life
has been safe because I always pray to Deus (God) and Maria (Blessed Virgin Mary).
This conviction was strengthened during World War II and again by recent events.
On 4 October 1946, when I was 27 years old, I was demobilized from the south.
Before I left the Malayan Peninsula, we were heavily bombarded by the USA army.
During the bombardment I was hiding in a small hole in the form of a cone. WhenI realized that the attack was over, I came out, but the American offensive suddenly
restarted. In that confusion, a bullet penetrated my iron-mask struck me just leftof my eyes. I was really scared. Then when we were pulling out, my uncle, Fukaura
Fukumitsu, was shot in his left arm and thigh. He had to be carried by four soldiers.
As the attack became violent, some wanted to leave him and flee but one soldiersaid, ‘We must not abandon him; keep on holding him.’ This soldier’s reaction saved
my uncle.
Regarding the recent events, I was hospitalized on 21 December 2007, withswellings about the size of a coin in my chest. They released me from the hospital
after reducing the dose of medication, and now there is nothing at all. That also, I
believe, was a grace from Deus and Maria. I requested to sleep out in order to
conduct the Prayer of Christmas, but the hospital only left me out during the day,not at night. During my hospitalization, I thought of death, and said to myself: ‘As
I approach death, I will become a Catholic. I want to go in the other world and enjoy
eternal life with Jesus Christ. Because Jesus is the child of Maria, is he not?’Then, on 22 December 2007, I presided over the ceremony of the delivery of anheirloom of mine, a secret statue, said to be of Jesus, which I had kept for decades
at home. It is now in the keeping of Sakai Yoshihiro, Taishō (formal leader) of the
Fukaura community. Fr Teruaki Asada, originally from Kurosaki Catholic Church(Archdiocese of Nagasaki), paid me a visit at the hospital, and suggested that I
receive baptism next year. So now I am memorizing the Our Father [The Lord’s
Prayer]. Both Fr Teruaki and my eldest daughter have been teaching me the basic
principles of Catholicism.
Items such as the Takarazōsho, two books of Orasho left by his righteous ancestors,
and the Shishikioboegaki constitute the treasure of Fukaura Fukuemon. The turning
point of their spiritual life nonetheless came on 18 June 2009 when Fukaura Fukuemon
and his wife Fukaura Tsuyako were baptized by Fr Teruaki Asada, taking the Christiannames Johannes and Maria. The whole conversion process took them many months. The
striking account that Fukaura gave me was theologically oriented towards what it means
to be a good Christian, and the grace that God reserves for those who accept Him in theirlife (Munsi 2011: 176-177). This brings us to the second, and perhaps most interestingaccount, from the same setting.

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Case Study 2

Healing of Sakai Yoshihiro (Wakamatsu)

The striking story of Sakai Yoshihiro, whom I met on 14 May 2008 and later
subsequently interviewed, has not yet received a great deal of attention in the
ethnographic research literature. It is noteworthy that after a decade I felt the need torevisit it in this section. Much more can be said of its fundamental contours, but for the
purpose of the holistic understanding of the concept of “healing” entailed in the present
analysis two features in particular stand out. First, based on existing reviews andassessments, it not unlikely that his healing could eventually be seen as the experienced
improvement in relation to the past. A second consideration for Sakai’s case is that hiscomplete healing is very much associated with acceptance of a more Kakure Kirishitan
religious (Christian) orientation in his life experience, with significant facets, religious
patterns, circumstances and conditions needing further research.
A fisherman by profession, Sakai Yoshihiro is a convert from Pure Buddhism to
Kakure Kirishitan faith, something unusual in Kakure Kirishitan society. It is recordedthat he was baptized as Domegos [Domingos] by Taishō (大将, community formal leader)
Fukaura Fukumitsu in December 1976. He is married to Sakai Suzuko, daughter ofFukaura Fukumitsu, the seventh Taishō (formal leader) of the Kakure Kirishitancommunity in Wakamatsu. On June 8, 1998, Fukaura Fukumitsu died at the age of 86.
He was immediately succeeded by Fukaura Fukuemon (see case study 1) who worked
hard for the survival of the community, which had a high level of cohesion. On September
20, 2007, when Fukaura Fukuemon turned 87 and decided to retire from the office ofTaishō (formal leader), the members realized that there was nobody available to takeover the leadership of the faith-based community. The Kakure Kirishitan rules requirethat only a baptized man can become Taisho, so Sakai Suzuko was not qualified to takeover the leadership of the community. As weeks passed, worry grew that the selection
process would take too long and that events or ceremonies would have to be postponed.
One day an idea surfaced. They asked Sakai Yoshihiro to take over the office of Taishō(大将, community formal leader). He was reluctant at first, as he had been diagnosed
with liver and stomach cancer and the latest medical checkup showed that his case wasworsening. His doctor had told him he might survive for about six months, and sincethen he had been preparing for death. Coupled with this concern was his acuteawareness of the fact that, coming from a Buddhist family background, his knowledge of
Kakure Kirishitan faith was limited.
However, Kakure Kirishitan survivors repeatedly insisted that they really felt he was
the one most suited to be Taishō, even if only for six months. Sakai Yoshihiro started to
be aware that something might lie behind such an appeal. Meanwhile he could see—through the spiritual life of his wife Suzuko and other community members—that

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Kakure Kirishitan practitioners really did believe that they knew Jesus and thatknowing him had changed their lives. On 22 December, 2007, he finally decided to takeover the leadership of the Kakure Kirishitan community in Wakamatsu, and became theninth Taishō, guiding the Fukaura community of twenty-seven danka (households), with
about seventy or eighty believers. Community members called him Taishō (leader) but
he introduced himself as a Shimpu (Japanese for Father or a Roman Catholic Priest).
Six months later, in May 2008, he went for another medical checkup at Nagasaki
North Hospital. Amazingly, the doctor found that his liver and stomach cancer had
completely disappeared. This was later confirmed by a team of medical doctors, aftermonths of tests. When I met Sakai Yoshihiro on 14 May 2008, he was quite happy to tellme this striking story. He showed me the two different documents which contained theresults of his medical checkup. In the first the doctor wrote that Sakai Yoshihiro had
advanced liver and stomach cancer, while in the second the doctor clearly confirmed thathe could not find even a trace of cancer and that Sakai Yoshihiro had been completely
healed. Interestingly enough, however, Sakai did not use the term ‘miracle,’ but simply
spoke of ‘God’s grace.’ “That was God’s grace. I am completely healed because of thisKakure Kirishitan faith,” he said.
I was diagnosed with liver and stomach cancer. I was getting weaker and having
a hard time walking, but my wife Suzuko and I decided to draw closer to God byreading His word in Tenchi Hajimari no Koto (Bible-like spiritual book of Kakure
Kirishitan survivors) and praying (or reciting Orasho) together. Often, we would
rise early in the morning to seek God. We prayed for a grace, a healing. We
frequently recited Orasho, asking for Jesus’ blessing and the intercession of theBlessed Virgin Mary. I remember that I would sit in that chair during these times
of prayer and seeking God—His divine intervention. One time I felt there was nohope and I told my wife Suzuko some things about our business affairs. But she
refused to listen. She said she was not going to let me die and that God (who blessedand protected Kakure Kirishitan practitioners during their hardships) would keep
His word to us and that I would receive a grace of healing. Meanwhile I was offering

Ohatsuhōage ritual practice for my Kakure Kirishitan community members. I took
on the community leadership on 22 December 2007 and we were in turmoil in
February 2008 because I was getting worse. We had continued to pray and yet I
had not received healing. In May 2008, barely three months after my investiture as
Taishō (leader) of the Kakure Kirishitan survivors, I began to feel stronger and waswalking much better. When I went in to see my doctor, he gave me the Good News.
The doctor could not find any cancer. It was gone. Intriguingly, it has not returned
to date. Praise God forever. The God of Kakure Kirishitan survivors gave me grace,
healing. He was and is a healer.

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The healing of Sakai Yoshihiro from liver and stomach cancer was an extraordinary
event for both his family and his Kakure Kirishitan community. They could not but
thank God and praise him for His great faithfulness and his blessings toward them. As
I proceeded with the interview session, Sakai Yoshihiro looked at me and said:Life becomes quite different for whoever goes through a near-death experience.
When I was sick from liver and stomach cancer I did things my way and went to
the hospital many times, and now [after being healed] I have peace. I fall upon myknees, pray, and recite my Orasho daily. I am beginning to know not only Jesus
Christ but also the Blessed Virgin Mary and to love them forever.
I need to clarify here that Kakure Kirishitan survivors have traditionally subscribedto the belief that their God is Merciful and a Healer. So anyone who belongs to theircommunity can be naturally healed from any serious sickness. Sakai Yoshihiro’s case is
one among many others which have already been registered by Kakure Kirishitan in theregion. The issue has grown in importance in light of recent research. Sakai’s testimony
and that of many other members prompted me to further interact with their faith-based
community. When we look at his life in its entirety, we appreciate especially his fatherly
kindness, his simplicity, modesty and hiddenness, as well as his love for the community.
These features are seen also in his commitment to train his eldest son Fukaura Shinji,
as a future Taishō (community formal leader). Note in passing that Sakai Yoshihiro is
proof that the Kakure Kirishitan communities lived on, in some form or another, and hislate father-in-law, Fukaura Fukumitsu and other religiously committed senior members
claimed ancestry from among those first arrivals. He can show sacred objects, someCatholic, but others drawn from other religious traditions or simply unremarkable that
the Kakure Kirishitan practitioners in Wakamatsu considered sacred; the syncretic
traditions of the hidden Christians were one way that they were able to practice theirfaith, even after losing touch with the local Roman Catholic Church.
To date little evidence has been found associating faith and health among the Kakure
Kirishitan survivors in Japan. There are many interesting features to Sakai Yoshihiro’s
conversion and healing. So far, three features have been identified as being potentially
important. First, it is readily apparent that Sakai Yoshihiro, in telling his account,refrains from identifying the healing as a miracle. Instead he defines it as the grace fromthe Almighty and Eternal God, protector of Kakure Kirishitan survivors. When I met
him for the first time in 2008 he set the scene immediately for conversation, and started
relating his healing experience. He emphasized that it was nothing else than the healing
power of faith in the Trinity through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This
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Sakai Yoshihiro’s actual encounter with God (Deus), Jesus Christ and Blessed Virgin
Mary, and his deep-felt attachment and interaction with the community’s deceased
predecessors probably had something to do with sustaining his commitment to a life ofserving others within his Kakure Kirishitan community and social world.
Secondly, the testimony by Sakai Yoshihiro is a clear and poignant example of how
fundamental faith practices of Kakure Kirishitan survivors could be used for selfinterested healing purposes. One might think that such spiritual and healing experiencewould come to a very few devout individuals. But from what I discovered in mypreliminary research, Christ encounters apparently happen as much to ordinary
individuals who are simply striving in their own way to do their best. From the vantage
point of Scriptures, this is what one might expect, for Jesus Christ—in the Gospel
according to John—made it clear to his followers that he would manifest himself toanyone who loves him and follows his commandments: “Whoever has my commandments
and observes them is the one who loves me. And whoever loves me will be loved by myFather, and I will love him and reveal myself to him (Jn 14: 21; see Zinkuratire &Colacrai 1999: 1812)”. This implies the consideration of going to Christ in prayer withthe conviction that he sometimes cures even victims of serious illness when it is his will
and individuals approach him in faith. Perhaps Sakai Yoshihiro who believed without
seeing, derived sufficient strength from his own faith, and had less need of his wife’s
direct intervention. Rambo (2003: 215) is right: “Assumptions about life, religion, andGod necessarily color one’s perceptions.”
Finally, one crucial but not surprising finding is that all Kakure Kirishitan survivorsof my sample live significant religious experiences, and share naturally the deep psychoreligious and spiritual convictions that induce them. These convictions, mingled withspecific time-persisting Kakure Kirishitan constructs (Munsi 2013, 2014a, 2014b, 2015),
are so much taken for granted that they are seldom articulated in the least restrictedenvironment, yet they infuse every aspect of the above-outlined original religious formsof Kakure Kirishitan faith-based communities.
６．Belief in the efficacy of Intercessory Prayer
he following two recent accounts from Kurosaki district are presented in order tographically illustrate the way in which Kakure Kirishitan survivors hold the belief inthe efficacy of their intercessory prayer in healing, and to highlight their significant
psycho-religious and spiritual implications in this specific socio-cultural and religious
setting.
Case Study 3

Healing of an Old Woman (Shimo-Kurosaki)

From a historical perspective, it might seem appropriate to place Murakami

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community within the larger surviving Kakure Kirishitan segment, following in thefootsteps of their deceased predecessors in Shimo-Kurosaki district (Nagasaki). Thus,
the following story, excerpted from field interviews with key informants, delineates again
how belief in the instrumentality of prayer and praying for human health and healing
has characterized lived-religious experience of Kakure Kirishitan survivors.
Magdalena Kimiyo Urakawa was a 95-year- old devout Kakure Kirishitan woman andcousin of Murakami Shigenori—the Chōkata 帳 方 or community formal Leader of
Kakure Kirishitan survivors in Shimo-Kurosaki. Because of age she grew ever weaker.
Even though she was given some medical treatment such as blood transfusions, fluids
and painkillers, she eventually displayed a feeling of fatigue, slow walking speed andlow levels of physical activity. One day Kimiyo was told by her medical doctor that she
may die in the near future, and that she would do better to think of saying goodbye toher family members, relatives, and intimates. Despite this sad news, it transpired thatshe did not either blame God for her sickness and bad health or curse Christ when her
health worsened. By her own admission she had instead an exceptional need for comfort
and reassurance as she faced a critical health condition. In this spirit, she later decided
to ask her leader, Murakami Shigenori, to perform the above-outlined age-old ritual
practice of Ohatsuhoage for her healing. As she was so week, she could only ‘spiritually’participate in the prayer gathering from her bedroom while the rest of the community
members met in the tatami praying room traditionally set aside in the house of thecommunity formal leader, according to the Kakure Kirishitan protocols.
Eventually, Kimiyo firmly believed that in the ritually-prepared communal meal she
would, in a span of moments, encounter and embody Jesus Christ, illuminating waysthat eating the consecrated food (rice, nishime, and sake) could be a holy practice thatwould lead her to physical, spiritual, ad emotional health. No matter what the medical
doctor had often told her or even the worries expressed by her relatives regarding her
critical health condition, she had and expressed an indomitable spirit and a strong faithin God’s blessing and grace. Left to her own strength, she knew that she would give up.
For these and other reasons she needed the specific ritually-prepared communal meal
and the strength that comes from its consecrated food to energize her spirit. In a similarway, she showed an indomitable spirit in the face all the suffering she experienced andyet needed God’s special presence and power.
After making a sustained prayer, Murakami Shigenori then went on to give theconsecrated food to Kimiyo, who in turn received it with a firm faith in Christ’s presence
in it—at that pivotal moment during ‘the rite of communion’. Soon after she recoveredamazingly. On the strength of that consecrated food she was able to survive for six
months and returned to normal life. Indeed she realized that God would have revealed
to her in a meaningful way. Now mystified but filled with gratitude to the Lord, shereported this God’s grace to her community formal leader. That episode happened in June179

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Anthropological Institute Vol.6(2019)2013. But in September 2013, barely three months later, her health condition got worse
again. The bad news then reached her community formal leader, who immediately
decided to perform again the Ohatsuhoage ritual practice and offered a healing prayer
for her. Having now an acute awareness of the potential healing power of this homecentered religious food practice, he decided this time to increase the amount ofconsecrated food. On this occasion too Kimiyo felt a firm conviction that something would
happen to her. She ate it with faith and then recovered again quickly. The news, which
secretly spread within the circles of ritual constituencies, later reached her medical
doctor, who in turn was quite astounded.
The same ‘scenario’ reportedly happened two times and Magdalena Kimiyo Urakawa
firmly kept on displaying her Kakure Kirishitan faith. In other words, my readingsuggests that she firmly believed that Christ is always present in the ritually-preparedcommunal meal, regardless of how absent he may seem to be at times. Seen in the lightof Christian teaching, this also suggests a faith which believes that Christ’s power isalways available to us regardless of how helpless we may feel at times. Evidently, by
tasting and seeing for herself the goodness of the Lord in consecrated food from theritually-prepared communal meal, Kimiyoshi perhaps experienced all the blessingspromised in Psalm 34: “we would be delivered from all our fears, especially our fear ofdeath; we would be saved from all our distresses, whether mental worries or physicalailments; we would be made radiant with joy, especially when we love and serve one
another”. Indeed, Christian teaching reminds us that these blessings are not something
we have to wait for until we reach heaven.
One day, however, Kimiyo sent her son, Shinji Urakawa, to meet the community formal
leader for two reasons. First, to thank him for what he had so far done for her in termsof intercessory healing prayers. Second, and more importantly, to let him know that she
had been really concerned about the efficacy of those intercessory prayers. She intended
to insist that she evidently experienced a great deal of profound comfort from Christ after
eating the consecrated food. But, given the fact that the ups and downs of recovery
constituted a terrible burden for her and the community formal leader, she neverthelessrequested if the latter could stop praying again for her health condition. It transpiredthat her family members had no option but to respect her decision, though they werequite frustrated. Yet, it soon became clear that they experienced not only the emotion of
genuine sorrow as they recalled the ups and downs of her recovery, but also the emotionof helplessness, as they wondered where to begin again trying to help her in such a
critical condition.
The community formal leader respected the old lady’s request, though he thought that
it would not do any harm if he kept on praying for her. It was evident in this pervasive
assumption: Although the old lady was depressed, she did not found herself bereft ofbelief. Indeed, her belief and trust was not only in the power but in the character and180

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wisdom of God—the focus of prayer. Later, as might be expected, the community formal
leader indicated that in his thought he quickly reviewed all that the old lady had gone
through. This in turn led him to receive a complete understanding of why many Kakure
Kirishitan believers have long agreed that their fundamental faith practices embody apotential healing power, and experiences have witnessed to God’s apparent intervention
in their lives and struggles. Even though Kimiyo had physically and emotionally suffered,these hardships were actually a spiritual gain. It was also understandable that she
interpreted in a specific way the workings of the consecrated food taken during theOhatsuhoage ritual practice. But it was strange, however, that the old lady refrained
from receiving it again, simply because of its efficacy which she no longer wanted tocontinue. She had to take such a decision, regardless of her acute awareness of her
critical condition. It transpired that her son kept on sitting beside her while at the sametime apologizing for what happened. Shortly thereafter he joined other family andcommunity members in the task of helping her mother to find peace within herself, sothat her ideal of God’s blessing, peace, and grace could be more fully realized.
In general, it may be said that Kimiyo’s sudden refusal to eat any more the consecrated
food was really hard for her family and community members to accept. But while she
was feeling uneasy, the appearance of a calm sick person was also a consolation for them.
On 31 December 2013 Kimiyo made a great deal of effort to eat dinner together with thewhole family, despite her worsening health. As time went on, her son, Shinji Urakawa,in particular thought that she would be able to live with them and welcome the New
Year 2014. Just on 1 January 2014, however, his wish was not realized as his mother,
Magdalena Kimiyo Urakawa, stopped breathing and passed away in a peaceful state.
The sad news thus reached Kakure Kirishitan members around 6 a.m. As a community
formal leader, Murakami Shigenori then performed the pre-funeral rites on 3 January
and the funeral rites on 4 January in the house of the departed member, according to the
Kakure Kirishitan ritual protocols.
The above-outlined account involves a two-stage process in which the recipient was
first apparently healed of a physical condition and testified to the positive role of the
Kakure Kirishitan prayers, then showed the terrible burden of the ups and downs of her
recovery, knowing perhaps that Jesus Christ would come principally to heal the spirit,
not the body. This is telling, because research has shown that healing is more than cure,and sometimes healing of the mind and spirit can happen without physical healing. For
Kakure Kirishitan informants, however, the details of this single account are yet moreevidence of the potential manifestation of God’s grace or miraculous healing which
deserves to be duly acknowledged.
Case Study 4

Workings of Kakure Kirishitan Prayers in a Buddhist Temple (Kurosaki)181

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Here is a more recent striking example of the efficacy of Kakure Kirishitan prayers.
Even though the episode itself occurred in a completely different setting, it neverthelesshighlighted, in terms of faith, some contours quite similar to those of the other accounts
outlined previously. It is important to mention at the outset that Kakure Kirishitan
survivors traditionally perform their funeral rite in two ways. First, they take thedeceased person to the Buddhist temple. It is evident that this religious commitment,
which hitherto meant their camouflage strategy during persecution of Christianity inJapan, has become today part of their tradition. After the Buddhist priest finishes his 40
minute-ceremony, they then move to the deceased member’s home and restart thefuneral rite, using their own Kakure Kirishitan patterns. And this was precisely what
happened during the story reported on here.
On 13 October 2015, Mr. Shigenori Murakami (community formal leader of Kakure
Kirishitan survivors in Shimo-Kurosaki) reported that while Mr. Kimura (community
formal leader of Kakure Kirishitan survivors in Shitsu) and other three friends weretalking to each other, they got the surprising news that their friend’s mother wasseriously injured. Shortly after, they rushed to the house of their friend’s mother.
Unfortunately they found that she was already dead from her injury. Eventually, theydecided to organize a funeral rite at the Buddhist temple. The whole account here isabout the contours of that funeral rite that took place on 15 January 2015.
The Buddhist priest started the funeral rite in a good spiritual atmosphere and withevery assurance that it would last about 40 minutes. As he engaged himself in the recitalof the sutra the smooth conduct of all the required spiritual practices was evident bothin smaller details as well as in more general ways. Nonetheless, it transpired that while
the Buddhist priest was chanting the sutra, Mr. Murakami (a member of Kimura
community in Shitsu) simultaneously initiated in his own silent sequences of Kakure
Kirishitan prayers (Orasho) for the sake of his community member’s soul. The mostimportant segment of the efficacy of Kakure Kirishitan prayers then occurred just in the
middle of the funeral rite. Twenty minutes after beginning the recital of the sutra, theBuddhist priest suddenly collapsed in the temple. The congregation, of course,
experienced a kind of anxiety and panic. Some participants even decided to call theambulance from the Nagasaki North- Hospital. While contacts for getting an ambulance
were under way, the Buddhist priest then woke up, making a loud noise in the temple.
Everyone was surprised and frightened.
The Buddhist priest stood up, looked at the congregation and shouted, “Who among
you tried to pray at the same time with me, using patterns from another religion? Pleasetell me, who is that person?” As nobody in the temple admitted to it he then repeated thesame questions at least three times. While the whole congregation remained silent,
Murakami, a devout Kakure Kirishitan practitioner from Kimura community in Shitsu,
who had felt that the Buddhist priest’s noisy gesture was strong enough, then182

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courageously stood up and raised his hand, saying: “Sorry. I was the one who was praying
at the same time with you”. After hearing that, however, the Buddhist priest went on
to further raise his voice, saying to his interlocutor: “What kind of prayers did you use?”
Murakami replied: “I used a set of Kakure Kirishitan prayers”. I did respect your prayers
and I believed in their spiritual power, but as a member of Kakure Kirishitan community,
I deeply felt that I also have the responsibility to pray for our deceased member. I
strongly believed that our Kakure Kirishitan prayers could be used to help purify hersoul,” This admission astonished everyone.” Finally, the Buddhist priest retorted: “Do
you not see that such strong prayers are somehow disturbing me in this funeral process?
Please, I beg you: Just stop using those specific Kakure Kirishitan prayers right now!
Because I felt myself being quite defeated by their potential spiritual power.”
From this account it became evident that not all Kakure Kirishitan participants werecompletely comfortable with that sudden incident, although it should be mentioned that
others felt attracted to the details of their specific prayers. Such a dramatic incident,
moreover, underscored the importance of their fundamental faith practices. The
Buddhist priest tried to compose himself and proceeded with the rest of the funeral rite.
Yet, as the ceremony proceeded, the congregation did not fail to consider the incident inthat very light. Finally the Buddhist priest purified and blessed the deceased person.
Afterwards the Kakure Kirishitan participants took home their deceased member andthey understandably restarted the funeral prayers on their own, according to theirtradition and protocols. Not surprisingly, then, this was a stage in their funeral rites
which contained specific practices. First, instead of buying a given posthumous name foran ancestor, they attached the title “San’ (Portuguese for saint) to their deceased
member’s Christian name. Interestingly, this singles out that their shared-religious
assumption that “all Kakure Kirishitan dead do not only go to heaven but all become
saints” (Filus 2003: 98). Second, they separated the so-called “sacred wood of Bastian”(Sebastian) bit by bit into pieces, wrapped it in white cloth, and fixed it on the foreheadof their deceased member, as a passport to heaven. Whether understood as a medium forremembering their prominent figure Basuchan [Sebastian] and recapturing his spirit, or
as a protection against evil spirits, or simply as an act of traditional ancestor veneration,
it is readily apparent that the act of wrapping the Basuchan no seiboku (sacred wood of
Bastian) had a profound meaning in the religious beliefs and practices of Kakure
Kirishitan survivors. Still preserved in many individual Kakure Kirishitan families, this“sacred wood of Bastian” attests to the deep yearning of their generations. The tradition
that has crystallized around it over decades is intriguing. (For further details, see Munsi
2011: 169-170).
The remains of the deceased member were reportedly buried in a white robe, according
to the Kakure Kirishitan protocols. Thereafter, Murakami recalled the whole event:183

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It was regrettable to lose someone so precious, and we were all in the state ofsorrow, anxiety, and separation. But we could not understand why such strange
things happened in the Buddhist temple, whereas I did pray in silence. Indeed,
everybody was astonished about what happened between the Buddhist priest andme. It was a quite unexpected incident. However, I gave myself spiritually as
though I was spiritually drunk by the momentum of the Buddhist priest’s recital of
the Sutra whose content and contours I did not know at all. After a while I started
reciting silently the funeral Orasho used by Kakure Kirishitan believers. As I asked
God to receive the soul of our departed member I deeply felt like my whole body was
trembling. I immediately remembered to have never experienced such things before.
This was to be a big surprise. Looking back now, it is really sad and frustrating to
see what happened with the Buddhist priest. But at the same time I still wonder
how and why the Buddhist priest knew that I had been praying in my heart for thesoul of the deceased, a close friend who just died while I was talking with myfriends. I have found, most importantly, that we all have the power to bringhappiness into our lives, despite any trouble that comes our way.
Looking at this particularly spectacular example of the workings of Kakure Kirishitan
prayers in the first instance, it is possible that it represents a single episode translatinga two-fold tension. On one hand, its trajectory in a Buddhist temple thus depicts aremarkable extent to which the Buddhist and Kakure Kirishitan prayers have beenbifurcated or conflicted, not intersecting. In corresponding fashion, some Kakure
Kirishitan informants have thus far indicated that they have lived and witnessed it. Not
surprisingly, then, this was a specific time in the history of the present-day Kurosaki,
which placed in the foreground the force of Kakure Kirishitan prayers in a specificreligious setting. On the other hand, observers may see on the side of Murakami(including his companions from Kimura community) a kind of tension between theapparent desire of Kakure Kirishitan believers to scrupulously observe their tradition oftaking the dead body to the Buddhist temple for funerals (which in the past was part oftheir camouflage strategy) and the dire consequences of not using Kakure Kirishitan
prayers as specified by the righteous ancestors in faith. I have found myself astoundedby the degree of fear and insecurity that Kakure Kirishitan believers of my sample often
express in this regard. From the vantage-point of religion, anthropology, and cognitive
science (Whitehouse & Laidlaw 2007), it is possible to see aspects of their religiosity here
in the light of Astuti’s exposition (2007). On this scale, moreover, one may naturally
wonder how the Buddhist did know that someone else was praying at the same with him
in the temple. This facet of this incident may find interesting explanations in the field of
neurosciences (Raichle 2006, 2010; Fox & Raichle 2007). But a discussion of thisdimension is beyond the scope of this article.

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Finally, when interviewed on the contours of the above-outlined healing experiences,the community formal leaders and their followers from Shimo-Kurosaki, Shitsu andWakamatsu clearly indicated that they are all signs of God’s grace which will always
remain in their mind and this will continue to be one of the pillars of their Kakure
Kirishitan faith. More than anything, it is important that we do not lose sight of how
their history in Nagasaki settings propels some testimonies of miraculous healing byfaith. Similarly, there is accruing evidence that Kakure Kirishitan survivors of mysample maintain their collective story and their shared practice by a huge common effort.
With this said it is significant to add that, although their religion does not constitute anancestral cult, it involves sufficient veneration of the dead and belief in their powers andintercession to plead for God’s grace or healing power. As Andrade and Radhakrishnan(2009) correctly put it: “In this context, we must keep in mind that religion is based onfaith and not on proof. This implies that, if God exists, he is indifferent to humanity or
has chosen to obscure his presence. Either way, he would be unlikely to cooperate inscientific studies that seek to test his existence.” Next it remains to appreciate the natureand extent of the significant features of these healing accounts against the tenets of
Kakure Kirishitan faith. More precisely, I have attempted to unpack significant possible
loaded meanings in religious practices or belief systems and their significant role inhealing, especially in today’s context of Kakure Kirishitan survivors.
７．Discussion: Prevalence and Characteristics of Kakure Kirishitan Healing Rituals
This narrative ethnography provides insights into the under-researched area ofperceptions and experiences surrounding potential healing effects of spiritual practices
within Kakure Kirishitan society. One of the more consistent findings is that the age-old
ritual practice of Ohatsuhoage and specific prayers (Orasho) play a pivotal role in
improving Kakure Kirishitan survivors’ personal well-being—such as physical, mental,social, spiritual, and emotional health. This field observation points to important truths:
where the patterns of these fundamental faith practices are fully internalized by theseminority religious practitioners, they will motivate them to create circumstances andconditions which contribute to such holistic healing outcomes, which may be apparent at
the outset. One of the most important aspects of the healing prayer in this specific settingis the active practitioners’ acceptance of Kakure Kirishitan faith-based communities andtheir belief in the divine intervention through the intercession of Jesus-Christ, Blessed
Virgin Mary, and their righteous ancestors in faith (including San Jiwan—their local
patron saint). Filus’ field-observation (2009:16-18) is quite telling on this respect:
These (Kakure Kirishitan) prayers act as magical incantations. When asked why
they say prayers, Kakure Kirishitan (survivors) reply: “For our ancestors.” Most of185

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them add: “Also for health and safety.” When asked why they continue theirreligious practices, the most common reply is: “It would be inexcusable towards ourancestors if we renounced the faith for which they suffered so much.” Their response
to my question as to why they do not renounce their relations with Buddhist
temples and Shinto shrines was: “The temples and shrines protected our ancestors
during persecution so it would be unfaithful and ungrateful towards our ancestors
as well as towards the temples and shrines […] Kakure Kirishitanism makes nopretense of being monotheistic. The 16th-century Catholicism with its concept of
the Holy Trinity and its multitude of saints was most likely not conceived of as
monotheistic by the Japanese. Presently Jesus, the Virgin Mary, the saints, theJapanese martyrs, and one’s distant ancestors (those who died long ago) are allvenerated as kami.
It is recognized that anthropologists usually rely on the ethnography within the emic
perspective to study each society and the symptoms of illness based on the local belief
and meaning systems. In this regard, they consequently doubt that illness can be treatedby drugs developed within a different belief system and acknowledge that illness may be
managed with local healing practices (Bensonn, Thisticthwaite and Moore 2009:166).
From these above field-observations, nevertheless, inferences can be especially made to
the central ritual event of Ohatsuhoage and its attendant beliefs that might suggest thatit has likely taken on a more ‘mystical communion’ for some Kakure Kirishitan believers
who, after the shared meal, convincingly bore witness to its healing force or workings.
The above-outlined vivid true-life accounts, deeply inspiring and profoundly moving
mythical and oral narratives gleaned from Murakami community (Shimo-Kurosaki) andFukaura community (Wakamatsu) are quite enlightening in this regard.
Close analysis of these accounts, left behind in written and spoken statements,
explicitly shows how well they work in immersion settings. Specifically, they give Kakure
Kirishitan practitioners, however elderly the ones in my sample may be, more
substantive attention to the significant role of the Ohatsuhoage ritual activity in shaping
the core beliefs, attitudes, behaviors, and psychological, as well physical, spiritual, andemotional health outcomes. This is especially observed from descriptions of dramatic anduplifting near-death encounters to miraculous healings of mind and body. This point
demonstrates that it is not mere coincidence that Kakure Kirishitan survivors of mysample described their various healings as a divine grace rather than simply “miracles”
as would be asserted by many Catholics. True, the Catholic teaching informs us thatmiracles are unexplainable and extraordinary occurrences which God divinely performs
in our affairs. These are supernatural events which happen beyond our natural ability
or power. Colle’s (2011: 251) general conclusion is that, because of the evidence presented,“To some degree miracles in the life of the Christian Church will continue to echo the186Perceptions and Experiences of the Healing Effects of Fundamental Faith
Practices in Kakure Kirishitan Society

Gospel accounts in the New testament that many follow Jesus Christ because they saw
the signs he did (Jn 6: 21; see Zinkuratire & Colacrai 1999: 1795) while the risen Lordalso commends “those who have not seen and have believed’ (Jn 20: 29; see Zinkuratire& Colacrai 1999: 1822).” Here there is indeed something really remarkable both in theimaginative grasp and in the literary skill of this fourth Gospel, in which nobody has
once read it with attention is ever likely to forget: Throughout the Johannine Gospel,
this belief (often to believe in, eis) is understood as an active commitment, one which“involves a willingness to respond to God’s demands as they are presented in and by
Jesus” (Brown 1970: 513). This willingness to respond to Jesus is depicted in the
Prologue (Jn 1:12; 13; see Zinkuratire & Colacrai 1999:1784); repeated throughout the
fourth gospel, and reiterated in one of the two summary statements at the end of thebook (Jn 20: 30-31; see Zinkuratire & Colacrai 1999: 1822).
Before proceeding, however, one point must be made. In one sense at least, what
Kakure Kirishitan believers are saying is not just true or valid, but it also has farreaching theological implications: that is, if the claim about God’s saving grace is upheld,
it is so fundamental that it inevitably justifies the conclusion that the narrowed notionof miracles fit squarely into the broad notion of grace. Equally important is the stress bytheologians that every miracle is by grace. This statement, in turn, leads us to St Paul’squestion to Galatians regarding their experience of miracles by the Spirit: “Does, then,the one [God] who supplies the Spirit to you and works mighty deeds [miracles] among
you do so from works of the law or from faith in what you heard?" (Gal 3: 5; see
Zinkuratire & Colacrai 1999: 1958).

This single question can only be answered by‘hearing from faith” because the Galatians received the Spirit as Gentiles. It will besuggested here that every miracle that happens, happens because of grace. In this view,“grace” denotes merely the work of God in our hearts—how He forgives us, makes us
spiritually alive, and changes us to become more like Him. Again, we can understandthis by analogizing it to something in the natural realm. Electricity enlightens a room
and also keeps our appliances running. The same power accomplishes different things.
Likewise, the Holy Spirit enlightens our hearts, but it is also God’s supernatural powerin the world. Recently I had experienced a paradigm shift in my understanding of thesubject.
The most specific description of the faith in Christ is offered at Galatians 3:14, where
St Paul stated that: “the blessing of Abraham might be extended to the Gentiles throughChrist Jesus, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith” (seeZinkuratire & Colacrai 1999: 1958). Now this is where we can see the usefulness of the
Kakure Kirishitan believers’ claims. What they really want is undoubtedly the favor of
God that was spoken over Abraham, which produced his physical and spiritualabundance. In a similar vein, we can immediately notice that they have an acuteawareness of the fact that the only thing that can stop the blessing of God in our lives is187

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our unbelief. Here Blaise Pascal’s quote is intriguing: “The two foundations; one inward,
the other outward; grace and miracles, both supernatural.”In the language of what came to prevail in Latin Christianity, both aresupernatural, although in common usage it is the healing that is considered
extraordinary [...] This distinction between the ordinary workings of grace andextraordinary miracles in the Christian theological account of divine agency isimportant. Both faith itself and its extraordinary manifestations require an
apologetic. In the case of miracles, the apologetic will be more demanding. In theordinary life of a believer faith may be present without miracles but not without
grace (Colle 2011: 235-236).
Now with this in mind let us return to the main theme of this foregoing discussion. The kind of empirical phenomenon of supernatural healing I am referring to is again not the whole of the long conversation with Kakure Kirishitan practitioners but only certain, relatively occasional parts of it, parts which are almost entirelyin their fundamental faith practices. In general, one can assume that the above-outlined specific features, in a more authentic form, translate the prevalence of hea
ling prayer use in response to a medical issue. Here the most constant, to reiterate, is the ritual constituencies’ absolute acceptance of Kakure Kirishitan faith-base
d communities and, most importantly, their belief in the persistent net effect of loving God on every indicator of healing prayer use. Similarly, I would argue that t
he prevalence of this view translates the recognition of the individual patients’ trajectory from faith to the subsequent cure which in turn reorders the imbalance
produced by the disease, while at the same time reintroducing the healthy body
(Silva& Vasconcellos 2013: 18). From a medical anthropology viewpoint, the potent
ial healing effects observed in Kakure Kirishitan society allows us to explore thelinks between health and identity. But from the Christian anthropology viewpoint,
what we do not understand and seems to us quite curious in this ritual milieu isthe realization that Kakure Kirishitan patterns do not include the early Christia
n ritual of laying on of hands (manus imposito) for the efficacious communicationof healing virtue, prestige and power.
Nonetheless, if we take the position that either the recital of Orasho or the

Ohatsuhoage ritual event is, for the effectiveness of faith healing, to be of more symbolicor to have ceremonial value in virtually every Kakure Kirishitan community studied,then further serious consideration will need to be given to its substantive content andpsycho-religious and spiritual purposes. Along with many others, I have long observed,
on the basis of in-depth narrative interviews, that all of its contours and workings involvean insistence that not only the Kakure Kirishitan narrators themselves but also the188Perceptions and Experiences of the Healing Effects of Fundamental Faith
Practices in Kakure Kirishitan Society

shared and diffused information about their tangible healings obviously served tolegitimize this collective ritual practice in different ways. One significant way is that it
occupies a unique and important place in the socio-cultural, psycho-religious, andspiritual lives of Kakure Kirishitan survivors as they strive together to fulfill the sharedpurposes suggested by their faith (Munsi, forthcoming, 2019).
Especially, following Sparrow’s (1995) formulation, we can reasonably say that it
almost always seems to offer them a possible “glimpse at miracle—the incredible force
of divine love—and the reassurance that a world beyond this one does indeed exist”.
Today it is clear that, even with their status as seemingly integrated religious minorities,
Kakure Kirishitan survivors of my sample were observed as happy, comfortable, andconvinced with the experience and potential healing power of their fundamental faithpractices. This is evident, though it may also depend much upon the actual individual
spiritual associations and beliefs. My sense from the field is that this perception of ritual
constituencies inflects the ways in which their religious culture continues to betranslated into a greater degree than is sometimes admitted. It is clear in the reviewed
sources that the religious beliefs and spiritual practices of patients are, from acontemporary point of view, powerful factors for many in coping with serious illnesses
and in making ethical choices about their treatment options and in decisions about endof-life care (Puchalski 2001; McCormick et al., 2012). From the vantage point of Christiananthropology, the perceptions and experiences of Kakure Kirishitan believers of thesupernatural healing here point to important truths: When Jesus says that it shall bedone to us according to our faith, He is in fact stating the spiritual law of John 15 (seeZinkuratire & Colacrai 1999: 1813) in a different way. Faith simply means being open to
the power of God, so that the more of God’s power we can bring to our situation, either
by our own prayers or the prayers of other believers (as illustrated in our quantitativeand qualitative data outlined above), the more likely we will see a miraculous outcome.
Relating the above insights to the particular case of Kakure Kirishitan believers,
readers can nevertheless infer that I have, in this article, reviewed and discussed only
one facet of the subject. Indeed, we need to stress that there exist in Kakure Kirishitansociety many other striking healing accounts related to surviving relics of veneration andsacred sites whose compelling features, I propose, should be appropriately discussed ina separate paper. It suffices to emphasize at this juncture that Kakure Kirishitan
practitioners conceived these sacred objects and sites as a potentially-wonder-working
bridge between the worldly and the divine, the physical and metaphysical realms. In thisrespect, they ultimately channel redemptive and intercessory forces and constitutepotent vehicles of grace, blessing, and healing. Thus, as we show from Filus’ (2003: 98,
2009: 18-19) field-description below, the evidence is overwhelming in this specific setting.
Objects of worship, particularly the relics of the martyrs–pieces of martyrs’189

『人類学研究所 研究論集』第 6 号（2019）Research Papers of the
Anthropological Institute Vol.6(2019)clothes stained with their blood, old crucifixes, medallions, rosaries, holy pictures,images of saints, etc. – are venerated as kami and are believed to possess
supernatural properties, such as healing powers. Like Shinto kami which are
hidden in the main hall of a Shinto shrine, these objects are usually hidden in theroofs or walls of Kakure Kirishitan houses. During some important holy days they
are taken out, put on a tray and held up to the believers’ foreheads so that thespiritual properties of these objects can be absorbed into the believers’ bodies.
Kakure Kirishitan apply these objects to affected body parts for curing illness.
These objects were not shown to me by practicing Kakure Kirishitan, but only by
those who had given up the religion. The faithful believe that these objects lose theirpowers and healing properties when revealed to non-believers, and that heavenly
punishment will be incurred (bachi kaburu 罰かぶる).
Some natural objects such as rocks, stones and trees, are believed to have divine
properties. The Kakure Kirishitan from Kurosaki when sick or in trouble visit
Karematsu Jinja, a shrine built over the tomb of San Jiwan, an unidentified foreign
priest who was active in the area after the prohibition of Christianity. There they
rub their bodies with small stones which are in the shrine, or take a stone home asa charm. Informants told me that during the Second World War almost all thestones disappeared from the Karematsu Shrine, as they were taken either by the
Kakure Kirishitan soldiers or by their wives and mothers to serve as protection
amulets for the men.
Introducing this field observation encourages us to consider how Kakure Kirishitan
practitioners often need tangible signs from God to help them survive the difficulties
that life presents in their least restricted environment. It seems abundantly clear thatthe sacred objects and sites strengthen the devotion of Kakure Kirishitan practitioners
and make them more receptive to God’s grace, both in private and in the public sphere,
much more than they do for the Catholics. Be that as it may, the Directory of the Roman
Catholic Church emphasizes well the anthropological spirit that should inspire religiousor popular piety, which Mong (2018) has examined closely in relation to faith andsuperstition. The healing of a woman afflicted with hemorrhages for twelve years
reported in the New testament (Mt 9:20-22; Mk 5:25-34; Lk 8:43-48; see Zinkuratire &Colacrai 1999: 1649; 1699; 1745-1746) is perhaps one of the most dramatic example of
popular piety—“the belief that God’s grace and power will still work and be channeled toordinary people through a simple pious act regardless of their lack of knowledge orunderstanding of theology, doctrine or liturgy. Nonetheless, when the miracle has takenplace, the Lord does require that the supplicant acknowledge openly the act of divine
grace. God does not want anyone to get a secret free pass, so to speak.” (Mong 2018: 366).
And Kakure Kirishitan practitioners of my sample have almost followed this divine

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principle when they subsequently revealed to me in the field some perceptions andexperiences of healing effects of their fundamental faith practices.
The above-outlined accounts of perceptions, experiences, and conversations taken
together clearly indicate that Kakure Kirishitan survivors are profoundly comforted bytheir spiritual beliefs. The reason is to be found in the fact that because sharing theirown beliefs or praying with an individual Kakure Kirishitan patient in special
circumstances has a unique value to that single community member, and this prior belief
in the divine grace is irreversible in their mindset. Only by investigating the motives
behind the fundamental faith practices of Kakure Kirishitan believers can contemporary
observers plumb the recorded stories’ depths of meaning. Following Rahner’s
formulation, we can reasonably say that this divine grace is, for most of them, madepossible because they are open to receiving it. From inside the narratives and practices
of individual Kakure Kirishitan families and communities studied, this can help to
explain the nature of the relationship between faith and health. More significantly, theircentral thread is that participation and belonging to Kakure Kirishitan faith-based
communities is an essential part of the healing process, a kind of ‘laboratory’ where ritual
constituencies put into practice the learning received in rituals. Similarly, I would argue
that, for many whom I interviewed, the experience of being involved in theirfundamental faith practices indeed offers exclusive and diverse opportunities forperceiving and experiencing well-being—such as physical, mental, and emotional health,as well as social and psycho-religious/spiritual-security. As I noted at the outset,
mediating mechanisms set in motion become more pronounced in this sphere, especiallywhen they search divine intervention in life crisis situations. This is not surprising.
Turner (1970: 50) aptly suggests that, “By exposing their ill-feeling in a ritual context tobeneficial ritual forces, individuals are purged of rebellious wishes and emotions andwillingly conform once more to the public mores.” As a matter of course, Kakure
Kirishitan practitioners expressed the view that their conviction in the presence of the
Trinity, Blessed Virgin Mary, and their righteous ancestors in faith (whose memory neverleaves them) arguably opens the door to Christ consciousness in their lives and showsthem how they can instantly and automatically tap into this divine grace and facilitate
healing experiences within their individual families and communities. How then does it
account for the concept of ritual efficacy in this specific context? Blanton (2016: 99)
reminds us that:
The concept of ritual efficacy is here limited to a description of the opening ororganization of specific experiential frameworks in-and-through the performance of
prayer. In this way, the efficacy of prayer emerges from its specific attunements ofthe senses. This organization of somatic experience, in turn, “heals” or enframesbodily experience, the classification of suffering, and the structures of everyday life191

『人類学研究所 研究論集』第 6 号（2019）Research Papers of the
Anthropological Institute Vol.6(2019)in a profoundly different frequency.
Expanding on previous research, our results suggest that, unlike other esoteric
practices, Kakure Kirishitan practitioners strongly believe that potential healing effectsof their specific prayers occur in the context of the free choice to do only God’s will, andso is the conduct of the prayer healing practice. One might say that, in general, they do
not diagnose, treat, cure or prevent disease. Instead what they do is strictly a faith-based
practice within which they bring the individuals’ innate connection with the Trinity—ofcourse through the intercession of Blessed Virgin Mary and their righteous ancestors infaith including San Jiwan, their local patron saint)—into their conscious awareness andshow them how to share it with others. This single finding is in line with the existing
research which shows that individual believers, when actually confronting crisis
situations in life, often involve themselves in a kind of transition, whereby they naturally
integrate “non-being” (pain, suffering and mortality) into their “system of meaning andbeliefs” (Sorajjakool 2006: 35).
In the particular case of Kakure Kirishitan practitioners studied, however, it quickly
emerged that when their fundamental faith healing practices fail and the expected“God’s grace” or “miracle” does not take place at all, and hence sickness (especiallyserious illness such as cancer) remains, they understandably reconfigure “one’s schema,
one’s sense of reality and belief systems to accommodate this new devastating variable”(Sorajjakool 2006: 32). In some respects, this suggests an individual and collective effort
to either overcome a ‘flawed ritual’ or continue to pursue healing in the midst of nonhealing. That notwithstanding, an in-depth analysis of qualitative data also reveals theways in which participants interact with ritual contexts that ultimately support their
healing effort. These patterns appear to illustrate the extent to which Kakure Kirishitan
believers ensure that their fundamental faith-based practices will achieve their fullhealing effects. Just as many Christians, so too Kakure Kirishitan survivors subscribe
to the belief that even if Jesus does not heal them physically, he can always heal themspiritually. This being the case, it might be assumed that their religious assumption thus
fits squarely into Psalm 32 that proclaims how we can turn to the Lord in time of trouble
and be filled with the joy of salvation. It highlights how we can confess our sins and haveour guilt taken away.
A second, perhaps equally important assumption, is the Kakure Kirishitan survivors’
belief that Christ can heal them psychologically. In a nutshell, this suggests that he cantransform their despair into hope, fear into courage and anger into acceptance. Aninteresting detail here is that their physical sufferings may not diminish, but they will
still have Jesus to support them as they endure those sufferings. In the last analysis,
they are convinced that their pain may in some instances find no relief, but Jesus will bepresent to reassure them as they put up with it. That is precisely why during the recital192

Perceptions and Experiences of the Healing Effects of Fundamental Faith
Practices in Kakure Kirishitan Societyof Orasho and the Ohatsuhoage ritual event Kakure Kirishitan practitioners heartily
come together in communion, with an expectant faith in Lord’s power to heal all theirills whether they be physical, spiritual or psychological. One might argue, in turn, that
this field-observation reflects a recent acknowledgement that, “For active believers andpeople of faith, prayer, including for healing, is more than a situationally motivatedresponse to one’s own suffering; it is an ongoing expression of piety and of taking up theyoke to be of service to others by acting as a liaison; or again it does not just heal thespirit, it aids in healing the mind and body as well.”
It should be apparent by now that among the Kakure Kirishitan survivors the recitalof Orasho and the age-old ritual practice of Ohatsuhoage ultimately represent two
inseparably linked fundamental faith practices embedded with the entwined efficacy inaddressing healing needs. Looking at the scope of ritual theory, indeed, they fit squarely
into ‘ritualized activity’ partly because there are formalized arrangements of objects,
participants, and bodies and spaces which “trigger the perception that these practices
are distinct and the associations that they engender are special” (Bell 2009: 220).
Evidently, this is particularly true in the case of the Kakure Kirishitan ritual practices
studied. In more than a decade of observing and analyzing them, I have found that theimmensely private recital of Orasho and celebration of the Ohatsuhoage ritual event
remarkably display sacred spaces, whereby Kakure Kirishitan believers interact andconstruct beliefs and symbolic meanings. By articulating such a meaning-making
process in the set tatami prayer room, they always refer to the underlying convictions,orientations, symbols, cherished memories. Indeed, this characterization suggests thatthrough the recital of Orasho and the Ohatsuhoage ritual practice, Kakure Kirishitan
practitioners become integrally involved in a rich repertoire of symbolism. I argue that
it is precisely out of these religious and cultural symbols and patterns of interpretationthat suitable expressions for the specific quality of lived religious experiences andpersonal well-being are sought accordingly.
Thus, the whole picture of the dynamic interplay of these above-outlined components
and constructs is interesting in the context of the recent acknowledgement that“individual and collective experiences and beliefs are indissolubly, interdependently, anddynamically related to each other” (Arnold 2018: 49). But I think we can go further andspecify that collectively shared, socio-historically and culturally determined patterns of
meanings, symbols, and articulatory expressions determine the making of perceptions
and experiences of Kakure Kirishitan survivors with regard to the interplay between
prayers and healing effects translated into the field of Kakure Kirishitan leadership,reflecting a kind of priesthood. In view of this, I suggest that the intrinsic religious
orientation of the leaders’ office represents the vision of internal piety of obedience to thegreat common heritage bequeathed to them by their deceased predecessors or righteousancestors in faith. As seen above, this is a very appealing notion of Kakure Kirishitan

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religious tradition. Consistent with this idea, it is proposed that, in the practice andmind-set that pervade the religious activities of Kakure Kirishitan believers studied andhave come to characterize their religion as a kind of “Japanized Catholicism”, thedeceased predecessors form a kind of ‘remembered family,’ which having been now
connected with the ‘lived” family, readily constitutes a resource for personal well-being
representing a bridge to the mythical original reality. One thing at least is certain: By
reflecting on important family and community events Kakure Kirishitan survivors not
only store them in their memories, but also draw from them meaning and significance.
The religious assumptions of Kakure Kirishitan believers, to some degree, display akind of triad or tripod of healing, salvation, and health which can be conceived anddesigned in the form of circles which interpenetrate themselves. As such, the concept ofhealing in this specific context is located at the interconnection between the concept ofhealth and that of salvation. In the light of the above-outlined case studies, it is fairly toassert that, for most Kakure Kirishitan practitioners studied, the healing process goesbeyond the physical and chemical process; it touches the soul and the spirit of theindividual or patient involving also the social dimension, for instance the community inwhich the patient lives, articulates beliefs, and performs the two fundamental faithpractices, including the Orasho (prayers) and the Ohatsuhoage religious ceremony. I
have elsewhere argued that the subliminal influence of these two fundamental faithpractices and related structures of beliefs in shaping the religious culture and healthtransformations of Kakure Kirishitan survivors is itself a force to be reckoned with in
this least restricted environment (Munsi 2014a, 2014b).
Much more can be learned in this area of inquiry when focusing on other healing
accounts of Kakure Kirishitan individuals from the remote Ikitsuki and Hirodo districts.
It is recognized that they “do not hide their religion and allow non-believers to participate

Figure 6 Sound-prayer-meditation dynamic models (Koen 2011:267)
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in their religious rites and ceremonies” (Filus 2003: 94). Indeed, they made news acrossthe country. In similar ways, it has been argued that they have displayed an expressionof a unique religious phenomenon where emphasis seemed to be put more on the singing
of Orasho rather than on its recital during their distinctively religious activities(Minagawa 1981, 2004). Considering this specific area, it is possible too that theapplication of Koen’s (2011) “sound-prayer-meditation dynamic model” (see Figure 6)
to our present micro-ethnographic analysis can generate more systematic empirical data,
which needs to be accompanied by developments in the way the dynamic interplay
between, sound, prayer/meditation and healing is conceptualized and understood in thisspecific setting. This is partly because Koen’s suggested model clearly frames “theconfluence of sound and prayer in the context of healing, daily life experience, andethnographic and experimental research. Each circle represents an individual parameter.
Binary relationships can be seen at the intersection between each pairing of two
parameters. The combination and unification of sound and prayer, as seen in the center,is potentially the most efficacious parameter to effect healing.”
Perhaps the major difficulty that researchers may face is how to cope with the factthat the contours of the perceived and experienced healing effects of the spiritual
practices are often hidden by ritual constituencies themselves in their specificnaturalistic settings. So far, it is enough to remember that, for the most part, many
individual Kakure Kirishitan believers share an extraordinary secret that most have, forvarious reasons, been reluctant to reveal except to their closest friends and relatives. On
this scale, moreover, they have experienced divine intervention or God’s grace throughthe physical, mental, and emotional health outcomes of intercessory prayers and ritual
practices at a pivotal moment in their lives. Experiences and field observations haveindeed shown that this effect is particularly pronounced for Kakure Kirishitan survivors
found in Kurosaki, Shitsu, and Wakamatsu districts.
A corollary of the last point is that various reported significant positive healing effectsof the recitation of Orasho and the performance of the Ohatsuhoage religious ceremony
vividly instill the ritual constituencies’ psycho-religious and spiritual convictions thatonce it is intelligibly performed, ultimately a possible healing will occur, and hence
bestow (at first sight) a new (deeper) understanding of the very essential nature of
Kakure Kirishitan faith. Gopichandran (2015:238) seems to accentuate this point: “Withthe emerging evidence of a relationship between faith, spirituality and health, evidenceof the effectiveness of faith healing practices, consideration of the holistic concept ofhealing (psycho-socio-spiritual), and moves to place the patients’ preferences andrequests at the centre of the care process, active engagement with requests for faithhealing becomes essential.”
One major purpose of this article was to show to what extent Kakure Kirishitan
practitioners tend to put into practice their ever-renewed comprehension of communal

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『人類学研究所 研究論集』第 6 号（2019）Research Papers of the
Anthropological Institute Vol.6(2019)and supernatural forces rather than providing systematic explanations. Equallysignificant in this respect is what emerges from our recent field-study. One has a clear
impression in this context that the quintessential requests of Kakure Kirishitan patientsfor faith healing may not, for some reasons, produce expected miraculous cures, but theysurely increase their faith in the process of that healing. This facet of the subject stillneeds further ethnographic examination. From this point of view, however, it is worth
noting that, although the relationship between religious involvement and spirituality
and health outcomes (Olver 2013) seems likely valid among the Kakure Kirishitan
survivors studied. It is nevertheless difficult, at this stage of research, to establish
causality. This is a significant issue. In hindsight, these mechanisms, as Koenig,
McCullough and Larson (2001) aptly remind us, undoubtedly involve complex
interactions of psychosocial-behavioral and biological processes.
Looking at the spiritual and cultural of the subject, recent research has moreovershown that “in the context of healing, faith-based practices are not value-neutral andtheir relative merits and demerits are contextual. The outright rejection orunquestioning acceptance of faith healing requests can communicate a lack of interestand involvement in the patient’s well-being” (Gopichandran 2015: 240). From what I
have been able to discover to date, however, I would therefore forcefully concede with
Abercrombie (1998: 411) that “The kinds of non-written social memory that I foregroundin my ethnography, imbedded in ritual acts and formulaic speech and grounded inmeanings lived in the social landscape, do not often have written traces.” If nothing else,
this single aspect and many others of the subject also call for further investigation withinterdisciplinary approach.
７．Conclusion
This synthesis has typically delineated how consistent belief of Kakure Kirishitan
survivors in the potential healing effects of the recitation of Orasho and the age-old ritual
practice of Ohatsuhoage reveals much about the rationale behind their individual andcollective ritual ceremonies, especially in living crisis situations. Thus, by articulating
their perceptions and experiences about the power they wield in prayer, Kakure
Kirishitan practitioners have evidently proved that drawing explicit attention to the
Trinity, Blessed Virgin Mary, and their righteous ancestors in faith (including San
Jiwan—their local patron saint) leads to divine grace. Seen in this light, it does notmatter for the Kakure Kirishitan believers of my sample, whether the expected healing
processes go fast or slowly. What ought to matter, for a larger part, is the search for
divine intervention and how do individual Kakure Kirishitan believers justify theirperceptions and lived religious experiences of the potential healing effects of theirfundamental faith practices, when discerning health outcomes and security within their196

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individual tight-knit communities. The micro-analysis reinforces the startling conclusionthat “at the center of studies of religion is an individual who relates their subjective
experiences, and the content of these lived experiences, by simultaneously using theircultural repertoire of symbols, interpretations, and expressions, while either subsuming
the cultural repertoire under their own lived experience or creating a new expression
through reflection” (Arnold 2018: 47). Still more empirical and statistic information isneeded in this area to determine whether outside of belief in God there may be no more
ubiquitous religious expression among Kakure Kirishitan practitioners than the use ofhealing prayers and ritual practices. In general, therefore, this field-case study isintended to provide the foundation for further conceptualizing and understanding thisspecific religious phenomenon of faith healing among the Kakure Kirishitan
practitioners in a practically and theoretically integrated way.
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Arnold, M.
2018 “Religion as Experience: An Interpretative Approach to Cultural Psychology of
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