Historicizing Martyrdom in 19th and 20th Century Japan: A Political and Cul-tural Context
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The image of Japan as a “land of martyrs” was forged in early modern Europe through missionary accounts, relics, visual art, and theatrical performance, largely independent of Japanese realities. This article traces how this European construction was subsequently received, adapted, and appropriated within Japan itself from the mid-nineteenth century onward. Drawing on publications such as the Senketsu isho (1887) and the writings of Matsuzaki Minoru and Nitobe Inazō, it demonstrates that Japanese intellectuals did not passively inherit these images but actively reshaped them, fusing Christian martyrdom with concepts of national identity such as Yamato-damashii and bushidō. The article further examines how martyrdom discourse intersected with post-war memory politics, particularly in Nagasaki, contributing to what has been termed “Victimhood Nationalism.” It argues that the history of Japanese martyrdom cannot be understood within church history alone but must be situated at the intersection of European image-making, Japanese national identity, and the politics of memory.
martyrdom; religion in Japan; Kirishitan; national identity; cultural transfer; Victimhood Nationalism
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