Women Religious Leaders in Japan's Christian Century, 1549-1650

Description

Meticulously researched and drawing on original source materials written in eight different languages, this study fills a lacuna in the historiography of Christianity in Japan, which up to now has paid little or no attention to the experience of women. Focusing on the century between the introduction of Christianity in Japan by Portuguese Jesuit missionaries in 1549 and the Japanese government's commitment to the eradication of Christianity in the mid-seventeenth century, this book outlines how women provided crucial leadership in the spread, nurture, and maintenance of the faith through various apostolic ministries. The author's research on the religious backgrounds of women from different schools of late medieval Japanese Shinto-Buddhism sheds light on individual women's choices to embrace or reject the Reformed Catholicism of the Jesuits, and explores the continuity and discontinuity of their religious expressions. The book is divided into four sections devoted to an in-depth study of different types of apostolates: nuns (women who took up monastic vocations), witches (the women leaders of the Shinto-Buddhist tradition who resisted Jesuit teachings), catechists (women who engaged in ministries of persuasion and conversion), and sisters (women devoted to missions of mercy). Analyzing primary sources including Jesuit histories, letters and reports, especially Lu�-s Fr�3is' Hist�3ria de Japão, hagiography and family chronicles, each section provides a broad understanding of how these women, in the context of misogynistic society and theology, utilized resources from their traditional religions to new Christian adaptations and specific religio-social issues, creating unique hybrids of Catholicism and Buddhism. The inclusion of Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and Japanese texts, many available for the first time in English, and the dramatic conclusion that women were largely responsible for the trajectory of Christianity in early modern Japan, makes this book an essential reading for scholars of women's history, religious history, history of Christianity, and Asian history. Contents Illustrations Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations 1 Introduction Re-visioning women in Christian-Century Japan Organization Part 1. Nuns Preface to Part 1 2 Hibiya Monica (c. 1549-c. 1577): Virgem of Sakai Monica the Virgem Kirishitan marriage Kidnapping of Monica Conversion from Ikkôshû Women and salvation 3 Naitō Julia (c. 1566-28 March 1627): Superiora Conversion from Jödoshü From Buddhist abbess to Kirishitan superiora Active apostola te vs. enclosure Expulsion 4 The Beatas of Manila (1615-1656): Visionaries Visionaries Jödo and heaven Epilogue to Part 1 Part 2. Witches Preface to Part 2 5 Ōtomo-Nata Jezebel (d. 15 February 1587): Priestess of Hachiman Sebastiäo, Esteväo and Simäo Incidents: 1575-1577 Daughter of Nata, Shinto high priestess 6 Marriage and Divorce in Catholic Japan: Ōtomo Sōrin and His Marital Conflict Sörin and his multiple marriages De Japponensium Matrimonio Jezebel's case 7 Jezebel the Witch The Jesuits and Shinto-Buddhist religious women Spirit-possession Witch, the spirit of the age 8 Jezebel versus the Church (1577-1587) Broken spell Death, memories and legacies Epilogue to Part 2 Part 3. Women Catechists Preface to Part 3 9 Hosokawa Tama Gracia (1563-25 August 1600): Scholar-Teacher Tama Gracia a scholar Conversion from Zen Women and Zen 10 The Women Catechists Kiyohara Ito Maria (n. d.) Catarina of Tanba (c. 1515-c. 1587) Kyögoku Maria (c. 1543-1618) Kyakujin Magdalena (d. 1600) 11 Tama Gracia in the Network of Women Against Abuse Tama Gracia, an abused wife The Japanese legends Women caught in domestic violence and pastoral advice Fróis’ later writings on Tama Gracia New questions on a heroine's death The Imitation of Christ 12 Releasing Kirishitan Women Apostles from Captivity Transformed Tadaoki? Calming the spirit Tama Gracia and her children Long memorial services Removing Tama Gracia from obscurity Kirishitan women apostles and the end of Christian Century Epilogue to Part 3 Part 4. Sisters Preface to Part 4 13 Justa of Nagasaki and the Sisters of the Misericòrdia Women’s apostatate in Japanese confrarias Praxis of the Misericòrdia and women 1) Women teachers of children 2) Women and hospital care 3) Performative rituals Women's Confraria and the end of the Nagasaki Misericòrdia 14 Elder Women of the Marian Confrarias Exemplary elder women St Mary, the exemplary disciplinarian mother Kakure Kirishitan women apostles? Epilogue to Part 4 Conclusion Glossary Bibliography Index