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Oda Nobunaga supports missionaries as a strategy to weaken Buddhist rivals. Jesuit communities flourish, and schools, churches, and hospitals multiply.
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Jesuit missionary Francis Xavier lands at Kagoshima and begins the first organized Christian mission in Japan, introducing Catholicism to Japanese elites and commoners.
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Xavier realizes Japanese culture requires a different missionary approach and begins dressing as a bonze (Buddhist monk), adapting preaching methods to appeal to daimyō and intellectuals.
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Xavier gains permission from the daimyo of Satsuma to preach, and early Christian communities begin forming in southern Japan.
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Christianity continues expanding (reaching ~750,000 believers by the 1620s) before the Tokugawa shogunate begins systematic persecution and restrictions.
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Toyotomi Hideyoshi orders the crucifixion of 26 Christians in Nagasaki, signaling a growing suspicion toward Christianity and foreign influence.
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A rebellion, led largely by impoverished Christian peasants, is brutally crushed. The shogunate bans Christianity entirely and institutes temple-registration surveillance.
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For over two centuries, communities in Kyushu secretly preserve Christian practices without clergy, sacraments, or contact with the outside world.
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After Japan signs treaties with Western nations, foreign missionaries return. Catholics rediscover surviving Hidden Christian communities in Nagasaki in 1865.
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Japan removes public bans on Christianity, allowing churches and mission schools to grow openly.
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Japanese Christian leaders emerge, including Niijima Jo (founder of Doshisha University) and Uchimura Kanzo (founder of the Non-Church movement).
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Japan’s new constitution guarantees religious freedom; Christian schools, orphanages, and universities expand dramatically.
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Pope John Paul II’s visit encourages the small but influential Christian population in modern Japan.