Kumamoto, Japan Nov. 15 Fri 6:39AM
Amakusa is a collection of islands in Kumamoto prefecture, connected by five famous bridges and mainly comprised of three large islands. Today the islands are mostly quiet fishing villages and pearl farms, beautiful to see from a cruise around the islands, maybe catching a glimpse of some dolphins as well.
However, these quiet islands hide a revolutionary and turbulent history. In large part to their great isolation unmonitored by more central authority, a Christian missionionary in the early Edo period was able to convert most of the island group's inhabitants to Christianity. Kyushu in general long acted as Japan's gateway to the Western world, and the Amakusa islands is one of many places where this heritage is still living to this day.
When the era was going through a hard time of persecution for its religious faith as well as a famine, the now famous leader Amakusa Shiro led a rebellion (the Shimabara Rebellion) against the ruling daimyo, which was eventually crushed.
Surviving Christians had to hide their faith, and they did so in sometimes ingenious ways, such as hiding Christian statues inside of Buddhist ones, and hiding Christian prayers inside Buddhist chants.
Of the three main islands, Shimoshima contains the islands' most famous churches, Sakitsu Catholic Church and Oe Catholic Church.
There are also musuems scattered throughout the islands which display artefacts and explain the history of these "hidden Christians."
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