How successful were early Christian missionaries in their attempts to convert the Japanese? I've seen several Japs tell tales about skilled missionaries being outargued by farmers, but I can't seem to find any historical basis for this
>>18753217>How successful were early Christian missionaries in their attempts to convert the Japanese?Pitifully unsuccessful. Probably less than 1% of Japan is Christian today. A reflection of missionaries failing. Japans population wasn't uneducated enough for Christianity to ever take root. Unlucky!
>>18753227it was actually tremendously successful at first, converting hundreds of thousands within years. unfortunately japan then began to mass kill them, and it never took off like that again
>>18753217A little? It was a phenomenon exclusively in the South and this >>18753231 guy is exaggerating, they converted a few Daimyo and used their power to suppress the previous religion. Besides that, there were some things lost in translation so it was never certain how truly converted a 'convert' was; Christianity is superficially similar to Buddhism enough that someone who only knows one or neither could easily mistake the two.Besides that, they only reachec critical mass in some islands and the area near Nagasaki, which was coincidentally the place with the highest density of Catholic priests. Did you know the Jesuits governed a whole city district at one point?
>>18753282>they converted a few Daimyo and used their power to suppress the previous religionThat's successful, even if temporarily so. Converting a ruler who forces his subjects to convert is the best way to rapidly spread a religion.
>their attempts to convert the Japanese?they should only convert people to righteousness
>>18753297right
>>18753282>It was a phenomenon exclusively in the SouthYou mean, the place the Spanish and Portuguese actually fucking went to? You goddamn retard.
>>18753217Very. Japan had a large underclass that was easy to influence and converted willingly to Christianity. In just under a century around 300.000 to 1 million people were converted, primarly around Kyushu, which also included Daimyos and samurai. Portuguese Nagasaki for instance tripled in population in just a couple of decades after its founding, becoming a major city in the southIt was one of the main reasons why the Portuguese were eventually kicked out and Japan secluded themselves, the Tokugawa saw how fast Christianity spread and feared it would challenge his power and influence revolts against him
>>18753231>unfortunately
