Headless Buddha and Japanese dogwoodの画像
Headless Buddha and Japanese dogwoodの画像
Headless Buddha and Japanese dogwoodの画像
Headless Buddha and Japanese dogwoodの画像
Headless Buddha and Japanese dogwoodの画像
Headless Buddha and Japanese dogwoodの画像
Headless Buddha and Japanese dogwoodの画像
Headless Buddha and Japanese dogwoodの画像
Headless Buddha and Japanese dogwoodの画像
0:00
0:00

History of suppression of Buddhism

Headless Buddha and Japanese dogwood

Nagasaki Unzen
閲覧数:279回

 Well over a thousand years after Buddhism came to Japan from China, another foreign religion arrived in Unzen – Portuguese merchants and missionaries arrived preaching Christianity. The headless Buddhist statue just beyond the fence is an example of what happened when these two religions clashed.
 Christianity arrived in Japan in the mid-1500s, and by the end of the sixteenth century, the religion had spread not only across Kyushu but also across Japan. The lord of the Shimabara Peninsula had also converted to Christianity and ordered attacks on Buddhist monks, temples, and symbols.
 The statue you see nearby is of Yakushi Nyōrai, the buddha of medicine and healing. It and countless other Buddhist statues were beheaded during the attacks because they were seen as indicative of idol worship by the new Christians. Many remain headless to this day. Of those that do have their heads, many have also been repaired. Shinto believers destroyed more statues after the Meiji restoration in 1868, and there are stories of occupying soldiers after World War II carrying out similar attacks against Buddhist statues. Although a long-time center of spirituality, Unzen has not always been a place of religious harmony.
In Unzen, the Christian lord Arima Harunobu (1567–1612) ordered the destruction of Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples as a rejection of centuries of religious tradition. Buddhist statues were beheaded by the newly converted Christians, and to this day these headless relics can still be seen around town, though others have been repaired with concrete.
In1587, however, one of the great unifiers of Japan, Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537–1598) ordered the first expulsion of missionaries, suspecting that the Portuguese were intending to colonize Japan after converting the Japanese to Christianity. In 1597, twenty-six Christians were executed by crucifixion in Nagasaki. They were the first of thousands to be killed in the religious upheaval that followed––culminating in the disastrous Shimabara Rebellion of 1637–1638.


このガイドを楽しむ場所
地図アプリで見る
VOICE:雲仙


ナビゲーター

雲仙お山の情報館

長崎県雲仙市  Certification badge

 雲仙お山の情報館は、自然情報の提供をはじめ、歴史の紹介や、温泉をテーマとした展示など、雲仙の魅力を幅広くご案内する施設です。雲仙を楽しみ、雲仙を知り、より深く味わうための最新情報をそろえておりますので、雲仙へ到着されたら、最初に、こちらへお立ち寄りください。
 自然、歴史、登山など必要な情報を手に入れ、楽しいフィールドワークへでかけましょう。雲仙の自然と奥深い歴史をぜひ体感・満喫してください!
・入 館;無 料 ・開館時間;9時〜17時
・休館日;木曜日 ・無料駐車場;約20台
・館内 Free Wi-Fi ・手荷物預かり(有料)
*施設設置;環境省 *運営管理;自然公園財団雲仙支部

このユーザーの他のガイド