| | 1601 | First Japanese ordained to the priesthood: Sebastianus Kimura (1565-1622) | https://www.jesuits.global/saint-blessed/blessed-sebastian-kimura/ | | | 1611 | First English Samurai: Miura Anjin | https://youtu.be/5nw6jiX2p7k?si=lf9nnqnjK6Jl-iW3 | | | 1614 | Ban on Christianity extended entire country. Missionaries ordered to leave Japan. Nagasaki churches destroyed | https://www.discover-nagasaki.com/downloads/media/21975 | https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Westerners_who_visited_Japan_before_1868 | | 1634 | Travel overseas banned for Japanese | https://www.grips.ac.jp/teacher/oono/hp/docu03/sakoku.pdf | | | 1637-38 | Shimabara Uprising in which 37,000 are massacred | | | | 1639 | Final “closed country” edict. All Europeans expelled except for the Dutch. | | | | 1641 | Dutch moved to Delima. | | | | 1657 - 1842 | Amakusa, Urakami kazure (persecution) | | | | 1853 | Arrival of Commodore Perry’s Black Ships | | | | 1854 | US Treaty ending isolationism | | | | 1856 | Third Urakami kuzure | | | | 1859 | Return of the MEPS | | | | 1865 | Petitjean’s meeting with the Urakami “hidden christians” | | | | 1867-73 | Fourth Urakami kuzure | | | | 1873 | Signboards banning Christianity taken down; unofficial toleration | | | | 1880’s | Differences arise between Catholic and “Separated”Christians | | | | 1895 | Construction of Urakami Cathedral begins | | | | 1914 | Urakami Cathedral commemorated | | | | 1945 | Destruction of Urakami Cathedral by atomic bomb | | | | 1966 | Endo Shusaku’s Silence | | | | 1992 | Disbanding of Neshiko Hidden Christians organisation | | | | 1999 | Establishment of Karematsu Jinja Interfaith festival | | | | 2013 | Proposed application for UNESCO World Heritage site by Churches and Christians sites in Nagasaki | | |
A Timeline of Christianity in Japan