Kichijiro helps the priests find an isolated Christian village called Tomogi, though the Japanese peasants have not had a priest for six years. They smuggle themselves and Kichijiro onto the shores of Japan, landing in the mountains near Nagasaki. A Portuguese superior of the Church warns them of a magistrate named Inoue, a particularly cruel and devilish persecutor, but nevertheless helps Rodrigues and Garrpe commission a Chinese ship and crew. While there they are joined by Kichijiro, a pitiful and drunken man about their age whom they suspect is a Christian, though he adamantly denies it. The pair travel from Portugal to China, hoping to find a covert way to reach Japan. The Church is both confused and disturbed by this news, and several of Ferreira’s former students (he was a seminary professor before going to Japan) launch an expedition into Japan to continue Ferreira’s former evangelistic work and discover the truth about his apostasy, even though the Japanese government brutally oppresses Christianity.įathers Rodrigues and Garrpe, former students of Ferreira, are Portuguese priests in their late 20s. In 17th-century Portugal, the Roman Catholic Church learns that Father Ferreira, a highly-respected missionary who has worked in Japan for over 20 years, has somehow been made to commit apostasy, renouncing Christianity by stamping his foot on a picture of Jesus Christ.
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