What if feudal Japan wasnt isolationist.

SpamBotSam

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If Japan wasnt isolationist during the feudal era, what do you think would have happened? While Japan did invaded Korea in the 1500s, I think if Japan wasnt isolationist, they probably would have invaded and fought more wars with Korea and China then they did IRL. Other than that, I cant think of too many different things that would have happened.
 
What's a Christian samurai? That sounds like an oxymoron to me. Samurai always did hara kiri, and suicide goes against the bible.

There was some converting at start amongst southern lords, and even some daimyos apparently - up to when the persecutions started. Heck, some form of 'crypto-christianism' survived discretely.
 
What's a Christian samurai? That sounds like an oxymoron to me. Samurai always did hara kiri, and suicide goes against the bible.

I don't know ask the few Christian Samurai there were otl, such as those in the service of Kuroda Yoshitaka (until he told them to bugger on out of it). I'm actually quite sure that Amakusa Shirō wasn't actually a Samurai, but he's frequently listed as one.

In any case yes, Christianity was quite popular around Nagisaki and spreading fast, and a number of southern Daimyo had converted before the Shogunate decided it was rubbish and a threat.
 
Samurai always did hara kiri, and suicide goes against the bible.

They didn't. That's essentially the equivalent of XIXth idealisation of European knighthood being all chivalrous, jousting and making courtly love all the time.

It did existed, but they didn't made it "all the time", critically considering it was often used as an undirect capital punishment (not unlike Roman Emperors asking some guys if they could kindly cut their own veins)
 
I think the OP means Edo period, not the warring states period. I see Christianity spreading farther, probably across Shikoku and that peninsula of Honshu above Skikoku, and a civil war between the Shintoists and Christians around 1700. With the proximity you might even get a Christian shogunate.

Do you think the form of Christianity would be Roman Catholicism (directly headed by the Pope), plain Catholicism without the Holy See, Protestantism or some kind of heterodoxism?
 
Do you think the form of Christianity would be Roman Catholicism (directly headed by the Pope), plain Catholicism without the Holy See, Protestantism or some kind of heterodoxism?

Given Japan political context, I'd go with heterodoxial Catholicism, with survivance of local rites (as well influence of Buddhism) and imperial dominance. Rome can either accept (and maybe being in denial about the heterodoxy) or refuse it, but copy/pasting Christianism in Japan and denying cultural/political trend isn't going to work.
 
For all we know Christianity would have lost popularity naturally in due time. I'm not sure why everyone is assuming Japan will magically shift to Christianity with time because some folks did OTL.
 
For all we know Christianity would have lost popularity naturally in due time. I'm not sure why everyone is assuming Japan will magically shift to Christianity with time because some folks did OTL.

Well, it's still a possible outcome : the use of religion (including Christianism) by political ements to not only differenciate themselves but get alliances and support from bretheren entities isn't exactly unheard of.
It's not the only outcome, but it's not that dissimilar with a FH TL that would base itself on an evangelical majority in one or many Latin America countries.
 
Personally I don't see japan going full Christian, and if there is an attempt, the Sohei sects are going to have a thing or two to say about it. Christianity itself may well, much like Shinto, Buddhism and partially Confucianism, mix in with the rest and eventually become a part of the Japanese semi-spiritual cultural pick and mix.
 
Christianity taking over...far from a certainty yes. The militant buddhist movements around Japan at the time would likely have something to say about it. The true pure land was more of a problem for the ruling classes than christianity ever was, you actively had commoners and monks rising up and seizing territory. It had huge mass appeal.

It also does seem likely that there would be some sort of shintoist fight back with the emperor as a figure head. Though I'm not sure how this could be made appealing to the masses in a pre-nationalist world. Shinto would be very much third place in any big religious battle for Japan.

WI Japan doesn't go isolationist....so many ways it could go.
I'm working on a TL about it on and off where Japan becomes a rival to the Europeans. Equally though it could fracture and some parts fall under European or Chinese dominion.
Either way a non-isolationist Japan is an interesting beast.
Japan had the sophistication and wealth of China; albeit not to the same level. Not even at the same level it did in the 19th century, the Edo period helped Japan to develop a lot.
Japan however didn't have the "We are the centre of the universe." worldview of China. They were a lot more flexible in adapting to a changing world.
 
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