Ban on Christianity was abolished in 1873

 

In 1873, the Meiji government abolished the ban on Christianity.

Believers who had been in hiding returned to Catholicism, and churches in various villages

were built with a variety of designs that combined Japanese and Western techniques.

Although many Hidden Christians returned to Catholicism, there are still people in the

Nagasaki region who did not return to Catholicism and still preserve and pass on the

unique religious rituals of the Hidden era, and they are called “Hidden Christians.”

 - Japanese history