AP News
By FOSTER KLUG, MARI YAMAGUCHI and MAYUKO ONO
Updated 10:14 AM EDT, June 4, 2025
IKITSUKI, Japan (AP) — On this small island in rural Nagasaki, Japan ’s Hidden Christians gather to worship what they call the Closet God.
In a special room about the size of a tatami mat is a scroll painting of a kimono-clad Asian woman. She looks like a Buddhist Bodhisattva holding a baby, but for the faithful, this is a concealed version of Mary and the baby Jesus. Another scroll shows a man wearing a kimono covered with camellias, an allusion to John the Baptist’s beheading and martyrdom.