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'A huge loss.' In remote Nagasaki islands, a rare version of Christianity heads toward extinction
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Masatsugu Tanimoto, a farmer and one of the few remaining hidden Christians on Ikitsuki Island, hangs a scroll of the Virgin Mary and Jesus once secretly worshipped at his home in Ikitsuki Island in Hirado, southern Japan, Sunday, April 27, 2025. - photo by AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko
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.