In December 1879, the Foreign Missions of Paris opened a missionary post in Kyoto.  Dwarfed between the main Buddhist headquarters and the American Board, a Protestant missionary organization, Aimé Villion, the first French priest living in the city between 1879 and 1889, and a handful of Japanese lay catechists strove to increase the fame of the “Old Doctrine” (kyūkyō), a term often used in “modernizing Japan” to label Catholicism. This lecture, based on a vast array of primary sources—local newspapers, Catholic booklets and periodicals, and letters sent by Villion to Paris—, will provide a tentative understanding of how the Church pictured itself in 1880s Kyoto and what kind of people were attracted to its message.

Martin Nogueira Ramos is an associate professor in Japanese studies at the École Française d’Extrême-Orient. His research focuses on the history of Christianity in early modern and modern Japan. Recently, he has coedited D’un empire, l’autre: premières rencontres entre la France et le Japon au xixe siècle (EFEO, 2021) and Aspects of Lived Religion in Late Medieval and Early Modern Japan (Cahiers d’Extrême-Asie 32, 2023).

This hybrid lecture will be held on site (registration required in advance from here) and via Zoom.

Zoom Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86894570779

Meeting ID: 868 9457 0779