Religion· 2026Q1
Disability history of the early Catholic mission in Japan: the case of visually impaired bards from the Buddhist tradition
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- Q1SCImago
- 2026year
Short summary
Early Catholic missionaries in 16th-17th century Japan utilized visually impaired Buddhist bards (biwa hōshi) for their mission, valuing their abilities and usefulness *because* of their impairment, not just despite it.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Key points
- Catholic missionaries in late 16th/early 17th century Japan employed visually impaired biwa hōshi (lute-playing bards).
- These individuals were previously active within the Japanese Buddhist tradition.
- Jesuit sources portray the Kirishitan (Japanese Christian) biwa hōshi as effective mission instruments, partly due to their impairment and lack of scholarly education.
- The article analyzes how their 'embodied difference' was contrasted with their ability and usefulness.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
In the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, Catholic missionaries in Japan employed men with visual impairment to serve the church. These men had previously been active within the Japanese Buddhist tradition of itinerant lute-playing priests (biwa hōshi). The article compares different disability history approaches to the Japanese Buddhist tradition of blind bards, and examines material first discussed in the Jesuit scholar Ruiz-de-Medina’s (2003) seminal article on the Kirishitan (Japanese Christian) biwa hōshi. The article applies a disability history perspective to reflections on their portrayal. A close reading of contemporary Jesuit sources on Kirishitan biwa hōshi reveals how the latter’s embodied difference is contrasted with their ability and usefulness as instruments for the mission. In the sources, zealous and dedicated people are depicted as doing well in the mission’s work despite their visual impairment and lack of scholarly education, but also, and at the same time, because of this impairment.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Religion, 2026 · DOI ↗
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Religious studiesArts and Humanities