Kakure Kirishitan
![The Virgin Mary disguised as Kannon, Kirishitan cult, 17th-century Japan. Salle des Martyrs, Paris Foreign Missions Society.](/Images/godic/202501/21/The_Virgin_Mary_disguised_as_Kanon_Japan3713.jpg")
![A Dehua porcelain](/Images/godic/202501/21/Maria_Kannon3713.jpg")
![The gion-mamori, crest of the Gion Shrine, was adopted by the kakure kirishitan as their crest under the Tokugawa shogunate[3]](/Images/godic/202501/21/Gion_Mamori.svg3713.png")
Kakure Kirishitan(隠れキリシタン, Japanese for "Hidden Christian") is a modern term for a member of the Japanese Catholic Church during the Edo period that went underground after the Shimabara Rebellion in the 1630s. After the start of the Sakoku period in 1639, it was officially prohibited from teaching the European Catholic religion.