Changes

In the late 16th and early 17th century, Japan came into contact with the Europeans. The Japanese initially welcomed them and valued them as trading partners and were impressed by their technology. The English, Dutch, Spanish, and Portuguese were all active in Japan. They came as traders or as missionaries. The Europeans competed with each other to win the favor of the local Japanese lords and the Shogun. Many Japanese suspected that the foreigners wanted to conquer or invade their country’ and this was justified. This is very accurately shown in the movie. In one crucial scene, an old Samurai compares the four competing countries to four concubines, whose machinations are leading to the downfall of a lord’s household. The four concubines are the Spanish, Portuguese, English and Dutch and the house they are destroying was Japan. Many in the ruling class believed that local Christians would support the conquest of the country by Western powers. This fear of foreign influence was the root cause of the persecution of the Japanese Christians and missionaries.<ref> Turnbull, Stephen. The Kakure Kirishitan of Japan: a study of their development, beliefs, and rituals to the present day. (London, Routledge, 1998.), p 89</ref>

The character of Father Ferreira was based on a real-life Portuguese Jesuit missionary. As in the movie he was captured and tortured and abandoned his Catholicism in 1633. He later went on to marry a Japanese woman and wrote several books, that introduced Western ideas into Japan. As in the movie, he was a great missionary and his rejection of his faith scandalized the Catholic Church in Asia <ref>Breen, p 119</ref>. As required by law he registered as a Buddhist at his local temple. However, unlike the Liam Neeson figure, in real life Ferreira, helped the authorities to persecute Japanese Catholics and even missionaries. The character of Rodrigues was based on the remarkable story of an Italian Jesuit, Giuseppe di Chiara (1602 –1685). He had arrived in Japan to find Father Cristóvão Ferreira, who was discussed above. However, when Di Chiara was captured, he too was tortured, and renounced his faith. Later he married a Japanese woman and attained the rank of a samurai. He lived to a ripe old age and never returned to Europe. The author of the novel upon which the movie script was based, Endō, was inspired to create the character of Rodrigues by the story of Di Chiara. However it seems that the character of Father Garaupe, is entirely fictional as is his heroic death.