Fumie (Street Preacher)

The Edo period was a time when Christianity was outlawed in Japan, and a lack of willingness to apostatize the faith would result in torture and death. In this excerpt, the native Japanese laity are forced to spit on a religious icon as a symbol of apostasy:

“Ichizo grabbed the fumie (a small, low relief icon of Christ or Mary on a wooden panel) in both hands, and, as the officials prodded him on from behind, he tried to spit on it; but somehow he was powerless. He could not do it. Kichijirō, too, hung back, making no movement. 

‘What’s the matter with you?’

At the fierce urging by the officials, a white tear overflowed from the eye of Mokichi and rolled down his cheek. Ichizo, too, shook his head as though caught in the throes of pain. Then both of them at last confessed openly that they were Christians. Only Kichijirō, overcome by the threats, gasped out the required blasphemy against the Virgin.

‘Now spit!’ came the order.

At the command he let fall on the fumie the insulting spittle that could never be effaced.”

This story shows the intense reverence for icons in some sects of Christianity. Priests often venerate them, believing that they bear a semblance of the presence of the depicted holy figure. As this story shows, an icon is an object so precious that a torturous, violent death is preferable to stepping on or spitting on it.