Research on Catholic Missions and Reception in the Aomori Prefecture Region after the War

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K00078
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 01030:Religious studies-related
• Research Institution: Kobe Shoin Women's University (2019-2021); 八戸学院大学 (2018)
• Principal Investigator: Kikama Koichiro 神戸松蔭女子学院大学, 人間科学部, 教授 (90295965)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-04-01 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: カトリック / 宣教 / 青森県 / 辺境性 / 貧困

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study aims to investigate the actual state of the missionary process of the Catholic Church mainly after the war, based on the viewpoint of regional characteristics (frontier nature, poverty) of the Aomori Prefecture region. As a preliminary study, I was able to investigate the trends of Catholic missionaries in the Meiji period and clarify the connection with the missionary policy of the Paris Foreign Mission at that time on education for young people. As an incidental study, I published an article on important figures of the Christos Orthodox Church in Hachinohe. Initially, three field surveys were planned for research, but all of them had to be abandoned due to the new coronavirus, and the focus was on collecting materials and conducting literature surveys.

Free Research Field

キリスト教学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

日本の宗教史研究・キリスト教研究において、「地方」におけるキリスト教宣教・受容史の調査研究は十分とはいえず、とりわけ東北地方のキリスト教史には未開拓の領域がある。青森県地域におけるキリスト教宣教・受容史を、その地域特性（「辺境性」「貧困」）との関わりから総合的に検証することは、日本キリスト教史に新たな視点を加えるという学術的意義がある。