Kirishitan (Christian) Toro in Taisoji temple (太宗寺の切支丹灯籠)

Shinjuku of the Edo era was called Naito Shinjuku, because there was a private mansion belonging to a daimyo (feudal lord), Naito there.

Taisoji temple, which was located in the center of Naito Shinjuku, is a temple of the Jodo sect and also the family temple of the Naito family.

In 1952, a supporting pole of an Oribe type lantern was excavated from the cemetery of the Naito family in Taisoji temple. It was a Kirishitan (Christian) Toro of the mid Edo era. The stone, shaped like an umbrella placed on the upper part of Toro and the Hibukuro (burning place of Toro) were restored and set on top of the supporting pole.

It is known that hidden Kirishitans (Christians) secretly worshiped Kirishitan (Christian) Toro against the crackdown on Christianity by the Edo bakufu (Japanese feudal government headed by a shogun).

It is said that the shape of an Oribe Toro symbolizes a cross, and the image engraved on the pole of Toro symbolizes the Virgin Mary, so it is called the Maria (Virgin Mary) Kannon.

江戸時代の新宿が内藤新宿と言われていたのは、内藤家の中屋敷があったからです。

内藤新宿の中央に位置する大宗寺は浄土宗の寺であり、内藤家の菩提寺でもあります。

1952年に内藤家墓所から織部型灯籠の竿部分(脚部)が出土しています。江戸時代中期の切支丹灯籠です。現在は上部の笠・火袋部分も復元し補われています。

切支丹灯籠は、江戸時代、幕府のキリスト教弾圧策に対して、隠れキリシタンがひそかに礼拝したとされるものです。

灯籠全体の刑状は十字架を、また竿部の彫刻はマリア像を象徴したものであると解釈されマリア観音とも呼ばれています。

Ikuyo.K.


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