"it became an annual practice"

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-50414472 > But over time, Japans political authorities decided the rapid growth of the religion posed a threat to the central government. They decided to crack down. > They were looking to get rid of Christianity, but they were also looking to remove the foreigners as a political threat to security of the state... so the two things were related, said Mr Paramore. > In 1614, a strict nationwide ban on Christianity was issued. Foreign missionaries were quickly expelled from the country, those who refused to leave were arrested, killed, or forced to renounce the religion. Japan as a whole entered a period of isolation, cutting off almost all contact with other nations under the government of the time, the Tokugawa Shogunate. > The solution? The fumie. These were brass images, sometimes set in wooden boards, depicting either the Christ or Mary. Every single person that lived in Nagasaki was ordered to go through the practice of stepping on the fumie. Soon it became an annual practice carried out at the start of each year. > It was quite well thought out because at the time, Christians relied a lot on images. People prayed in front of an image - Mary, Jesus - so many thought that part of the God was inside the image. It was a link to the divine... for them to tread upon this, was something very fearful.

Honestly I’d just step on the image, everything Jesus taught implies he wouldn’t get a shit.

Honestly, wondering how some of Japan’s Christian communities managed to survive over three centuries of oppression Did they hide in the be extra mountainous regions? Only a tiny chance I would actually receive an answer from r/askhistorians

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