The Kirishitan magic mirror is a bronze mirror that can project the image of Christ hidden inside by reflecting light.
"Magic mirror" that kept faith
Since the arrival of Francis Xavier in Japan in 1549, the number of Christians who have been converted due to Christian missions has increased in Japan, but in 1614 a ban on Christianity was banned by Ieyasu Tokugawa. became. Then, before and after the Shimabara Rebellion that occurred in 1637, the Shogunate thoroughly cracked down on Christians. The Catholics (Christians) and their descendants at that time secretly passed down the Christian faith while living as Buddhists ostensibly after 1644, when there were no Catholic priests in the country.
Under such circumstances, Christians can "resemble" the Jibo Kannon Bodhisattva as Our Lady Mary, and by reflecting light on a mirror that looks like a normal mirror, the image of Christ hidden inside can be projected with light. We have kept our faith for more than 200 years until the freedom of religion after the Meiji Restoration, using the "magic mirror" that we can do.
However, when it was allowed to believe in Christianity, the "magic mirror" was no longer necessary, and with the spread of glass mirrors, the bronze mirror itself declined, and there were no craftsmen who could make magic mirrors disappear. ..
Technology for parents and children to take over the disappeared "magic mirror" again
Yamamoto Alloy Mfg. Co., Ltd. is the only workshop in Japan that makes magic mirrors by hand. Founded in the late Edo period, Shinji Yamamoto, the third generation, succeeded in restoring the magic mirror in 1974, inheriting the "mirror master" who makes metal Japanese mirrors for shrines and temples from generation to generation. It is a magic mirror made by Teruhisa Yamamoto, the 5th generation, who is called "the last mirror in Japan" who inherits that technique.
Size: about 21 cm
Delivery time: about 6 months
