Il sacro nascosto: studio semiotico sui Kakure Kirishitan [隠れキリシタン]

The essay investigates the transformation of religious signs in conditions of clandestinity. It develops an abstract typology of changes that religious signification undergoes when threatened by repression, persecution, and censorhip, then it focuses on the particular case study of the so called “Kakure Kirishitan” [隠れキリシタン], that is, Japanese Christians who secretly professed their religion when it was forbidden and persecuted by the authorities, developing a whole series of semiotic strategies to preserve religious liturgy and tradition in such difficult circumstances.