Kiku’s Prayer is set at the moment Japan was reaching out to modernity, in a period of immense fracture, when the nations own view of itself was becoming more divided as it faced a major internal change and also had to confront how it was perceived by the western world. It is at this point that Endo has chosen to set his tale of love and sacrifice, this is a tale of Kiku, a confident brash young woman who falls head over heels in love with Seikichi, an abhorred Kirishitan, a practising Catholic in a land where Christianity is illegal. At the start of this book the Japanese Christians are pretty much ignored, as long as they keep a low profile there seems to be a tacit agreement to let things be. This comes to an abrupt halt after a French priest, with a mission to locate any native Christian followers left from the last purges*. After much searching & upsetting the local authorities during the searching, he finally locates a village of believers. The believers want the priest to say mass & to perform more of the rituals of their catholic faith, this leads to a confrontation with the authorities. The Government respond by having the Christians rounded up & given the option of renouncing their belief or being punished, this ends up with them being exiled from their village and after continued pressure and refusal to renounce torture.

Whilst this is happening Kiku, who is passionately in love with Seikichi, although she doesn’t understand his faith, is desperate to find him, this leads to her meeting a minor and corrupt official who, after forcing her to have sex with him, makes her give him money which he says he will give to Seikichi to make life easier for him. Kiku willing to do anything to help Seikichi has to sell her body to raise the necessary funds which the corrupt official pockets for himself.

Although there is hope in this book, the Christians due to pressure from the outside world do get released and sort of get their lives back, but Kiku never fulfils her dreams of a life with Seikichi, as what she goes through to help him eventually kills her. This is a really powerful book that questions not only ones faith, but what would you do for the love of someone, although I suppose at the end of the day it’s the same question, it’s just a matter of where your love is directed, for Seikichi this was God, although mainly in the form of Santa Maria. Only towards the end of his exile did he realise a love for Kiku, at this point to late - Kiku whose love was only for Seikichi was dead and to her, whilst she was alive, Santa Maria appeared as the rival, the point at which his love was fixed. It was only towards the end that she shared an understanding with this saint, as women who had both lost people they loved and through this awareness reached some kind of redemption.

http://parrishlantern.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/kikus-prayer-shusaku-endo.html ( )

Mitsu and Kiku grew up in a Japanese village just down the road from a village with many Christians. It was during a time in which Christianity was banned, so their elders told them to stay away from the other village and its villagers. One day, Kiku has a chance to meet a boy (Seikichi) from the other village and falls in love with him. She and Mitsu are sent to work for a very demanding employer. Seikichi gives her a medallion of the virgin Mary and tells her to pray to her. Kiku is still not a Christian. She goes to work for the Christians, but still does not become one herself. The Christians are persecuted tremendously. What will become of Kiku and Seikichi? Will she ever realize her dream to marry him? This is not an easy book to read. The persecution suffered by the Japanese Christians in this period of the 1860s and early 1870s was horrific. Of course, the persecution of some of their forebears was as great or greater. One is reminded of the suffering that the Lord endured for all of mankind. Some of the words that Kiku spoke to the virgin Mary made you wish that Kiku had known more of the story of Jesus and the Gospels. She had no idea that Mary knew exactly how she felt as she had watched her own Son suffer. It's definitely more of a Catholic work than Protestant one, but it's one that all Christians should appreciate for the parallels between so many passages of Scripture. I do believe that persons other than Christians can appreciate Endo's work, but I do think the meaning will be richer for those who are more familiar with the New Testament. This review is based on an advance e-galley provided by the publisher through NetGalley. ( )