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Christovao Ferreira / Sawano Chuan
Kichijiro is the first Japanese person who Rodrigues and Garrpe meet. He is characterized as a drunk, a coward, and a repeat apostate. Although Kichijiro tries to deny his Christianity when he meets the priests in China, both men immediately suspect that he is a member of their faith. As they discover after reaching Japan with him, Kichijiro apostatized years before, when his family was tortured and executed for their faith. Throughout the story, Kichijiro not only apostatizes several more times, but betrays Rodrigues and other Christians to the Japanese officials either for money or to save himself, taking on a role similar to the biblical Judas Iscariot within the narrative. In spite of his constant betrayal, Kichijiro follows Rodrigues all throughout his flight, imprisonment, and even after his eventual apostasy. Kichijiro begs for the priest’s forgiveness and seeking absolution, even voluntarily offering himself for imprisonment so that he can be close to Rodrigues. Rodrigues wavers between feeling sympathy, resentment, and hatred for the treacherous Kichijiro, which causes him to often reflect on Christ’s relationship to Judas—whether Christ loved the man he knew would betray him, and whether Judas was only a puppet, given the worst role in a grander narrative. By the end of Rodrigues’s imprisonment, as he realizes that he will apostatize and become as much like Judas as Kichijiro, he also realizes that Kichijiro has doggedly pursued him around Japan, and although a traitor, is ironically also his most loyal friend. When Kichijiro asks the apostate Rodrigues to hear his confession as a priest, this confirms to Rodrigues that he can still serve God, even as a reject of the Church and betrayer of the faith.
Kichijiro Quotes in Silence
The Silence quotes below are all either spoken by Kichijiro or refer to Kichijiro. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 4 Quotes
This story was well known. Its moral was that a priest does not exist to become a martyr; he must preserve his life in order that the flame of faith may not utterly die when the church is persecuted.
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Rodrigues is deciding whether or not to expose himself to a newfound village—if they are Christian, they will accept him; if they are not, they will likely kill or capture him. He recounts the story of a priest in hiding who voluntarily gave himself up for execution, but in doing so endangered the lives of other Christians. The argument that a priest should survive if possible is an important recognition for Rodrigues, who dreams of a glorious martyrdom for himself. Beyond speaking to the priest’s own arrogance, however, it also foreshadows Rodrigues’s future choice of whether he will apostatize. Rodrigues Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis co
If it is not blasphemous to say so, I have the feeling that Judas was no more than an unfortunate puppet for the glory of the drama which was the life and death of Christ.
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Suspecting that Kichijiro has betrayed him in the past and will do so again, Rodrigues reflects on their relationship through the lens of Jesus Christ’s relationship with Judas Iscariot, His betrayer. Even early on, when Rodrigues’s eventual apostasy is a long way off, the priest already sympathizes with Judas’s painful role within the Gospel story, seeming to be a powerless player, doomed from the beginning. Rodrigues’s contemplation of Judas’s powerlessness is apt on two levels. Kichijiro, whom the priest recognizes is a weak man, will betray him again out of his weakness before the Japanese officials, creating an explicit parallel Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est.
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Kichijiro Character Timeline in Silence
The timeline below shows where the character Kichijiro appears in Silence. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1
...might smuggle the priests to Japan, they meet their first Japanese person, a drunk named Kichijiro who is about their age. Garrpe asks Kichijiro if he is Christian, but Kichijiro seems...
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The three priests tell Kichijiro they have money for a ship and crew to go to Japan, and offer return...
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Kichijiro will join them, and as the priests watch the Japanese man work alongside the Chinese...
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Chapter 2
...ship is caught in a terrible storm. Rather than helping the sailors control the sails, Kichijiro hides amongst the baggage and vomits on himself, and the sailors’ and the priests’ contempt...
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...remain hidden, the ship makes its way into a cove between two mountains. At midnight, Kichijiro, Rodrigues, and Garrpe wade ashore. The priests hide while Kichijiro leaves to survey the area,...
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Chapter 3
...too dangerous both for them and the villagers, since their fates are bound together. If Kichijiro could be convinced, since he has no ties or dependents, that may work, but the...
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The villagers tell the priests that Kichijiro told them priests had returned to Japan. Rodrigues and Garrpe learn that Kichijiro is in...
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...and appreciates it, though he is disgusted by their smell and squalor. The villagers regard Kichijiro as a hero for bringing the priest, and though he struts around, he also is...
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Chapter 4
...evidence of their faith and are left alone. Rodrigues is entirely satisfied with life. Even Kichijiro, who accompanied him back to Tomogi, gets along. Though the man is vain, obnoxious, and...
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...hostages to return with him to Nagasaki and would like volunteers. The villagers decide that Kichijiro should go—to his horror—since he is a stranger with no family for which to care....
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...but Garrpe looks at him “reproachfully” and he feels he should not have said it. Kichijiro asks why God should place such a burden upon them when they have committed no...
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Rodrigues is haunted by Kichijiro’s question. On the one hand, he feels that God must have some good purpose in...
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...hillside. However, a voice from the brush freezes the priest in his tracks. It is Kichijiro yet again, telling him that he knows of a different Christian village, and the priest...
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Conflicted, Rodrigues does not want to abandon this village before him. He suspects Kichijiro of being a traitor and a puppet, but also believes that his survival is of...
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Night falls, and Kichijiro keeps up their little fire. Rodrigues eventually falls asleep. Although he expects Kichijiro to betray...
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As they travel the next day, Rodrigues’s thirst becomes desperate, and he begs Kichijiro to find a river so he may drink. Kichijiro again disappears, and the priest wonders...
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Chapter 5
The same old samurai who took Mokichi, Kichijiro, and Ichizo from Tomogi arrives, commenting casually on the weather to his prisoners. In the...
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...a single voice yelling and a lone, scraggly figure trying to run after the boat: Kichijiro. But the traitor cannot reach the boat in time, and the priest feels only resentment...
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...man leaning on a stick and slowly following after him, realizing quickly that it is Kichijiro once again. The priest cannot fathom why the man pursues him still. They reach a...
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Chapter 6
...it strange that the guards allow him to operate in his vocation. The following afternoon, Kichijiro arrives at the prison, yelling to the priest for forgiveness and yelling to the guards...
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...fate of any person who values their belief more than their life. A guard brings Kichijiro, sniveling, out into the yard, and Kichijiro promptly steps on the fumie and is told...
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Chapter 8
...he will wear a smile the entire time, no matter what abuse he endures. When Kichijiro emerges from the crowd, the priest realizes that in spite of his several treacheries, the...
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...the wall, the priest can hear multiple voices and an argument, and the voice of Kichijiro shouting, “Father, forgive me! I have come to make my confession and receive absolution. Forgive...
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Chapter 10
Kichijiro arrives at Rodrigues’s door, whispering that he wants the priest to hear his confession and...
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Rodrigues decides to hear Kichijiro’s confession, since there are no other priests left in the country. Although the priest knows...
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