Sakamoto Ryoma and Orthodox Christianity’s Close Connection

Added: 2026-06-03

[00:00:00]Hey everybody, it's Justin. Do you like Japanese history and samurai? If you do, you might know this person. This is Sakamoto Ryoma. He is one of the key people that helped get rid of the Tokugawa shogunate, end kind of the feudal era of Japan, and usher in the Meiji period.

[00:00:22]He didn't really live to see it cuz I think he was assassinated when he was 31.

[00:00:26]And I'm 36.

[00:00:29]And that's a sad, but he was one of the key people to kind of lay the foundations of what would become, you know, kind of modern Japan. And so, if you love samurai and all that stuff and modern Japan and the Meiji stuff, thank him cuz he did a lot.

[00:00:46]But, did you know that his cousin Mr. Sawabe Paul Sawabe I forget his first name cuz I don't prepare much for these videos, but Paul Sawabe was the first Japanese Orthodox Christian and first Japanese Orthodox priest.

[00:01:07]Now, technically, I don't know if he was literally the first convert, but he probably was because what happened was he was in Edo, Tokyo, and apparently he decided to permanently borrow without telling the owner a pocket watch, right?

[00:01:25]And his cousin was like, "Yo, bro, you need to dip before something bad happen.

[00:01:29]So, go up to Hokkaido and kind of stay low for a bit."

[00:01:32]Went up to Hokkaido, I think he got married like a Shinto priest's daughter or something and entered into the um Sakamoto Sawabe family. But, anyway, um he went up there, met Saint Nikolai. And then, he said, "Yo, stop teaching these Japanese people this foreign religion or I'm going to kill you." Saint Nicholas said, "Bet. Okay, cool. But, just listen to me, and then if you don't like it, you can you you can Here you go.

[00:01:59]Um but apparently he liked it. So much so that he converted, became Paul Sawabe, and also became bam, a priest.

[00:02:07]The first Orthodox priest. And also one of the first priests of the parish that me and my wife frequent, the one up in Fukushima.

[00:02:16]Um So yeah.

[00:02:20]The Japanese The Orthodox Church in Japan is very very very small, but has connections to some really big key people in Japanese history.

[00:02:30]Have a good one.