Rodrigues-Kichijiro relationship

The relationship between Sebastian Rodrigues and Kichijiro is the novel's most intimate and troubling human bond, a mirror in which the priest sees his own potential for failure and, ultimately, the face of a Christ who suffers alongside the weakest. From their first meeting in Macao to their final encounter years after Rodrigues's own apostasy, Kichijiro acts as a persistent, unwelcome companion whose betrayals and pleas for forgiveness force Rodrigues to repeatedly reexamine the meaning of priesthood, love, and the silence of God. The relationship is not a static one of master and servant, but a dynamic, agonizing dance of trust, betrayal, pity, and reluctant identification that charts the priest's spiritual collapse and strange, partial redemption.

First Encounters: Distrust and Pragmatic Reliance

Rodrigues first meets Kichijiro in Macao, where the Japanese fisherman is introduced as a drunken, ragged man of about twenty-eight or twenty-nine, with a crafty look on his face and a habit of rolling his eyes . From the outset, Rodrigues and his companion Francisco Garrpe are struck by Kichijiro's cowardice and cunning, which they attribute to weakness of character . On the voyage to Japan, Kichijiro proves useless during a storm, lying pale and vomiting between the baggage, yet Rodrigues overhears him muttering the words "gratia" and "Santa Maria" . When Garrpe presses him on whether he is a Christian, Kichijiro vehemently denies it, shaking his head and saying, "I'm not" . Despite this, Rodrigues and Garrpe must rely on him as their guide, a fact that fills Rodrigues with a sense of ironic resignation: "When you come to think of it, Our Lord himself entrusted his destiny to untrustworthy people" . This initial dynamic—a priest forced to depend on a man he cannot trust—sets the pattern for their entire relationship.

Revelation and the First Betrayal

After landing in Japan, Rodrigues learns the truth about Kichijiro from Christians in the Goto Islands. Kichijiro is indeed a Christian who had apostatized eight years earlier: when his entire family was betrayed and brought up for questioning, his brothers and sisters refused to trample on the sacred image, but Kichijiro, after a few threats, yelled out that he would renounce his faith . On the day of their burning at the stake, his cowardly face was seen in the crowd, unable to endure the sight, before he withdrew and disappeared . This revelation casts Kichijiro's subsequent actions in a new light. When the authorities demand hostages from the village of Tomogi, the villagers, suspecting Kichijiro is the cause of their troubles, pressure him into going to Nagasaki . Before he leaves, he asks Rodrigues a desperate question: "Father, if we are ordered to trample on the fumie... What are we to do?" . Rodrigues, in a moment of weakness, shouts, "Trample! Trample!"—a command he immediately regrets . Kichijiro does trample, and after Mokichi and Ichizo refuse and are martyred, he disappears . This first major betrayal is not a single act but a pattern: Kichijiro's weakness leads him to save himself at the cost of others, and Rodrigues, by giving him permission to trample, becomes complicit.

The Pursuit and the Second Betrayal

After the martyrdom of Mokichi and Ichizo, Rodrigues flees Tomogi and wanders alone through the mountains. Exhausted and despairing, he encounters Kichijiro again, who has been following him . Kichijiro offers him dried fish, which Rodrigues greedily eats, only to be tormented by a terrible thirst . When Rodrigues asks for water, Kichijiro runs off, and the priest, suspecting another betrayal, follows him. Kichijiro returns with water, but soon after, guards appear and seize Rodrigues. Kichijiro, still kneeling, cries out, "Father, forgive me! I am weak. I am not a strong person like Mokichi and Ichizo" . One of the guards throws a few tiny silver coins into Kichijiro's face . As Rodrigues is dragged away, he looks back and sees Kichijiro's face, "with its fearful eyes like a spider" . This second betrayal is more intimate and cruel: Kichijiro has used Rodrigues's trust and physical need to deliver him to the authorities for the reward of three hundred pieces of silver . Yet even in this moment of utter betrayal, Rodrigues cannot simply hate him; he reflects on the difference between the strong and the weak, and wonders if, were it not for his priesthood and pride, he too might have trampled on the fumie .

The Prison and the Refusal of Pity

After his capture, Rodrigues is imprisoned, and Kichijiro reappears, this time as a persistent, weeping supplicant. He stands in the rain outside the prison, crying out, "Father! Listen to me!" . He confesses that he has kept deceiving Rodrigues, that he began to hate him and all the Christians after being rebuked, and that he trampled on the holy image not willingly but because his feet ached with pain . He pleads, "God asks me to imitate the strong, even though he made me weak. Isn't this unreasonable?" . Rodrigues, still nursing his anger and disgust, tries to block his ears. He feels a sense of joy in being able to abandon this whimpering fellow . When Kichijiro is thrown into the prison with the other Christians, they refuse to associate with him, suspecting he is a plant of the magistrate . Rodrigues, out of a sense of priestly duty, hears his confession, but he cannot trust him and feels only contempt for his foul stench and weakness . He reflects that Christ loved the ragged and dirty, but he himself cannot forgive Kichijiro . This is the nadir of their relationship: Rodrigues, clinging to his own righteousness, rejects the very man who most needs his compassion.

The Final Confession and a Shared Weakness

Years later, after Rodrigues has himself apostatized and is living in Nagasaki under the name Okada San'emon, Kichijiro comes to him again. He is now an old man, and he calls out, "Father, father. It's Kichijiro" . When Rodrigues says he is no longer a father, Kichijiro insists, "But you can still hear my confession!" . He tells Rodrigues that in Nagasaki they call him the Apostate Paul, and he asks for absolution for his sins, repeating his lament about the strong and the weak . Rodrigues, now stripped of his priestly office and his pride, finally understands. He thinks of his own foot on the fumie, and of the voice of Christ that said, "Trample! Your foot suffers in pain... I understand your pain and your suffering" . He realizes that he and Kichijiro are the same. He hears Kichijiro's confession and gives him absolution, saying, "There are neither the strong nor the weak. Can anyone say that the weak do not suffer more than the strong?" . This final act of ministry is a profound reversal: the apostate priest, who once judged Kichijiro, now recognizes their shared humanity and weakness. The relationship, which began in distrust and was marked by repeated betrayal, ends in a fragile, compassionate solidarity. The official records of the Christian Residence in Edo note that Kichijiro, now an attendant to Okada San'emon, was later arrested for possessing a Christian image, suggesting that his faith, however weak, never entirely died .