Hidden by the Leaves

Amid an epic story of good versus evil, a small village defies an oppressive regime and finds freedom through the power of faith.

When European Jesuits first arrived in Japan in the 1540s, the island nation was open to new people bringing new ideas and beliefs. Within just a few decades, more than 100,000 Japanese converted to the Catholic faith. But in 1614, Christianity was banned by the shogun; all those who did not either recant their faith or obey the banishment would be annihilated.

In Hidden by the Leaves, Father Joaquim Martinez represents the Jesuits in Japan at the time. Living in a small peasant village within the much larger Hizen-province, ruled by the cruel, self-serving warlord Matsukura Shigemasa, Father Joaquim and his two young catechists, Miguel and Tonia, choose to risk their lives by defying the banishment order to stay and help the villagers who have become their family.

Hidden by the Leaves chronicles Father Joaquim’s and the villagers’ miracle-filled attempts to escape the clutches of the vicious shogun, the relentless warlord, and their hordes of powerful samurai.