This wooden signboard, dated 1868, is written in ink with a proclamation banning Christianity. Christianity was banned in Japan between 1639 and 1873. When the Tokugawa government outlawed the religion, Japanese Christians was forced to conceal their faith in order to escape persecution. Public notices as such were putted up in different provinces around Japan serving as a sign of warning. This signboard was meant for Hyuga province in Kyushu where it was one of the main centres of Christian missions.
