However, as more and more believers appeared who were openly expressing their belief in Christianity, they were persecuted and supressed under the anti-Christian policies of the Edo shogunate government that had been continued by the Meiji government (for more details, see the entry on the fourth arrest of Christians of 1867).
しかし堂々とキリスト教の信者である事を表明する者が現れたため、江戸幕府やキリスト教禁教政策を引き継いだ明治政府から迫害や弾圧を受ける事になる（詳しくは浦上四番崩れの項参照の事）。