What is "kirishitan"

The Japanese term , from Portuguese cristão, referred to Roman Catholic Christians in Japanese and is used in Japanese texts as a historiographic term for Roman Catholics in Japan in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Modern Japanese has several ways of spelling Christian of which the most common are the noun form kirisuto kyôto キリスト教徒, and also kurisuchan クリスチャン. The Japanese spelling kirishitan キリシタン is used primarily in Japanese texts for the early history of Roman Catholicism in Japan, or in relation to kakure kirishitan, Hidden Christians. However, English sources on histories of Japan generally use the term "Christian" without distinction.