Samurai for Christ; The Shimabara Rebellion

[Guapo]

Dr. Anne Barbeau Gardiner is a Professor Emeritus at John Jay College she had written 2 installments in the Latin Mass Magazine in Winter and Summer 2013. This is a followup to Bernadette´s post.

The first installment is called Samuria for Christ; The Shimabara Rebellion and the second is called Japanese Catholic Martyrs 1638 to 1873. 

In addition, there is a film about the uprising in Japanese from the 1960´s
http://pblosser.blogspot.com.es/2013/05/catholic-samurai-rebels-of-17th-century.html

In the latest Latin Mass magazine, an article by the ever-informative Prof. Anne Barbeau Gardiner called to my attention that in 1962 Nagisa Ôshima directed a film called, in English, "Shiro Amakusa, the Christian Rebel," about the leader of the Shimabara uprising of 37,000 Christians in Japan (1637-38) against the Tokugawa Shogunate. The shogun eventually had to send a force of over 125,000 troops to suppress the rebellion, after learning that it wasn't a rag-tag army of peasants but a well-trained and armed rebellion led by Amakusa. At the heroic showdown at Hara Castle (in the southwestern Kyushu province of Hinzen), which was occupied by the rebels, the uprising was finally crushed, but only after a siege of several months in which the rebels were starved, yet inflicted huge losses (8,000-13,000) on the shogun's army. The result was a policy of "absolute seclusion" of Japan for over two centuries, and Christians were put to death by the thousands or were forced to apostatize.

Highly recommend reading these 2 installments for those interested and you will come to the conclusion the whole tv series called Shogun and the novel were way off the mark to say the least.

[Guapo]

If it wasn´t for the Dutch Indie Company the Christians almost would have won. The constant shelling off the coast by the Dutch Indie Company on the 30000 plus holed up in the Castle was instead a slaughter. It was also the Dutch who had given the Japenese the idea to smoke out the Christians by having everyone step on a Crucifix, spit, etc... one wonders if this was incorporated later in the Masonic rituals.  At any rate, Harvard Professor Dr. Christopher Dawson wrote that the British East Indian Company use to give money to the Hindus to build Temples to counteract the Jesuits and Missionary activity in the East (similiarly to the Ford, MacArthur and Rock. Foundations giving money to the Protestant Churches in Central American) but what the Dutch did was so brutal that even Johnathon Swift mentioned this murderous outrage. The Dutch Co. made the Brit. East Indie Co. look like choir boys.  By the late 1600s the Superforce were in total control of the Brit. East Indie Co., presumably the Dutch East Indie. Co. as well.
Dr. Christopher Dawson is well known among older Traditionalists.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5936925-the-formation-of-christendom
It would appear although most historical books and libraries have been santizied that even the Founding Fathers very much were afraid of the British East Indian Company.
The British East India Company was a British commercial and political organization established in India in the late 1600's, which was known as the Governor and Company of Merchants of London. A forerunner of this group was the London Mercers Company, and earlier than that, the London Staplers. The organization traced their lineage back to the ancient commercial groups involved in trading between the Mediterranean and India. They were closely related to the Levant Company, and the Anglo-Muscovy Company, and spawned the London Company, which was chartered in 1606 to establish the Virginia Plantation on a communistic basis, and the Plymouth Colony in 1621.

It was mainly organized for trading, but soon became an agent for British imperialism. Bending to government pressure, they reorganized in 1702. Every year, 24 Directors were elected by the Court of Proprietors (or shareholders, a majority of which were English Masons). They traded in cotton, tea, silk, and salt peter; and were accused of dealing with opium and participating in the slave trade. They virtually monopolized all trade from South India, the Persian Gulf, Southeast Asia and East Asia.

Indian policy was influenced by the company from 1757 to 1773, when their power was broken by the 1773 Regulatory Act, and Pitt's India Act of 1784, finally ending their monopoly in 1813. When they ceased to exist in 1873, many of its shareholders were major financiers. The principals of this group perpetuated their elitist goals by establishing the Fabian Society.

[Guapo]

Some snippets from the Latin Mass Magazine articles such as ¨It was known in Europe that the Dutch Merchants denied their Chrisitianity in Japan for the sake of trade, making it a ¨Profit by the loss of their souls¨ Dutch Reformed Synods passed several
Acts complaining about it, but to no avail. Already, in parts of of 17th Century Europe Mammon had usurped the place of Christ.¨

¨If the 37,000 people massacred at the fall of Hara-no-Jo were not martyrs in the Canonical sense, they certaintly were victims belonging to the persecuted Church.¨

¨In fumie, or ¨the figure treading Ceremony, which took place in a Buddhist Temple or a local goverment Office, the Sacred image was placed on the floor and everyone down to the littliest baby was obliged to tread upon it.¨

¨Therefore we shall not accept the terms of peace offered by you so long as you don not guarantee us freedom of religion.¨

¨As they fought, the Christians proclaimed their Faith openly and their willingness to die for it. They set up Crosses along the Castle´s battlments and Shouted the name of Maria, and Santiago as they attacked. They also fought under a beautifully painted jinjuki or battle flag that depictetd the Real Presence in the Eucharist.¨

If more time is allotted to post more from the articles, in any case, Utube still has the film available: Amakusa, the Christian Rebel, 1962.

[Stella Maris]

This sounds very interesting, Guapo! Thanks for sharing.

[Guapo]

http://www.latinmassmagazine.com/ for the full article

Here are some snippets:
¨Despite relentless persecution of Kirishitans ...the shogun Iyemitsu was still unable to stop Priests from entering Japan. They
kept coming even though King of Spain and the Govenor of the Phillipines forbade it and even though, starting from 1623,
any ship from Macao found carrying a disguised Priest would be burned with its cargo and its Captain and crew executed. Official
records show that in 1632 11 Spanish Priests left the Philippines for China, whence they sailed on Chinese junks to Japan and worked as Missionaries until they were caught and put to death.

According to Otis Cary, it the English agent Richard Cocks who, in 1616, first proposed a Japanese invasion of the Philippines to stop the influx of Priests.  In 1630, Shigemasa Matsukura was poised to attack and wipe out Manila when he suddely died. The
invasion was canceled. Again in 1636 Iyemitsu and his council resolved to invade and occupy the Philippines. In 1637, after the
Dutch had provided them with maps and a fleet of war vessels for the purpose, they were just about to launch his military campaign when the Shimabara Rebellion broke out. From this rebellion Iyemitsu came to realize Yoshi Kuno remarks, ¨that his military skill and strength would be of NO avail against the Christians when they were fighting inspired by religious zeal.¨ For this reason he decided to eradicate Christianity in Japan was to ensure his countrys ¨absolute seclusion¨ from the outside world. This national seclusion would last more than 2 centuries.

The Shimabara Rebellion started out as a reaction to the official use of torture to collect exorbitant taxes... Moreover, if these taxes were not paid, this is how he extracted the: ¨wife and children were held hostage and put to the ordeal of by water. Or they were made to ear mino straw capes and these were set on fire.¨ When victimes ¨writhed¨ it was called the Mino Dance.

These inhumanity became unbearable. Masaharu Anesaki writes that the ¨Christians endured the oppresion and torture in a mood of suffering in joy, taking as their model the Lord´s own Passion, nor had they any hope of attempting active resistance.
Yet when the pressure became too heavy and persecuting devices too cruel, in addition to the structures of taxation and corrupt administration in the territory of Arima, the desperate people, chiefly Kirisshitans, but others too, finally rose in arms from 1637 to 1638.¨

[Guapo]

snippet
... Since it was initially a local disturbance, the nearest daimyos could not help Lord Matsukura, because Japanese law prohibted feudal lords from undertaking military operations without being authorized by the shogun. This gave the Kirishitan samurai time to extend their conquests and join up with their brethern of Amakusa. Kuno writes that the total population of Shimbara and the surrounding districts at the time was about 51,000, so the actual number of warriors in the Christian Army could not have been more than 20,000. A young man named Masuda Shiro Tokisada (now known as ¨Amakusa Shiro¨), son of a former Catholic Samurai, was elected their Commander. Historians put his age between 16 and 18.

It is said that the Christians had a prophecy to inspire their rebellion. Kuno reports that in a pamphlet called Divine Revelation
(whose author was believed to be a Priest exiled in 1612), it was foretold that after 25 years ¨all the dead trees shall bloom, crimson clouds shall shine brightly in the Western Sky, and a boy of Divine power shall make his appearance. These things shall usher in a Christian revival in Japan.¨ The year 1637 was the 25th one from 1612, and it was a year when ¨the Western Sky was resplendent with bright crimson clouds day after day¨ and in mid-August, ¨all the cherry and other flowering trees burst into bloom.¨ The hour seemed to have arrived to raise the banner of the Cross and resist intolerable tyranny.¨ 

[martin88nyc]

Guapo, can't you just post the whole article?

[samguk yusa]

I never heard of this Fascinating peace of Japanese history before

[Guapo]

Unfornately due to US law there is a 50% rule to posting without permission from the writer nor Keep the Faith, Inc.- Latin Mass Magazine. Besides my copy is thoroughly weather beaten.

After gaining ground and winning several battles the Japanese warlords joined together to send a shogun army at them. ¨When Shiro learned that the shogun was sending an army against him, he took his warriors, their wives, and their children (37,000) into the abandoned castle of Hara-no-jo, a fortress surrounded by 3 sides of the sea and located on a high promontory... A force of 30,000 was sent to attack the Castle...the battle raged on for 2 days. The shogun´s army suffered a great loss
of life while the Christian defenders were virtually unscathed... As they fought the Christians proclaimed their Faith openly and willingness to die for it. They set up Crosses along the Castle´s battlements and ¨shouted the names of Jesus, Maria and Santiago¨ as they attacked. They also fought under a beautifully painted jinjuki or battle flag that depicted the Real Presence in the Eucharist... This square flag of China silk,...depicted the Chalice with a Host over it marked with a Cross. It showed 2 Angels adoring the Eucharist on the side. The inscription was in Portuguese: Praised be the Most Holy Sacrament

... A second attack ended in miserable failure with casualties of more than 4000 while the Christians maintained their defense with casualities of few than 100.¨ (In retailation for the humilating defeat the feudal lords sent a army) ¨Between 100,000 and 260,000 yet despite this their was constant fear the Christians might sallyout and make a sudden attack.... The commander ¨surrounded the Castle on all sides with soldiers many lines deep, resolved to attack only when sure their foes were weak from starvation.¨ As the hunger blockade continued,...they tried to weaken the spirit of the Kirishitans by having the Dutch merchants bombard Hara Castle from the Sea... they cheerfully and promptly sent the fleet  that had been prepared to attack MANILA (the Jap. Christians inadverntenly saved Manila by rebelling)...The Japanese believed that the Dutch were not Christians and professed to the Japanese govt that they were not Christians. According to the Marquis de la Mazeliere, they did this because the profit from their Japan trade was around 500,000 pounds sterling per year. England´s poet John Dryden, a convert to Catholicism, wrote these lines about them in the Hind and the Panter: (1687)

They run full sail to the Japponian Mart:
Prevention fear, and prodigal of fame
Sell all of Christians to the very name;
Nor leave enough of that, to hide their naked shame.

And so, the Dutch Merchants bombarded Hara Castle from Feb 24 to March 12th with 426 Cannon shots. Cary writes that their aim was so accurate the Christians had to ¨dig cellars in which to take refuge from their cannon-balls.¨ In return, their tied witty messages to arrows and shot them into
besiegers ranks, jeering at their reliance on foreighers to suppress a few farmers.¨...The Christians in nearby Nagasaki could not help them...stationed a military force there of about 40,000 men. Kuno thinks that if the uprising had occured 15 years earlier, when some Christian Lords still wielded power, there might have been a wider revolution...¨

Finally, ...¨the Castle was stormed on April 11, 1638...2 day battle, ¨All the Christians, men and women, old and young, including children and infants, were either killed or burned to death.¨
The children were given an offer to apostatized, they replied, ¨If you pity me, put an end to my life, which I, being a Christian, cannot do.¨ ...During the last stand, however, the Catholic Samurai put
up a brave fight. There were huge losses in the Shogun´s army, ...between 8000 and 13,000 died.

The first result of the rebellion was the ¨Absolute seclusion¨ of Japan for over 2 Centuries. Iyemitsu
was filled with dread at the ¨miraculous power¨ shown by such an small number of Chrisitians...
He chose to isolate Japan from the outside world in order to obtain the final eradication of Christianity within its border.
[/i] The second result was ¨the search for Christians within Japan was intensified and systematized.¨ Those found were killed or made to apostatize.... by the thousands, tied back to back and thrown down into Nagasaki Bay from Taka-boko, which the Dutch called Pappenberg, or hill of the Priests ...The third result was...ended trade with the Portuguese of Macao, because he suspected them of having assisted the Shimabara rebels...they believed that the shogun believed
that the rebellion had been instigated by the Portuguese so they could take over Japan. The Dutch confirmed him in this opinion. On August 4, 1639 ...announced that no Portuguese could set foot
in Japan or trade there, under penalty of death.

The Jinjuki flag in Hara, now ¨ranks alongside with Joan of Arc´s as a great battle flag -is on exhibit today in the Amakusa Christian Museum in Hondo, Japan.¨
this was immortalized in the movie, ¨¨The Revolutionary¨ a 1962 film.

[Guapo]

It is highly likely the Dutch Merchants took the religious test called ¨fumie¨...Otis Carey, ...states plainly that they were obliged to trample on the images of Jesus and Virgin Mary until 1856. It is an undeniable fact that Calvinists, trampling on sacred images would have posed no difficulty, since they were regarded as idols. ...Kuno, confirms that this deception (Japanese Catholics only knew Christianity in its pure form and knew nothing about Protestantism nor its iconoclasm)...
In the 3rd Voyage of Gulliver´s Travels (1724), Swift satirizes the Dutch´s Merchants for being far more enthusiatic about trampling the Crucifix than the Japanese Shogun themselves. In Swift´s ¨Trampling on the Crucifix¨, Hermann Real notes the ¨story of the Dutch perfidy in Japan¨ was well
known at the time from 17th Century Dutch Prot. sources.
An example, ¨the shogun King caused the picture of the Virgin Mary with the Child Jesus in her arms, engraved in copper, to be brought before them, to see if they (Dutch) would worship it;...the Dutch would go beyond this and eagerly ¨break them into pieces.¨

Masaharu Anesaki, a non-Catholic Jap. scholar who lectured at Harvard...wrote these lines filled with admiration for the Japanese Catholics:
¨Equally without parallel was the fervor with which hundreds and thousands of Kirishitan people, mostly from the lower strata of society, with stood temptations, threats, terrors, tortures, and finally died as martyrs, thought their were many apostates too. Their Faith was simple and sincere, ...Some of them saw in Vision God´s Mother with her Child inviting them to Heaven, while they hung on the Cross soon to be consumed by surrounding flames; others lost any sense of distress or pain the near prospect  of reaching the Heavenly realm on being beheaded; others heard Voices encouraging them to stand the agony with the promise of celestial bliss....some of the persecuting officers were nearly converted out of admiration for the martyrs.¨
Compilation of 2 articles from the Latin Mass Magazine, ¨Japanese Catholic Martyrs: 11638-1873¨ and the second one ¨Samurai for Christ...¨ In the end they kept the Faith for over 2 Centuries without Priests nor the Sacraments except Baptism in the face of horrible threats and tortures.

[Guapo]

Another excellent article by Sandro Magister, http://magister.blogautore.espresso.repubblica.it/2017/10/17/the-hidden-christians-of-japan-too-inconvenient-for-this-pontificate/?refresh_ce

This is a followup of the aftermath of the 200 year persecution of Japanese Catholics.

As for the film Silent by Martín Scorsese well he delivered the expectant sucker punch no surprise there.
The bottom line is that Our Lady has a special love for the Japanese people.
https://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2017/08/a-message-of-hope-from-hiroshima.html