JAPAN, MARTYRS OF

This account of the martyrs of Japan is presented in five parts: (1) the reasons for the persecution of Christians, (2) the external course of the persecutions, (3) the spirit of martyrdom in the early Japanese Church, (4) individual martyrdoms (the 26 holy and the 205 blessed martyrs), and (5) the number of martyrs.

Reasons for the Persecution of Christians

The resistance to Christianity in Japan and the harassment of Christians that ended frequently in martyrdom is derived from the following principal causes.

Religious Opposition. The primary roots of the persecutions are found in religious opposition. Ignorance and erroneous interpretation of Christian doctrine, which had been discussed ever since the arrival of St. Francis xavier (Aug. 15, 1549), might well have occasioned distrust, since the notions of Christianity were so new in this world of quite different religious and cultural traditions. The Christian movement in Japan had, after some years, advanced rapidly, aided by an increased number of European missionaries, their native assistants, and Japanese lay apostles, including in the course of time several specially zealous and influential feudal lords. Over against this minority stood the powerful world of Japanese bud dhism, rooted for centuries in the traditions of the people and nurtured by a considerable social, literary, and artistic culture; Buddhism's countless shrines covered the entire country, and its intellectual centers were famous Temple Universities whose prelates were often scions of the noblest families. shintoism also influenced the people, partly as it was permeated and absorbed by Buddhism. But with the forward thrust of the Christian idea, a more or less palpable decline of the Buddhist and Shintoist religions began in various regions. The withdrawal of prominent members and often of quite large groups of the temple communities involved a loss of prestige and financial weakening. It is no wonder, accordingly, that the success of Christian missionary work aroused resentment on the part of the Buddhists and Shintoists. Since the bonzes in many localities had a strong influence on the provincial lords of the feudal states, the city governors, and the fortress captains, disapproval, if not open hostility, was to be expected from the authorities. The greater the success of Christianity, the more easily could the opposition be kindled into actual persecution.

Missionary Methods. Not infrequently anti-Christian feeling was deepened by the methods of the missionaries. They made efforts to win the favor of the provincial lords and wherever possible to convert them. They had great success in 1563 when the feudal lord of Ōmura and several respected noblemen in central Japan joined the Church. Soon other lords followed their example. Convinced that a durable Christianity could be guaranteed only if the entire fief became Christian, the missionaries began from 1574 to pressure the convert feudal lords (when the lords did not decide on the same course of action as a result of their own zeal) to open the path to complete conversion; the principle invoked was that of cujus regio, ejus religio, a principle often employed in Europe and not unknown in Japan in the dealings of the various sects with one another. Often the action was limited to inducing the population to take catechetical instruction, with no compulsory baptism being practiced. In other cases, everyone was faced with the decision of becoming a Christian or emigrating from the fief. This pressure was extended to include even the Buddhist bonzes, many of whom accepted baptism. The temples were either converted into Christian churches or destroyed, and the statues of the Buddhist and Shintoist shrines were burned (often as firewood in the mission stations), together with their sacred writings. Japanese chronicles of the period relate instances of bonzes fleeing with great difficulty into another feudal state, taking with them the secretly abducted religious pictures of their temple. It is not hard to imagine the motivation of their activity in their new home: to the extent of their influence, they became dangerous opponents of Christianity.

Domestic Political Tensions. With the growth of Christian influence and the almost simultaneous increase in the power of the Japanese central government, domestic political tensions came to the fore. At the outset of the mass conversion movement (from 1574) there was still some prospect of pushing Christianity to a complete triumph by the forcible methods mentioned above. The central government in the provinces around Kyōto was so weakened that, at least in distant Kyūshū, there was scarcely anything to be feared from it. And Oda Nobunaga (1534 to 1582), was so fiercely opposed to the bonzes that he openly favored the Jesuits. He was assassinated (June 1582) before any change of mind on his part could become disastrous for the missionaries. His successor, Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536 to 1598), found a substantially different situation. More feudal lords had adhered to the Christian faith; among them was Ōtomo Yoshishige in Kyūshū, one of the greatest and, indeed, a few years earlier, the most important public figure in the Saikoku (southwest). In central Japan likewise the number and quality of the highly placed Christians was growing and the gifted, idealistic Justus Takayama Ukon was one of the most admirable. Toyotomi Hideyoshi, however, was not so completely opposed to the Buddhist circles as his predecessor had been. He had, indeed, to fight against the Sōhei (monk soldiers), and he knew how to keep the truculent bonzes drastically in check; but he also sought to win the good will of the monks: he allowed the rebuilding of the temples that Oda Nobunaga had destroyed, had a gigantic statue of Buddha erected in Kyōto (1586 to 1589), and gave the monks other proofs of his benevolence. Initially he seemed not unkindly disposed toward the Christian missionaries; indeed, the expressions of his favor mounted to an unexpected climax in the campaign in Kyūshū in 1587. But in Kyūshū the questions posed by the intensive Christian propaganda did not escape Hideyoshi's attention: Why were the Christians destroying the temples, which were an ornament of the country and objects of veneration to the Japanese as monuments of religious tradition and culture? How could there be effected a reconciliation of the Buddhist monks, who were so deeply disturbed by the development of the religious situation in Kūshū? But above all, the ruler believed he foresaw the possibility of severe domestic and political complications in a progressive Christianization of the country. He became convinced that all Christians, even the Christian feudal lords, had an inner unity that gave them solidarity; that the lords were submissive to the highly educated and intelligent missionaries; and that the effort of the missionaries was to convert not only the simple people but preferably and precisely the ruling circles. Hideyoshi compared the Christian missions with the Ikkō sects, whose head, the "bonze of Osaka," i.e., the chief of the fortified temple of Ishiyama-Honganji in Osaka, had been able for many years to defy Oda Nobunaga and still represented a latent danger for Hideyoshi. But whereas the Ikkō-shū had contented himself with winning over the agrarian population, the Christians were aiming at the aristocracy. Hideyoshi prided himself on having been the first to recognize the great danger, and to free himself from the deceptive brilliance of the missionaries' well-chosen words. To what extent he was afraid on principle of a possible alliance among the Christian feudal lords, and to what extent he had knowledge of such an alliance actively developing in the plans of Gaspar Coelho, the imprudent major superior of the Jesuits, and the Church in Japan, it is difficult to say. Coelho tried this policy with little success and less wisdom and in the process had a thorough falling out with the two Christian feudal Lords of Arima and Ōura.

Fear of Foreign Invaders. The extent to which motives of foreign policy played a part even as early as the outbreak of the persecution (1587) is not clear. Hideyoshi laid greater stress on the inner unity of the Japanese Christians among themselves than on their connection with any foreign power. It is certain, however, that Coelho had asked for Spanish soldiers and ammunition from Manila quite some time before 1587; he probably wanted these primarily to secure the Christian position in Kyūshū. Alessandro valignano, then Jesuit provincial of India, had resolutely rejected this initiative. After the Decree of Exile (1587), Coelho again revived his plan, summoned a consultation on Feb. 11, 1589, in Takaku (Arima), and approved the dispatch of Melchior de Mora to Valignano in Macau or, in the event of Valignano's absence, to the Philippines. Mora was to ask for Spanish soldiers from the Philippines. Valignano at once hushed the matter up and in 1590 took Mora back with him to Japan. Coelho died in that year and with him the plan. It is conceivable that his intentions were known not at all or only vaguely to the Japanese central authorities despite their intelligence service. But the distrust of foreigners grew more acute in those years. European globes and world maps were known in Japan, and the Spanish conquests, not only in South America but particularly in the nearby Philippines, with whom direct contacts were becoming more frequent, aroused fears. When in October 1596 the San Felipe was forced to make port in Urado (Tosa, Shikoku), her pilot pointed to the map of the world and made the famous declaration, obviously in the belief that this would terrify the Japanese, that the missionaries would come first and then the king would send soldiers and so conquer country after country. There is scarcely sufficient reason to doubt this statement, although it is possible that it was used by the Japanese authorities more as a pretext than as a justification for requisitioning the cargo of the San Felipe and for condemning to death the Spanish Franciscans of Tosa who had intervened to save the vessel. Still, the threat from abroad remained operative, now latent, now overt, until the end of the early Japanese Church. The Europeans themselves imprudently gave the threat new strength. Sebastián Vizcaino, the famous explorer, boasted in dispatches to the Spanish king that he had sounded and surveyed the northeast coast of Japan in 1611 to 1612 with permission of the Japanese. This may have been cartographically and nautically worthwhile; but it provided the enemies of the Christians at court the opportunity of raising anew the question of the foreign connections of the Japanese Christians.

Lack of Unity among Europeans in Japan. Both the domestic and the foreign policy motives of the persecution were kept alive and heightened by the lack of unity, indeed hostility, between the various European groups in Japan: between the Portuguese, who had reached Japan via Goa-Malacca-Macau, and the Spaniards, who had come via New Spain and Manila; further and still more deep-seated, between the Nambanjin (the Southern Barbarians, i.e., the Iberians coming from Macau and Manila) and the Kōmōjin (the Redheads, i.e., the blond Englishmen and Dutchmen).

The Attitude of Christians toward the Japanese State and Its Laws. Whether in Japan, Macao, Manila, or elsewhere abroad, the Christian attitude toward the state and its laws gave rise to serious complications. Culpable conduct by individuals or groups was blamed by the Japanese authorities on the Christian religion as such. Scandals in the lives of the European merchants in Japan and the alleged kidnaping of Japanese for slavery were instances of such behavior. A total break in relations almost resulted from clashes in Macau between Japanese and Portuguese; for example, the disturbances set off by the Japanese passengers of two Go-shuin-sen (Red-Seal Ships) of the lord of Arima in Macau in 1608, which led to the Japanese attack (Jan. 6, 1610) against the Nossa Senhora da Graça in the harbor of Nagasaki. The quarrel (1611 to 1612) between two influential Christians, the lord of Arima (John Arima) and Paul Okamoto Daihachi, secretary at court, brought to light illegal operations on the part of both and resulted in their condemnation, thereby severely damaging the prestige of Christianity. In November 1613 several criminals, a Christian among them, were put to death near Miyako (Kyōto); there were Christians among the crowd of spectators who knelt at the moment of execution to pray for the dying Christian. This was interpreted by the pagans as an act of worship of the criminal. When the incident was reported to the authorities, Tokugawa Iyeyasu dismissed 14 Christian officials from court and deprived them of office. This example was quickly imitated by many feudal lords. The uneasiness of the court was augmented by reports of the rekindling of the Christian movement in Arima. Iyeyasu decreed unconditional banishment for the missionaries from the Gokinai (Central Japan) in February 1614 and from the whole of Japan in November 1614.

In later years, unlawful acts had an important influence on the vehemence of the persecution. The Dominican Diego Collado, for example, rescued a confrere from the Hirado prison only to have him again apprehended by pursuers in a boat, while Collado escaped into the neighboring forest. This infraction of Japanese justice caused a vehement outbreak of cruelty against the missionaries then under arrest. Again, Paulo dos Santos defied a Japanese ban by sending merchandise from Macau to Japan in 1632 in order to contribute by the proceeds to the support of the missionaries living clandestinely in Japan. In 1634 he wrote about it (this, too, was against the law) to a friend in Japan. His letter was confiscated and both the Portuguese who had the letter with him and the Japanese to whom it was addressed were publicly burned. Similar incidents increased the tensions between Japan and Macao. The Shimabara uprising of 1637 to 1638, a social revolt that rapidly assumed a religious character, resulted in the final break with the Portuguese: Macau, the last base of the Japanese mission, was eliminated in 1639.

These examples highlight the motives that impelled the Japanese rulers in the 16th and 17th centuries to disapprove of Christianity and to engage in a bloody persecution. The Japanese course of action is understandable, but even when all the circumstances are recognized and admitted, the government cannot be absolved of responsibility for its attitudes and methods.

External Course of the Persecutions

Though there was local molestation of Christians from the beginning of the Japanese mission, the first general persecution broke unexpectedly, like a hurricane. On the night of July 24 to July 25, 1587, Toyotomi Hideyoshi decreed the dismissal of the Christian general and feudal lord Justus Takayama Ukon and sent a moderately worded complaint to the Jesuit vice provincial, communicating to him on the same evening the measures taken against Ukon.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi's Decree of Banishment (1587). On July 25, 1587, Hideyoshi decreed that the missionaries could no longer remain in Japan because they were destroyers of the temples and preachers of a "diabolical" law. They were to leave within 20 days. The Portuguese merchants were still allowed unhindered access to Japan for trading purposes, so long as they observed Japanese laws. The decree could not be implemented in this form because there was no ship leaving Japan for Macau that soon. Hideyoshi's order did, however, have immediate serious consequences for the Church in Japan. A new piece of property in Hakata just given to the Church by Hideyoshi himself was lost; the port of Nagasaki, which for some years had been administered by the Church, was taken away from her jurisdiction, together with the smaller neighbor port of Mogi and the holdings in Urakami; and Hideyoshi levied an oppressive fine on the townsmen of Nagasaki. The church movables were for the most part successfully secured in Hirado, however, before Hideyoshi's men reached Nagasaki. These soldiers were willing to accept bribes to leave the churches in the city untouched and simply to close the main entrances. For the rest, they contented themselves with tearing down the city walls. The fortresses in the Christian fiefs of Ōmura and Arima also had to be dismantled. Later, Hideyoshi sent word that the fathers could remain in Japan until the next monsoon and the sailing of the China boat of the Portuguese, but meanwhile they must assemble on the Hirado Islands to await departure.

All the houses in central Japan, as well as the new foundations in southwest Hondo (Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi) and on Shikoku (in Dōgo, Iyo) were vacated. Most of the fathers in Kyūshū also came to Hirado. There in a consultation it was decided that all missionaries (with the exception of a few sick priests and some scholastics who could travel to Macau for ordination) were to remain in Japan and be secretly accommodated in the Christian fiefs. Soon after the persecution edict, Hideyoshi returned to central Japan; the decision taken at Hirado was forthwith carried out. In February 1588, shortly before the sailing for Macau, Capt. Domingos Monteiro sent Francisco Garcés to Hideyoshi with the message that not all the fathers had found accommodation on the boat and that the others would have to sail next year. Hideyoshi gave the order to destroy the Jesuit houses in Miyako, Osaka, and Sakai and many churches in the regions of Takatsuki (Settsu), Akashi (Harima), and Gifu (Mino). He threatened to kill all the missionaries who had remained behind. The Nao ran into port in Japan on Aug. 17, 1588. Captain Jeronymo Pereira sent the Portuguese Manoel Lopez to the court to take reassuring news to Hideyoshi (now Kambaku, a court title assumed in 1585) about the departure of the fathers. Hideyoshi appeared satisfied, but it was the general opinion that he knew they were still secretly in Japan. He gave permission for the fathers to accompany the Portuguese on the voyage from Macau to Japan so long as they departed again by the same ship; this was considered a further sign of relaxation of tensions.

Embassy of Alessandro Valignano (1590). After the audience, the Kambaku was notified that the ambassador of the viceroy of the Indies was waiting in Macau to come to Japan and pay his respects. Letters patent were made out that authorized the journey with the next ship. The announcement of this embassy had a further moderating effect on the ruler. The ambassador, Visitator Alessandro Valignano, SJ, arrived on July 21, 1590. On March 3, 1591, the memorable audience with Hideyoshi took place; it was as solemn as it was friendly. Although Valignano could not even bring up the question of the restitution of the fathers' former status, he indirectly achieved what he desired, for Hideyoshi permitted, indeed demanded, that ten fathers remain in Nagasaki as hostages until an answer had arrived from the viceroy of the Indies. This could be interpreted as a permission for all the Jesuits to remain in Japan, if they respected the Japanese mentality, accommodated their activities to the actual state of affairs, and did not irritate the ruler by any open protest against the persecution laws.

New Measures and the First Executions (1597). Even before the departure of the ambassador from Japan, the large church in Nagasaki was destroyed about August 1592; but it was established that this did not involve any new enmity toward Christianity; rather, Hideyoshi's minister simply wanted the valuable materials of the church for building operations in Nagoya (Hizen). The Korean War (1592 to 1598), which brought Hideyoshi several times to Kyūshū, made caution especially necessary. But basically a lively missionary activity still continued. It was only toward the end of his reign that the Taiko (court title Hideyoshi assumed in 1592) took sharper measures again, not against Christianity as such, but only against the monks who came from the Philippines. The open evangelization of the Spanish Franciscans, who were unfamiliar with the mentality and state of affairs in the country, their open intervention in favor of a Spanish ship, the San Felipe, stranded in Tosa, and the unfortunate expression of the pilot that was interpreted to mean that the Spaniards had come to conquer Japan, combined to create a new crisis. Hideyoshi condemned 26 Christians to death, among them six Franciscans, three Japanese Jesuits, and 17 Japanese laymen. Their deaths occurred on Feb. 5, 1597, on the Nishizaka, Nagasaki. Although the growing anti-Christian measures had not initially been directed against the Jesuits from Portugal, it soon caused them concern. Terazawa Hirotaka, Shimano-kami, Governor of Nagasaki, on receipt of a letter of Hideyoshi, forced the dissolution of the college and seminary and demanded a list of all Jesuits in order to dispatch them, with few exceptions, to Macau. He was given a list containing 25 names, primarily fathers and brothers who were known to him already. By Feb. 17, 1598, more than 130 churches had been burned in the Christian territories of Arima and Ōmura. The ship that sailed in February 1598 from Nagasaki to Macau took three Fathers, eight Irmãos, and seven or eight Dōjuku (lay acolytes or catechists). The death of Toyotomi Hideyoshi in September 1598 temporarily put an end to the persecution of Christians.

Policies of Tokugawa Iyeyasu. Although the Taikō had attempted to assure the succession of his son Toyotomi Hideyori, who was still a minor, by a most meticulously regulated regency government, civil war broke out. It ended in favor of Tokugawa Iyeyasu at the Battle of Sekigahara (Oct. 21, 1600). Christian lords in the armies that had taken the field against the victor expected his hostility. He vacillated for a time, but then yielded to the pressure of the Catholic feudal lords of Arima and Ōmura and allowed the free practice of the Christian religion. This made the period from 1601 to 1612 the golden age of Christianity in old Japan. Grim shadows, however, fell across these years. One of the saddest events was the banishment of Christians from the fief of Ōmura at the end of February 1606. From the year 1612 on, the Church in Japan rushed toward catastrophe. The lawsuit between John Arima and Paul Okamoto Daihachi and the family quarrel between the former and his son Michael Saemonnosuke (who, despite his valid marriage, had married again, this time to a great-granddaughter of Iyeyasu) led not only to the condemnation of both plaintiff and defendant but also to the persecution of the Church in the fief of Arima, since Michael had accommodated to the court line out of political interests. On June 13, 1612, all missionaries were banished from his territories (four Jesuit fathers secretly remained behind), and all subjects were ordered to renounce Christianity. But the massive resistance of the Catholic population forced the feudal lord to allow them to live according to their Christian faith.

Expulsion of All Missionaries (1614). The incident of November 1613 in the neighborhood of Miyako, where the Christians knelt during the execution of a criminal, and a new wave of Christian religious enthusiasm in Arima were the first smoldering sparks of what was soon a conflagration. At the end of 1613 the Christians of the city of Miyako (Kyōto) were registered. On Feb. 14, 1614, the order went out to the missionaries to leave the Gokinai and retire to Nagasaki. Some managed to remain secretly in central Japan; the others took ship in Osaka on Feb. 25, 1614, and reached Nagasaki on March 11. In the autumn of 1614 the missionaries were definitively banished from Japan. At the beginning of November, four ships filled with missionaries left Nagasaki, three of them bound for Macau and the fourth for Manila. Only a small number succeeded in remaining behind. All religious houses were confiscated; many churches were at once destroyed or profaned; the others were shut down. This was the beginning of the suppression of the Japanese Church.

In the quarter century (1614 to 1639) before the sealing off of the country (Sakoku), the situation of the Church worsened. The year following the banishment (1615) was not so critical for the Church because attention was diverted by the domestic political struggle. The Osaka winter campaign (late 1614 and early 1615) had only effected an apparent reconciliation between the Tokugawas and the Toyotomis. The summer campaign (May and June 1615) ended with the fall of Osaka and the death of Toyotomi Hideyori, son and heir of Hideyoshi. Many Christian samurais and rōnins fought for Hideyori, their insignia and banners visible far and wide. At the fall of the fortress of Osaka, at least seven missionaries (two Jesuits, three monks, and two secular priests) were within its walls. Understandably this did not make Tokugawa Iyeyasu kindly disposed to the Christians. Yet comparative peace prevailed until the death of Iyeyasu (June 1, 1616).

The Ban of Tokugawa Hidetada (1616). Tokugawa Hidetada, Iyeyasu's successor, followed a decidedly anti-Christian policy. On Oct. 1, 1616, he published a new ban. When Bartholomew of Ōmura [grandson of the Christian tono (feudal lord) of the same name who had died in 1587] made his visit to the court at the Japanese New Year, he was instructed to search out Jesuits in Nagasaki and send them to Macau. That same year four European and several Japanese missionaries were put to death. The strife between the Christians Anthony Murayama Tōan and John Heizō at the beginning of 1618 occasioned new stringent measures, especially in Nagasaki. The apostate Murayama made accusations at court against the Jesuits still in Japan and against Heizō as favoring them. Heizō won the case, became head of the Otona of Nagasaki, and in November 1618, together with the governor of Nagasaki, Hasegawa Gonroku, he returned to the port city. Both had the strictest instructions to search out Jesuit priests. The grimmest threats against any householder sheltering the missionaries and against his entire family and street, together with rich rewards for informers, made the missionaries' situation in Nagasaki impossible; many were discovered and imprisoned. The imprudent and unsuccessful attempt to rescue a Dominican from prison in Hirado caused an outbreak of fury and cruelty on the part of Hidetada. He ordered to be burned alive not only the two monks in prison in Hirado and the captain who had brought them from Manila to Japan, but also all the missionaries hitherto incarcerated together with their hosts; Hidetada ordered also the beheading of the wives and sons (of whatever age) of the hosts, all Christians of that street with their wives and sons, and all the sailors and passengers of that ship. Even the wives and sons of the martyrs of the past three years were to be put to the sword, although there had previously been no talk of their punishment.

National Isolation under Shōgun Iyemitsu. If the missionaries still operating in Japan had hoped that the transition of power from Tokugawa Hidetada to his son Iyemitsu (1623) would bring moderation, they were bitterly disappointed. His long reign (1623 to 1651) meant for the Japanese Church a total severing of all contact with the outside world and a complete annihilation within Japan. Iyemitsu confirmed the anti-Christian laws. Searches for hidden missionaries were constantly intensified; the precautionary measures against any penetration of new missionaries from abroad became more meticulous and rigorous. The coasts were patrolled and the trading ships from Macau were searched thoroughly on arrival; even correspondence with priests abroad was forbidden under pain of death. The methods of torture became steadily more cruel; they were used not just to punish the "guilty" and terrorize the remaining faithful, but also to effect their apostasy.

A number of missionaries died from the exertions of their secret and harassed apostolate; most, however, fell sooner or later into the hands of the bailiffs. A long series of martyrdoms of priests and laymen fills the next years of the dying Church in Japan; but side by side with the heroic martyrs in the Japanese Church were many defectors from the faith, not only among the mass of Christians but even among their spiritual leaders (Christovão Ferreira and others).

The Shimabara Uprising. Year by year, the situation of Christians in Japan and communication with the centers in Macau and Manila became more unreliable. The total collapse of the Church in Japan was finally sealed by the Shimabara uprising (1637 to 1638). It originated as an act of desperation by the socially and economically oppressed agrarian population in Amakusa and nearby Takaku (Shimabara Peninsula), but in these territories, which had once been entirely Christian, it soon grew into a religious movement. The rebels named as their leader Masuda Shirō (better known as Amakusa Shirō), the 18-year-old son of a Christian samurai. But the real leadership lay in all probability with a few retired but capable military men. The rebels were defeated in Amakusa (January 1638) but retreated to neighboring Takaku, where they seized the abandoned fortress of Hara (Arima). The government sent against them an army estimated at 100,000 men. The besieged in Hara-jō numbered perhaps 37,000 (men, women, and children). The fortress fell in mid-April 1638 when supplies of ammunition and food failed. All were put to death. The government troops had suffered severe losses during the siege, perhaps 13,000 men. The protracted uprising and the poor spirit of the government troops made a deep impression at court, so that plans that had been made for the conquest of Manila were dropped.

Last Contacts. The fear that the rebellion might have been fomented from abroad led to a complete cordoning off of the country. When the Portuguese ships made their usual call in 1639, the ban signed by the Rōjū (shogunal council of state) on Aug. 4, 1639, was laid before them. It forbade them under pain of death ever to return to Japan. When the city of Macau in 1640 sent an embassy to Japan to restore the old ties, the captain, passengers, and all but 13 sailors were killed. From 1640 an office of investigation in Yedo (Tokyo) directed the supervision of entry into the country, and it became impossible for any missionaries to penetrate clandestinely into Japan. The two groups of Jesuits making the crossing to Japan in 1642 (under the leadership of the Visitator Antonio rubino) and in 1643 (under the command of Pedro Marquez) were at once spotted and arrested. The Portuguese embassy that came to Nagasaki in 1647 in order to begin new negotiations in the name of a Portugal that had again become independent under King John IV was allowed to return to Macau but without obtaining any concessions. A similar reception awaited the Portuguese who in 1685 brought back a group of Japanese who had been driven off their course and aground at Macau. The last European missionary to enter Japan, the Sicilian secular priest Giovanni Battista Sidotti, was arrested soon after he landed (October 1708) and brought first to Nagasaki and then to Yedo (Tokyo), where he was kept in prison in the Kirishitan-Yashiki until his death in December 1715.

Spirit of Martyrdom in the Early Japanese Church

The religious life of the Japanese Christians and missionaries was extraordinarily deep and solid. From the beginning, Xavier and his confreres roused in their Japanese converts a spirit that could endure every test. The missionaries taught them profoundest reverence for the majesty of God, a resolute shunning of sin, a high esteem for the Redemption, and a fervent love for the crucified Savior. Appealing to the realization, so native to the Japanese, of the transience of terrestrial things and the scorn of death, characteristic of the samurai of the feudal period who were accustomed to battles as a daily fare, they awakened in the Christians the love for an eternal heaven to which martyrdom provided sure and instant access.

Symbolism of the Cross. In many Christian communities high wooden crosses were erected, which Christians visited singly or in groups, privately or in public procession. The cross as symbol of victory and devotion shone on the armor, helmets, and banners of the soldiers; silver or gold pectoral crosses were worn by distinguished Christians of both sexes; the crosses that gleamed on the roofs or towers of the churches could be seen for miles around, such as the gilt crosses on the roof of the Nambanjin in Kyōto. Sermons on the Passion of Christ were preached in honor of the holy cross on ferial days of Lent; the Blessed Sacrament was reserved in a richly ornamented "holy sepulchre"; the liturgical unveiling and veneration of the cross was practiced with utmost solemnity; and a sermon on the Passion and the reading of the Passion narrative translated into Japanese introduced the mysteries of these holy days. Often also a procession was organized in which persons carrying the instruments of the Passion engaged in a pious "dialogue" with the suffering Savior. The text of the Gospel Harmony of the Passion narrative had been translated into Japanese early (it is mentioned in the History of Japan by Luís Fróis as early as 1552, again in 1563, 1566, etc.); later (at the latest by 1607) it was disseminated in printed form. Also read on such occasions were Japanese versions of the meditations on the Passion by the Dominican louis of granada. Many Japanese lives of saints and martyrs were available for imitation; these circulated originally in manuscript form but were printed as Sanctos no Gosagveo as early as 1591. The idea of the world to come and of eternity were instilled into the Christians likewise by the special solemnity of the burial services and Masses for the dead. It can be said in general that wherever the Christians could be trained sufficiently in the truths of the faith, the remote preparation for persecution and even for martyrdom was thorough and profound.

Inspiration for Heroism. A more proximate preparation was given the Christians as the persecution became more general and threatening. When Toyotomi Hideyoshi suddenly declared war on the Christian faith in 1587, the missionaries distributed in the Gokinai an instruction on how to behave during the persecution. The Jesuit vice provincial Pedro Gomez composed a little work on martyrdom when a new persecution flared up in 1596 to 1597; the main ideas of this work he had already expounded in 1593 to 1594 in the Compendium Catholicae veritatis (a theology textbook for the Japanese Irmãos). The Exhortation to Martyrdom (Maruchirio no susume ) was written perhaps in 1615, the Instruction on Martyrdom (Maruchirio no kokoroe ) still later (1622?). Reports on individual martyrdoms were composed in the vernacular and served to stiffen the courage of the Christians.

Especially in the first decade of the last great persecution (1614 to 1623) there were often thousands and at times tens of thousands of the faithful present at the death of the martyrs, whose example inflamed rather than diminished the fortitude of the survivors. The lay organizations founded by the orders in Japan were a forceful factor in the defense of the faith, especially from the time of the persecution in Arima (1612), when thousands of members of the "Congregations of Martyrs" swore to offer their possessions and their lives rather than waver in the faith. When their hour of martyrdom arrived, they left their families, friends, or fellow prisoners, and wherever possible donned festive attire. If permitted, they proceeded to the place of martyrdom praying together, singing psalms and sacred hymns, each encouraging the other until their heads fell under the sword or the flames and smoke choked off their voices. That tens of thousands made this highest sacrifice for the love of Christ is one of the glories of the early Japanese Church. It is sad, however, that for reasons humanly understandable, many fell away, at least outwardly, when pressure demanded the final commitment.

Individual Martyrdoms (The Canonized and Beatified)

The inner worth of the sacrifice made by each individual martyr is known in all its depths only to God. But in the long series of the martyrdoms, certain ones stand out especially because of the personality and number of the martyrs, of their manifest heroism, of the participation of enormous crowds, and of their subsequent beatification or canonization. Here are listed in chronological order the martyrdoms of those already beatified or canonized. Since there are often defects in the transcription of the names, especially of the Japanese names, even in the official ecclesiastical documents, the original MSS reports have been consulted. Even so, it should be noted that definitive judgment cannot be attained in all cases. This does not affect the identity of the martyrs, which is clarified in the ecclesiastical proceedings, where, however, many divergencies in the transcription of the names likewise appear. In this list the Christian names of the Japanese have been anglicized.

The 26 Holy Martyrs. These were crucified in Nagasaki on Feb. 5, 1597, and are the only ones so far canonized—Six Franciscans: Pedro Bautista, Spanish commissary of the friars; Martín de la Ascención Aguirre and Francisco Blanco, Spanish priests; Felipe de Jesús de las Casas, Mexican cleric, not yet ordained; Francisco de San Miguel, Spanish lay brother; and Gonzalo García, lay brother, born in Baçaim, India; Three Jesuits: Paul Miki, eminent Japanese preacher; John Soan de Gotō, Japanese, accepted as a member of the society shortly before death; Diogo Kisai (Kizayemon), Japanese catechist, accepted as a member of the society shortly before martyrdom; 17 Japanese laymen: Leo Karasumaru (from Owari), baptized eight years earlier by the Jesuits, chief lay preacher of the Franciscans; Paul Ibaraki, brother of the preceding and a member of the Franciscan parish, baptized by Jesuits; Louis Ibaraki, Franciscan Dōjuku, 12 years old, nephew of the two preceding; Paul Suzuki (from Owari), 34 years old, baptized by the Jesuits 13 years earlier and one of the finest of the Franciscan preachers; Thomas Dangi (from Ise), baptized by Jesuits, Franciscan preacher; Anthony (from Nagasaki, father Chinese), Dōjuku of the Franciscans, 13 years old, baptized as an infant by the Jesuits; Gabriel (from Ise), Dōjuku of the Franciscans, 19 years old, his father was a porter with the Franciscans; Ventura (from Miyako), baptized as a child by the Jesuits, he fell away from the faith as a boy because of his father's death and became a bonze, but was instructed by the Franciscans and accepted as Dōjuku; Francis (from Miyako), physician and a Christian of one year, baptized by Franciscans; Leo Kinuya (from Miyako), 28-year-old carpenter [sources list him variously as Quinoya Leon and Quimiya Joan (Lúis Fróis), Quimiya João (Pedro Gomez), Quizuya Joannes (Proc. Remiss. Mexico City ), Quizuja Joannes (Acta. Can., An tuto …), Guzaya Joannes (Proc. Remiss. Puebla de los Angeles, Mexico ), and Guizaya Joannes (Proc. Remiss. Japon. )]; Matthias, converted (by the Franciscans) shortly before martyrdom, but not on the list of the condemned; when the others were arrested, the Franciscans' cook, named Matthias, was absent, and this Matthias offered himself in the cook's stead; Peter Sukejirō, long before baptized by the Jesuits, was sent by the Jesuit priest Organtino Soldo-Gnecchi to help the prisoners and was himself arrested (adauctus ); Francis, carpenter, baptized by Franciscans, came to watch the death of the martyrs, was arrested and slain with them (adauctus ); Cosmas Takeya (from Owari), baptized by Jesuits, preacher of Franciscans in Osaka; Michael Kosaki (from Ise), porter of Franciscans in Osaka; Thomas, son of the preceding, 16-year-old Dōjuku of the Franciscans in Osaka; and Joachim Sakakibara (from Osaka), 40 years old, baptized shortly before by the Franciscans, cook for Franciscans in Osaka. These 26 martyrs were beatified on Sept. 14, 1627, by Urban VIII and solemnly canonized by Pius IX on June 8, 1862 (feast, Feb. 3).

The 205 Blessed Martyrs. This summary account of the martyrdoms follows (with Boero) the lists attached to the acts of the proceedings (numbers in brackets are the total for each day):

May 22, 1617, in Ōmura [2]: João Bapt. Machado, Jesuit priest; Pedro de la Asunción, Franciscan priest; both beheaded.

June 1, 1617, in Ōmura [3]: Alonso Navarete, Dominican priest; Hernando de San José, Augustinian priest; Leo Tanaka, catechist of the Jesuits; all beheaded.

Oct. 1, 1617, in Nagasaki [2]: Caspar Hikojirō, housekeeper of the martyr Alonso Navarete (d. June 1, 1617); Andrew Yoshida, former pupil in the seminary and housekeeper of the martyr Hernando de San José (d. June 1, 1617); both beheaded.

Aug. 16, 1618, in Miyako [1]: Juan de Santa Marta, Franciscan priest, taken prisoner in 1615 in Ōmura; beheaded.

March 19 (May, according to Boero), 1619, in Ōmura [1]: Juan de S. Domingo, Dominican priest; died in prison.

Nov. 18, 1619, in Nagasaki [5]: Leonard Kimura, Jesuit lay brother; Domingos Jorge, Portuguese housekeeper of the martyr Carlo Spinola (d. Sept. 10, 1622); Andrew Murayama Tokuan, Japanese; John Yoshida Shoun, Japanese (from Kami); Cosmas Takeya Sozaburō, Korean; all burned alive.

Nov. 27, 1619, in Nagasaki [11]: Thomas Kiuni Koteda, descendant of Anthony Koteda, who went into voluntary exile for the sake of the faith in 1599 together with his whole family and many vassals from the Hirado Islands; Anthony Kimura, relative of the martyr Leonard Kimura (d. Nov. 18, 1619); Leo Nakanishi; Alexis Nakamura; Michael (Tashita?) Sakaguchi; John Iwanaga; Bartholomew Seki; Matthias Nakano; Matthias Kozaka?; Romanus Motoyama (Matsuoka, Miōta?); John Motoyama; all beheaded.

Night of Jan. 6 to Jan. 7, 1620, in Omura (Suzuta)[1]: Ambrosio Fernandes, Portuguese Jesuit lay brother, arrested together with Carlo Spinola on Dec. 13, 1618; died in prison.

May 27 (not 22), 1620, in Nagasaki [1]: Matthias, Japanese servant of the Jesuit provincial, refused to reveal the whereabouts of the missionaries even under cruel torture; died in prison.

Aug. 16, 1620, in Kokura [5]: Simon Kiyota Bokusai, Kambō (catechist); Magdalena, his wife; Thomas Gengorō; Mary, his wife; James Bunzo, his son; the last three in the service of Simon Kiyota Bokusai; all crucified.

Aug. 10, 1622, on Ikinoshima (Hirado) Island [1]: Augustine Ota, Jesuit Kambō of the martyr Camillo Costanzo (d. Sept. 15, 1622), and received into the society on the day before his martyrdom; beheaded.

Aug. 19, 1622, in Nagasaki [15]: Luis Flores, Dominican priest; Pedro de Zuniga, Augustinian priest; Joachim Hirayama Diaz, captain of the ship that had brought the priests from the Philippines to Japan; all burned to death; John Soyemon and Leo Sukuyemon, ship's officers; Michael Diaz Hori; Anthony Yamada; Thomas Koyanagi; James Denji; Mark Shinyemon; Lawrence Rokusuke (Rokuyemon?); Paul Sankichi; John Matashichi; John Yago; Bartholomew Mohyōye, merchant passengers; all 12 beheaded.

Sept. 10, 1622, in Nagasaki [52]: the "Great Martyrdom" in which 23 were burned alive and 29 beheaded; those burned were eight Jesuits: Carlo Spinola, Italian priest, and Sebastian Kimura, Japanese priest, and the following Japanese Irmâos, received into the society in prison: Gonzales Fusai, Anthony Kiuni, Peter Sampo, Michael Sato, Thomas Akahoshi, and Louis Kawara; six Dominicans: Francisco de Morales, Spanish priest; Alonso de Mena, Spanish priest; Angelo Ferrer Orsucci, Italian priest; Joseph de S. Jacinto, Spanish priest; Jacinto Orfanel, Aragonese priest; Alexis, scholastic; three Franciscans: Pedro de Ávila, Castilian priest; Ricardo de Santa Anna, Belgian priest; Vincent de S. José, lay brother; Leo de Satsuma, catechist; five housekeepers of the missionaries: Anthony Sanga (from Sanga, Kawachi), nephew of one of the finest Christian feudal lords of the Gokinai, Paul Sanga Sampaku (Anthony had belonged to the society for a time and left for reasons of health); Anthony, a Korean catechist and housekeeper of the martyr Sebastian Kimura; Paul Tanaka, host of Joseph de S. Jacinto; Paul Nagaishi, Japanese; and Luzia de Freitas, wife of a Portuguese and hostess of Ricardo de Santa Anna. Before the above 23 were burned to death, the following 29 were beheaded before their eyes: Thomas del S. Rosario and Domingos del S. Rosario (thus he is listed in the proceedings and in Boero, though in the original Annua he is called João), both of them Dominicans; John (do) Chugoku, Jesuit; five relatives of the martyrs of Nov. 18, 1619: Isabel Fernandez, wife of the martyr Domingos Jorge and her four-year-old son Ignacio; Maria, wife of the martyr Andrew Murayama Tokuan; Mary, wife of the martyr John Yoshida Shoun; Ines, wife of the Korean martyr Cosmas Takeya Sozaburō; Dominic Nakano, 19-year-old son of the martyr Matthias Nakano (d. Nov. 27, 1619); the original Annua lists also a five-year-old Peter Motoyama, son of the martyr John Motoyama (d. Nov. 27, 1619), but he is missing from the list of the beatified; seven relatives of those burned alive on Sept. 10, 1622: Magdalene, wife of Anthony Sanga; Maria, wife of Paul Tanaka; Maria, wife of the Korean Anthony, with her two sons, John, 12 years old, and Peter, three years old; Thecla, wife of Paul Nagaishi, with her son Peter, seven years old.

Eight male and five female martyrs were put to death because of their relationship to other condemned martyrs: Bartholomew Kawano Shichiyemon; Dominic Yamada and his wife, Clara (thus he appears in the proceedings and in the list of Boero; Garcia Garcés indicates only that Clara was the wife of a martyr; her name is not in the original Annua ); Damian Yamichi Tanda with his son Michael, five years old; the 70-year-old Thomas Shikirō; Clement Ono with his son Anthony, three years old; Rufus Ishimoto; Apollonia, widow, aunt of the martyr Caspar Koteda, who was put to death on Sept. 11, 1622; Catherine, widow; Mary (or Marina) Tanaura, widow; Dominica Ogata, widow. The group originally numbered 25, but three freed themselves from the bonds, which had purposely been tied loosely to encourage apostasy: two allegedly in order to escape the fire and be beheaded, but according to the original Annua they would have denied the faith to save their lives; they were twice thrown back into the fire where they perished. Some doubt persisted concerning the third (Paul Nagaishi), but it was finally shown that he had freed himself only for a short time to encourage the other two in their faith; he is thus the only one of the three counted among the beatified. The witnesses in the proceedings, moreover, disagreed concerning the total number; some reports have 23 burned to death and 30 beheaded (apart from the two who fled the fire).

Sept. 11, 1622, in Nagasaki [3]: Caspar Koteda, catechist of the martyr Camillo Costanzo (d. Sept. 15, 1622); Francisco, the 12-year-old son of the martyr Cosmas Takeya Sozaburō (d. Nov. 18, 1619) and of his wife, Ines (beheaded Sept. 10, 1622); Peter, the seven-year-old son of the martyr Bartholomew Kawano Shichiyemon (d. Sept. 10, 1622); all beheaded.

Sept. 12, 1622, near Ōmura [6]: three Dominicans: Thomas del Espiritu Santo Zumarraga, priest, and the Irmãos Mancio de S. Thomas Shibata and Dominic Magoshichi de Hyūga, received into the order in prison; three Franciscans: Apollinar Franco, priest, and the Irmãos Francisco de S. Buenaventura and Pedro de S. Clara, clothed with the habit of the order in prison; all burned to death. With these suffered several others on which, however, no juridical records were available; only the above were beatified.

Sept. 15, 1622, in Tabira, at the strait between Hirado and Kyūshū [1]: Camillo Costanzo, Jesuit priest, burned to death.

Oct. 2, 1622, in Nagasaki [4]: Louis Yakichi, who had attempted to rescue the Dominican priest Luís Flores from the Hirado prison, burned alive; his wife, Lucy, and his two sons, Andrew, eight years old, and Francis, four years old, beheaded.

Nov. 1, 1622, in Shimabara [4]: Pedro Paulo Navarro, Jesuit priest, and the two Irmãos Peter Onizuka and Denis Fujishima (received into the society while in prison); also Clement Kyūyemon, a married layman in the service of the Jesuits.

Dec. 4, 1623, in Tōkyō [3]: 50 were burned alive for the faith, but for want of juridical evidence concerning the others only three have as yet been beatified: Francisco Galvez, Spanish Franciscan priest; Jeronymo de Angelis, Sicilian Jesuit priest; and Simon Yempo, Japanese Jesuit.

Feb. 22, 1624, in Sendai [1]: Diogo Carvalho, Portugese Jesuit priest, exposed to a slow death in the icy water of a river.

Aug. 25, 1624, in Hokonohara (Ōmura) [5]: Miguel Carvalho, Portuguese Jesuit priest; Pedro Vasquez, Spanish Dominican priest; Luis Sotelo, Spanish Franciscan priest; Louis Sasada, Japanese Franciscan priest; Louis Baba, Japanese Third Order Franciscan; all burned alive.

Nov. 15, 1624, in Nagasaki [1]: Gajo, Korean catechist, burned alive together with the Japanese layman James Koichi (thus far only Gajo has been beatified).

June 20, 1626, in Nagasaki [9]: Francisco Pacheco, Portuguese Jesuit provincial; Balthasar de Torres, Spanish Jesuit priest; Giovanni Battista Zola, Italian Jesuit priest; Peter Rinsei, Japanese; Michael Tozo, Japanese; Vicente Kahyōye Caum, Korean; Paul Shinsuke, Japanese; John Kisaku, Japanese; Caspar Sadamatsu, Japanese. Of the six who were not priests, Caspar Sadamatsu had been a Jesuit lay brother for 42 years; the other five were received into the society shortly before their martyrdom; all were burned to death.

July 12, 1626, in Nagasaki [8]: this group originally had nine, but Mancio Araki Kyūzaburō died in prison; the others in the group were his brother Matthias Araki Hyōzaemon; their cousin Peter Araki Chōbyōye and his wife, Susanna; John Tanaka and his wife, Catherine; John Onizuka Naizen and his wife, Monica, together with their seven-year-old son, Louis. The women and boy were beheaded; the men were burned alive; they were housekeepers of the priests in Takaku.

July 29, 1627, in Ōmura [3]: three Dominicans and nine lay people (four men and five women) were burned to death; one woman and two small children were beheaded. Of these, three have been beatified: Luis Beltrán, Dominican priest, and Mancio de la Cruz and Pedro de S. Maria, lay brothers received into the Dominican Order before martyrdom.

Aug. 16, 1627, in Nagasaki [15]: 18 Christians were put to death, some by fire, others by the sword. Of these 15 have been beatified: Francisco de S. Maria, Spanish Franciscan priest; Bartholomeo Laruel, Mexican Franciscan lay brother; Anthony de S. Francisco, Japanese Franciscan lay brother (these last two admitted to the order before their death); also the housekeepers of the missionaries, Caspar Vas, Japanese; Francis Kuhyōye, Japanese; Magdalene Kiyota, a relative of the Ōtomos of Bungo; another Japanese woman named Frances; Francis (Leo?) Kurobyōye, Japanese; Caius Jinyemon, Korean?; Thomas Jinyemonō, Japanese; Luke Kiyemon, Japanese; Michael Kizaiyemon, Japanese; Louis Matsuo, Japanese; Martin Gomez, Japanese; Mary, Japanese.

Sept. 7, 1627, in Nagasaki [3]: Thomas Tsūji, Jesuit priest, his housekeeper Louis Maki, and the latter's adopted son John; all burned alive.

Sept. 8, 1628, in Nagasaki [22]: of the 11 burned alive, three were Dominicans: Domingos Castellet, priest; Thomas de S. Jacinto, lay brother; Antonio de S. Domingos, lay brother; two Franciscans: Antonio de S. Buenaventura, priest; and Domingos de S. Francisco (or de Nagasaki); six lay people: Luisa, the 80-year-old housekeeper of Domingos Castellet; Michael Yamada: John Tomachi; John Imamura; Paul Aibara Sōdai (Sandaya); Matheus Alvarez. The other 11 were beheaded: four sons of John Tomachi, Dominic, 16 years old, Michael, 13 years old, Thomas, ten years old, and Paul, seven years old; also Lawrence, three-year-old son of Michael Yamada; Romanus and Leo, sons of Paul Aibara; Louis Nihachi with his two sons, Francis, five years old, and Dominic, two years old; James Hayashi; the housekeeper Thomas (mentioned in Cardim) is not in the list of the beatified (Boero).

Sept. 16, 1628, in Nagasaki [3]: the Japanese laymen Dominic Shobyōye, Michael Himonoya, and the latter's son Paul; all beheaded.

Dec. 25, 1628 [1]: Michael Nakashima, Jesuit, admitted to the order before his martyrdom, died on Unzen Mountain.

Sept. 28, 1630, in Nagasaki [6]: John Mutsunoō Chōzaburō; Peter Sawaguchi Kūhyōye (Pedro de la Madre de Dios); Lawrence Kaida Hachizō (Lorenzo de S. Nicola); Mancio Yukimoto Ichizayemon (Mancio de Jesus Maria); Michael Ichinose Sukizayemon; Thomas Terai Kahyōye; all were fellow workers of the Augustinians and members of their third order. These were all beheaded. Numerous others were martyred in 1630 but are not yet beatified.

Sept. 3, 1632, in Nagasaki [6]: Bartholomeo Guttierez, Mexican Augustinian priest; Vicent Carvalho, Portuguese Augustinian priest; Francisco de Jesús, Spanish Augustinian priest; Anthony Ishida-Pinto, Japanese Jesuit priest; Jerome de la Cruz Iyo (called de Torres by Boero), Japanese secular priest; Gabriel de S. Magdalena, Franciscan lay brother; all buried alive.

The 205 martyrs were beatified by Pope Pius IX in the brief of May 7, 1867 (feast, June 1 and Sept. 10).

This list of the 26 canonized and 205 beatified martyrs accounts for only a small group among thousands. Testimony has been taken on still others (but few in comparison to the total number), and even apostolic proceedings have been instituted, but none have been concluded. Originals or copies of these testimonies lie today in the archives in Rome, Madrid, Lisbon, and elsewhere. But juridical testimony is lacking in respect of the vast majority of those who, it seems, must also be called martyrs; their heroic deaths are known from annual letters, reports, etc. An unknown number of others have not even been given this purely historical recognition, and their number will probably never be known for certain.

Number of Martyrs in Japan

Only those who have been forcibly put to death for the sake of the faith are here called "martyrs." (The final judgment on this fact is, of course, the right of the Church.)

Earliest Catalogues. The number of the Japanese martyrs was a subject of study as early as the 1620s and 1630s. At that time Fathers Pedro Morejón and António Francisco Cardim, both active in the diocesan proceedings of the cause of the Japanese martyrs, compiled in the Jesuit College in Macau Martyr Lists based on the materials of the archives of the Jesuit Japanese province and giving the date, place, and manner of the martyrdom; this was thus a calculation of the number of the martyrs of Japan based on as accurate a foundation as possible. By Nov. 10, 1625, Morejón had already finished the list of the martyrs of the period from 1614 to 1624 and reached a figure of 550 (letter to the assistant N. Mascarenhas). On May 10, 1631, he wrote to Father Virgilio Cepari that the catalogue of martyrs already included almost 1,200 names. Morejón's work was continued by Cardim. In his report of May 24, 1646, on the Japanese province of the Jesuits, which he compiled in Rome, he was able to report from a thorough study that the number of martyrs in Japan had grown to 1,600 during four general persecutions up to the year 1640. Cardim published his catalogue in Rome in the same year.

More Recent Investigations. Masaharu Anesaki, the Salesian Mario Marega, and others have discovered that many more Christians died for the faith in the subsequent decades of the 17th century. Likewise the lists of Morejón and Cardim have been checked and expanded by L. Pagès, L. Delplace, SJ, M. Anesaki, and J. Laures, SJ. Laures concluded (June 1951) that 3,171 were actually executed while 874 perished in prison or while fleeing the bailiffs, etc. "Thus, 4,045 Christians would have become martyrs in the true sense of the word, for the sake of Christ." And here the ones who were slaughtered during the Shimabara uprising, especially upon the conquest of Hara-jō, are not included. Laures, who estimated their number at 35,000, stated that they could have saved themselves by renouncing the faith. He added: "It is simply impossible to procure even approximately accurate statistics on the positively endless number of those who were robbed of their possessions, driven out of house and home, thrown into prison, tortured in all conceivable manners to make them apostasize, or exiled from their country for the sake of Christ."

The total given by the authors mentioned, including J. Laures, can hardly be the final number. A careful examination of the European sources preserved indicates occasionally that there are gaps in knowledge of the martyrs. From the 1630s, the decline in the number of missionaries and the greater intensity of the persecution necessarily made it increasingly difficult for the Europeans to get exact information. The Japanese sources, which are now gradually becoming available, reveal a similar difficulty. Certainly the persecutions after 1640 put heavy pressure on many more thousands, perhaps tens of thousands. However, how many persons included in these numbers can be designated as martyrs in the strict sense of the term is very difficult to determine, especially since in legal action against simple folk the trial was short and aroused little notice. One of the best informed scholars on the question, Hubert Cieslik, SJ, is inclined to the view that some thousands can be added with confidence to the number of martyrs established above (however, their names are unknown). The number that the Japanese scholar Arai Hakuseki mentioned in passing in a memoradum to the government c. 1710, namely, that 230,000 Christians died for their faith, has no satisfactory foundation, at least in the concept of martyrs as it has been defined above.

Bibliography: Though this presentation is based largely upon manuscripts of the 16th and 17th centuries, the following were used repeatedly for comparison: For the causes, course of the persecutions, and the psychological attitude of the Japanese toward martyrdom, l. frÓis (Froes), Die Geschichte Japans, 1549–78, tr. g. schurhammer and e. a. voretzsch (Leipzig 1926); Segunda parte da Historia de Japan, 1578–82, ed. j. a. abranches pinto and y. okamoto (Tokyo 1938); Relación, del Martirio …, 1597, ed. r. galdos (Rome 1935); Kulturgegensätze Europa-Japan, 1585, ed. and tr. j. f. schÜtte (Tokyo 1955). d. bartoli, Dell'istoria della Compagnie di Gesù l'Asia, 3 v. (Rome 1653–63). c. r. boxer, The Christian Century in Japan, 1549–1650 (Berkeley 1951), bibliography. j. laures, Geschichte der katholischen Kirche in Japan (Kaldenkirchen 1956). Lists. a. f. cardim, Fasciculus e Iapponicis floribus, suo adhuc madentibus sanguine, 2 parts (Rome 1646); Catalogus regularium et secularium, qui Iapponiae regnis a fundata ubi a S. Francisco Xaverio, gentis apostolo, ecclesia, ab ethnicis in odium Christianae fidei sub quatuor tyrannis violenta morte sublati sunt (Rome 1646); Mors felicissima quatuor legatorum Lusitanorum et sociorum, quos Iapponiae Imperator occidit in odium christianae religionis (Rome 1646). l. pagÈs, op. cit. l.c. profillet, Le Martyrologe de l'Église du Japon, 1549–1649, 3v. (Paris 1895–97). m. anesaki, A Concordance to the History of Kirishitan Missions: Catholic Missions in Japan in the 16th and 17th Centuries (Tokyo 1930). For the number of martyrs, j. laures, "Die Zahl der Christen und Martyrer im alten Japan," in Monumenta Nipponica 7 (1951) 84–101. j. r. de medina, El martirologio del Japón, 1558–1873 (Rome 1999). p. humbertclaude, Guillaume Courtet: Dominicain français, martyr au Japon (1590–1637) (Paris 1981).

[j. f. schÜtte]