After the tumultuous warring states period which ended with the battle of Sekighara in 1600, the Tokugawa shogunate established a relatively peaceful reign that would last until the Meiji Restoration of 1868. One notable disruption to this peace occurred on the Shimabara peninsula in 1637 when high taxation, widespread famine, and brutal persecution of local…
The account of the Shimabara rebellion by Duarte Correa, a Portuguese sea captain turned Jesuit or Jesuit sympathizer, published in Lisbon in 1643, deserves special mention even alongside contemporary Japanese and Dutch accounts. Dated October 1638, Correa s account takes the form of a carta or letter addressed to the "Jesuit father in Macau," Ant nio Francisco Cardim (1596-1659), pioneer mapmaker of Japan and eminent martyrologist. Ironically, given Correa s own immolation at the hands of religious adversaries, the carta was dedicated to Bishop Dom Francisco de Castro, the Inquisitor General of the Kingdom of Portugal. Still, we do not know how this letter was smuggled out of Omura prison where Correa was incarcerated, or how it was delivered up to Macau and eventually Portugal. Nevertheless, it provides a rare and sympathetic account of the rebellion from one of the victims of the persecution. Yet, it is not a jaundiced account, as Correa reveals some compassion and respect for the victims of this epic battle on both sides.
Financial Difficulties of the Edo Period
For nearly a century Japan, with approximately 500,000 Catholics by the
early 1600s, was the most spectacular success story in Asia for European
missionaries. Why did so many convert? Some undoubtedly were attracted
by the Christian message of salvation, but others hoped to gain economic
or political advantage. The daimyo of Omura seems to have converted in
the hope of attracting more trade to his port city of Nagasaki, and Oda
Nobunaga (1534-1582) the general who unified approximately half of Japan,
encouraged Christian missionaries to undermine the political influence
of the powerful and wealthy Buddhist monasteries. Nobunaga's tolerance
of missionary activity was the main reason for the many converts in the
region around Kyoto, Japan's imperial city.
