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| Shimabara Rebellion | |||||||||
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| Part of the earlyEdo period | |||||||||
 Shimabara battle map andHara Castle | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Tokugawa shogunate |  Japanese Catholics andrōnin peasantsPortuguese traders (allegedly)[2] | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
| Amakusa Shirō  Mori Sōiken †Arie Kenmotsu †Masuda Yoshitsugu †Ashizuga Chuemon †Yamada Emosaku  | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| 200,000+[3] | 37,000–40,000[3] | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| 10,800[3]–70,000 killed[2] 11,000 wounded[3] | 37,000+ killed[3] | ||||||||
TheShimabara Rebellion (島原の乱,Shimabara no ran), also known as theShimabara-Amakusa Rebellion (島原･天草の乱,Shimabara-Amakusa no ran) orShimabara-Amakusa Ikki (島原･天草一揆), was anuprising that occurred in theShimabara Domain of theTokugawa shogunate inJapan from 17 December 1637 to 15 April 1638.
Matsukura Katsuie, thedaimyō of the Shimabara Domain, enforced unpopular policies set by his fatherMatsukura Shigemasa that drastically raised taxes to construct the newShimabara Castle and violently prohibitedChristianity. In December 1637, an alliance of localrōnin and mostlyCatholic peasants led byAmakusa Shirō rebelled against the Tokugawa shogunate due to discontent over Katsuie's policies. The Tokugawa shogunate sent a force of over 125,000 troops supported by theDutch to suppress the rebels, which defeated the rebels after a lengthysiege against their stronghold atHara Castle inMinamishimabara.
Following the successful suppression of the rebellion, Shirō and an estimated 37,000 rebels and sympathizers werebeheaded, and thePortuguese traders suspected of helping them were expelled from Japan. Katsuie was investigated for misruling, and was eventually beheaded in Edo, the onlydaimyō executed during the Edo period.[citation needed] The Shimabara Domain was given toKōriki Tadafusa. Japan's policies ofnational seclusion andpersecution of Christianity were tightened until theBakumatsu in the 1850s.
Shimabara Rebellion is often portrayed as a Christian rebellion against violent suppression by Matsukura Katsuie. However the main academic understanding is that the rebellion was mainly by peasants against Matsukura's misgovernance, with Christians later joining the rebellion.[4]
The Shimabara Rebellion was the largestcivil conflict in Japan during theEdo period, and was one of only a handful of instances of serious unrest during the relatively peaceful period of the Tokugawa shogunate's rule.[5]
In the mid-1630s, the peasants of theShimabara Peninsula andAmakusa, dissatisfied with overtaxation and suffering from the effects of famine, revolted against their lords. This was specifically in territory ruled by two lords:Matsukura Katsuie of theShimabara Domain, and Terasawa Katataka of theKaratsu Domain.[6] Those affected also included fishermen, craftsmen and merchants. As the rebellion spread, it was joined byrōnin (masterlesssamurai) who had once served extinct local clans such as the Amakusa and Shiki, as well as formerArima clan and Konishi retainers.[6] The image of a fully "peasant" uprising is also not entirely accurate.[7]
Shimabara had formerly been the domain of the Arima clan, which had been Christian; as a result, many local people were also Christian. The Arima were moved out in 1614 and replaced by the anti-Christian Matsukura.[8] The new lord, Matsukura Shigemasa, hoped to advance in the shogunate hierarchy by sponsoring expensive construction projects, including the building and expansion ofEdo Castle, and contributed funding for a planned shogunate invasion ofLuzon in theSpanish East Indies, today a part of thePhilippines. Matsukura also built a new castle for his own clan in Shimabara.[9] He placed a greatly disproportionate tax burden on the people of his new domain to pay for these policies, and further angered them by strictly persecuting Christianity.[9] The policies were continued by Shigemasa's heir,Katsuie.
The inhabitants of the Amakusa Islands, which had been part of the fief ofKonishi Yukinaga, suffered the same sort of persecution at the hands of the Terasawa family, which, like the Matsukura, had been granted the territory.[10] Another growing problem was the presence of numerous unemployedsamurai, including former retainers ofKatō Tadahiro andSassa Narimasa, both of whom had once ruled parts ofHigo Province.
The discontentedrōnin of the region, joined by impoverished peasants, began to meet in secret on Yushima (also called "meeting island") and plot an uprising, which broke out on 17 December 1637,[11] when the localdaikan (magistrate) Hayashi Hyōzaemon was assassinated. At the same time, others rebelled in the Amakusa Islands. The rebels quickly increased their ranks by forcing all in the areas they took to join in the uprising. A charismatic 16-year-old youth,Amakusa Shirō, soon emerged as the rebellion's leader.[12]
The rebels laid siege to the Terasawa clan's Tomioka and Hondo castles, but just before the castles were about to fall, armies from the neighboring domains inKyūshū arrived, forcing them to retreat. The rebels then crossed theAriake Sea and briefly besieged Matsukura Katsuie'sShimabara Castle but were again repelled. At this point they gathered near the ruins ofHara Castle, which had been the home of the Arima clan before their move to the Nobeoka Domain and was subsequently demolished.[13] They built up palisades using the wood from the boats they had crossed the water with, and were greatly aided in their preparations by the weapons, ammunition, and provisions they had plundered from the Matsukura clan's storehouses.[14]
The allied armies of the local domains, under the command of the Tokugawa shogunate (during shogunTokugawa Iemitsu's reign) withItakura Shigemasa as commander-in-chief, then began their siege of Hara Castle. The legendary swordsmanMiyamoto Musashi was present during the battle; he served as a military advisor and aide toHosokawa Tadatoshi.[15] Musashi was knocked off his horse by a stone thrown by a peasant rebel in one of the few verifiable records of him taking part in a campaign.[citation needed]
The shogunate troops requested aid from the Dutch, who provided gunpowder and cannons.[16]Nicolaes Couckebacker,Opperhoofd of the Dutchfactory (trading post) onHirado oversaw the transfer of military stores, and when the shogunate forces requested naval support, he personally accompanied the vesselde Ryp to a position offshore, near Hara Castle.[16] The cannons sent previously were mounted in abattery, and an all-out bombardment of the fortress commenced, both from the battery and thede Ryp's cannons, but without great result.[17] The ship withdrew at the request of the Japanese, following contemptuous messages sent by the rebels to the besieging troops:
Are there no longer courageous soldiers in the realm to do combat with us, and weren't they ashamed to have called in the assistance of foreigners against our small contingent?[18]
Itakura Shigemasa was killed in a failed advance. More shogunate troops underMatsudaira Nobutsuna, Itakura's replacement, soon arrived.[19] However, the rebels at Hara Castle, who were led by well-trained former samurai, resisted the siege for months and caused the shogunate heavy losses. Both sides had a hard time fighting in winter conditions. On February 3, 1638, the rebels achieved a major victory when a surprise attack killed 2,000 warriors from theHizen Domain. However, with their position surrounded and no means of establishing supply lines, their food and ammunition quickly ran out.[citation needed]
On 4 April 1638, over 27,000 rebels, facing about 125,000 shogunate soldiers[20] mounted a desperate assault, but were soon forced to withdraw. From the survivors (including Yamada Emosaku, who was believed to have willingly betrayed the rebels), the shogunate forces learned of the rebels' poor condition and how they would likely be unable to withstand another direct attack.[citation needed]
On 12 April 1638, troops under the command of the Kuroda clan ofHizen stormed the fortress and captured the outer defenses.[21][failed verification] The remaining rebels continued to hold out and caused heavy casualties until they were routed three days later, on 15 April 1638.[22]
The Shimabara rebellion was the first massive military effort since theSiege of Osaka where the shogunate had to supervise an allied army made up of troops from various domains. The first overall commander,Itakura Shigemasa, had 800 men under his direct command; his replacement,Matsudaira Nobutsuna, had 1,500. Vice-commanderToda Ujikane had 2,500 of his own troops and 2,500 samurai of theShimabara Domain were also present. The bulk of the shogunate's army was drawn from Shimabara's neighboring domains. The largest component, numbering over 35,000 men, came from theSaga Domain, and was under the command ofNabeshima Katsushige. Second in numbers were the forces of the Kumamoto and Fukuoka domains; 23,500 men underHosokawa Tadatoshi and 18,000 men under Kuroda Tadayuki, respectively. From theKurume Domain came 8,300 men under Arima Toyouji; from theYanagawa Domain 5,500 men under Tachibana Muneshige; from theKaratsu Domain, 7,570 under Terasawa Katataka; from Nobeoka, 3,300 underArima Naozumi; fromKokura, 6,000 underOgasawara Tadazane and his senior retainer Takada Matabei; fromNakatsu, 2,500 under Ogasawara Nagatsugu; from Bungo-Takada, 1,500 under Matsudaira Shigenao, and fromKagoshima, 1,000 under Yamada Arinaga, a senior retainer of theShimazu clan. The only non-Kyushu forces, apart from the commanders' personal troops, were 5,600 men from theFukuyama Domain, under the command of Mizuno Katsunari,[23] Katsutoshi, and Katsusada. A small number of troops from various other locations amounted to 800 additional men. In total, the shogunate's army is known to have comprised over 125,800 men. The strength of the rebel forces is not precisely known, but combatants are estimated to have numbered over 14,000, while noncombatants who sheltered in the castle during the siege were over 13,000. One source estimates the total size of the rebel force as somewhere between 27,000 and 37,000, at best a quarter fraction of the size of the force sent by the shogunate.[11]
After the castle fell, the shogunate forces executed an estimated 37,000 rebels and sympathizers as punishment. Amakusa Shirō's severed head was taken to Nagasaki for public display, and the entire complex atHara Castle was burned to the ground and buried, together with the bodies of all the dead.[23]
Because the shogunate suspected that EuropeanCatholics had been involved in spreading the rebellion, Portuguese traders were driven out of the country. Thepolicy of national seclusion was made stricter by 1639.[24] An existing ban on the Christian religion was then enforced stringently, and Christianity in Japan survived only bygoing underground.[25]
Another part of the shogunate's actions after the rebellion was to excuse the clans which had aided its efforts militarily from the building contributions which it routinely required from various domains.[26] However, Matsukura Katsuie's domain was given to another lord,Kōriki Tadafusa, and Matsukura began to be pressured by the shogunate to commit honourable ritual suicide (seppuku). However, after the body of a peasant was found in his residence, proving his misrule and brutality, Matsukura was beheaded inEdo.[citation needed] Terasawa Katataka's lands were also confiscated, and he committed seppuku as well, ending his family line.[27]
On the Shimabara peninsula, most towns experienced a severe to total loss of men as a result of the rebellion. In order to maintain the rice fields and other crops, immigrants were brought from other areas across Japan to resettle the land. All inhabitants were registered with local temples, whose priests were required to vouch for their members' religious affiliation.[28] Following the rebellion, Buddhism was strongly promoted in the area. Certain customs were introduced which remain unique to the area today. Towns on the Shimabara peninsula also continue to have a varied mix of dialects due to the mass immigration from other parts of Japan.[citation needed]
With the exception of periodic, localized peasant uprisings, the Shimabara Rebellion was the last large-scale armed clash in Japan until theBoshin War.[29]
TheTomioka Christian Memorial (富岡吉利支丹供養碑,Tomioka Kirishitan kuyōhi), also known as theSenninzuka (千人塚) in the town ofReihoku, Kumamoto was erected in 1647 by Suzuki Shigenari, the first magistrate of theAmakusa islands following the rebellion. Located on a slight elevation at the sea edge, at the northwestern tip ofShimoshima Island, it is a naturalandesite monolith 1.92 meters high by 82 centimeters wide and 41 centimeters thick. Akuyōtō with a Buddhist inscription, it is a form ofstupa built for the purpose of memorial service so that the deceased can rest in peace. The site marks the spot where rebels assembled prior to marching on nearby Tomioka Castle, and is claimed to be the mass grave of the surviving rebels who were executed by the Tokugawa Shogunate following the end of the rebellion. It was designated aNational Historic Site in 1937.[30][31]
{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)Coups, rebellions, and revolts in Japan  | |||||||||
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