D.The martyrdom of Genwa Christians
The martyrdom of Genwa Christians took place during Ieyasu’s rule. The crackdown on Christians began in 1612 in what is now Tokyo, Edo, and spread to Kyoto the following year. The crackdown will become more severe around 1615. In particular, the 1619 Christian Martyrdom event in 1619 was dreadful.
Sixty-three believers were captured and imprisoned in the Ogawa Prison. It is said that eight of them died in captivity due to the terrible conditions in the prison. Hidetada, shogun at the time, ordered all believers to be burned at the stake when he learned that several Christians were hiding at Fushimi Temple. On October 6th, 1619, 52 Christians in total were gathered along Rokujo River, including 11 children, some of whom were under 2 years old. Among the many families executed that day, the fate of Tecara and his family especially brought tears to people’s eyes. Tecara had five children. With a 3-year-old in his left arm, his right arm around his 12-year-old, and 2 other children crucified on separate crosses, the execution started. As the fire was lit and logs started to burn, Tecara continued to comfort the children, telling them they will be delivered to God soon, through the flames and smoke to his last breath. A memorial stone was placed on the bank of the Rokujo River as a memorial to the execution.
Public displays of Christianity all but disappeared. Some continued to worship in secret, sometimes worshipping ‘Maria Kannon’ which were statues of Mother Mary that resembled the Buddhist Kannon statues. These worshippers were called crypto- or secret-Christians.
In the western most city of Nagasaki, ‘fumi-e’ was used to root out the crpyto-Christians. The 3rd shogun, Iemitsu Tokugawa, took an even harder line against Christianity, and Nagasaki had a particularly high population of Christians at the time. ‘Fumi-e’ literally translates to ‘image to be stepped on.’ It was a metal plate with an engraving to Christ and the Virgin Mary for people to step on. Of course, this would be sacrilege to any believing Christian. Any person who was not able to step on the engraving was determined to be Christian. They were asked to either abandon their faith, or be executed. As such, Christianity was at the mercy of whomever was in power. This was true not only in Kyoto, but throughout Japan.
This brings us to the end of this section. Unfortunately, many Christian landmarks have been destroyed over the long periods of persecution, and few remain today. However, some tombstones were found in Kyoto. The Kyoto National Museum has a tombstone on display in the garden, which can be visited at any time.
