Martyrdom of the Twenty-six Martyrs of Japan

About 400 years ago, Roman Catholic missionaries from Portugal and Hispania (modern Spain) desperately aimed at Japan. Thanks to them, the Word of God was proclaimed in Japan for the first time. 

Christianity was banned after the period of preaching the Gospel was permitted.  In 1597, the first martyrdom took place in Japan. It’s the Twenty-six Martyrs of Japan called “The First Martyrs of Japan” that were martyred.

They also were God’s chosen ones. I will write in more detail about their martyrdom from next month. I simply mention now.

The reining Hideyoshi, the absolute ruler of Japan, persecuted Christianity, and ordered to arrest twenty-four (later twenty-six) people in Kyoto and Osaka and execute on Nishizaka hill in Nagasaki. Since he knew a lot of Christian lived in Nagasaki, he brought along the twenty-six to Nagasaki and executed them on the crosses as an example to people.

On the contrary, it didn’t turn out as Hideyoshi wished. After the martyrdom of the Twenty-six martyrs of Japan, a revival took place in Nagasaki.