The Tokugawa Shogunate Oppression of Catholicism.

 From the mid-16th century to the early 17th century, when trade with South Koreans was active, Japanese daimyo admired various strange cultures gained from trade with Westerners, but often worried that Western troops with high-quality firearms and technology would land on Japanese soil and slaughter people and plunder property. Even during the Warring States period, when trade with Portugal was active, Nobuna Oda often asked Jesuit missionaries such as Prussia and Valignano out of doubt that South Koreans would someday lead the army to conquer Japan.  Missionaries said it took months to get to Japan, and they reassured tens of thousands of soldiers by safely passing through the long distance and landing in Japan when they have never overcome the crisis of death due to storms and bad weather. After hearing this answer, Nobuna also expressed confidence by answering that no matter how many numbers there are if the weakened army reaches due to a long voyage. In 1596, a crew member of the Spanish ship San Felipe, who landed on Dosa's Urato, said, "The king of Spain first attracts people to Catholicism and then conquers the country," intensified Hideyoshi's persecution of Christianity, and 26 Christians were crucified in Nagasaki in February the following year.  With the establishment of the Edo Shogunate, the Tokugawa family's Shogunate was favorable to trade with South Koreans and the spread of Catholicism like the former rulers, but their attitudes gradually changed and actively persecuted Catholics. It was because of a sense of crisis that if left untreated, a great social unrest could arise because nearly 700,000 Christians in Japan and the Catholic doctrine contained the idea of equality that shook Japan's feudal social structure, where the samurai class was at the top. In addition, just as Dutch merchants who wanted to monopolize trade relations with Japan conquered South America and the Philippines and colonized them, Japan is also setting up a dark horse to conquer with missionaries, making the country's policy increasingly firm and oppression of Catholicism increasingly severe.    In 1623, when Tokugawa Imitsu appeared as the third-largest shogunate, Christian suppression was thoroughly institutionalized. While arresting the two missionaries in October of that year, Edo pushed ahead with the Christian extermination policy, including catching 46 famous Christian people, dividing them into three groups, turning them around on the streets, and being burned at the busiest place. This case, which was executed on December 4, is called the Great Martyrdom of Edo. Subsequently, the search for Girishitan was strengthened nationwide, and even those who hid believers were put to death. Both foreigners and Japanese priests who were lurking in Kyushu were searched and sentenced to death. The general believer was forced to abandon his faith through brainwashing and cruel torture. As a result, in 1630, the believers were almost annihilated in Nagasaki, which was earlier called "small Rome."  In 1633, a method of torture in which a small hole is drilled behind the ear and hung upside down for a map-level Girisitan. Those who hang upside down in this way bleed little by little in the hole, nose, and mouth, feeling the pain of death with their whole body, and gradually lose their breath) was adopted, and because they could not overcome the pain, Perreira, the deputy head of the church and bishop's representative, was deployed. However, people like Nagahara, the investigator of the Jesuit, do not give in to the four-day burial and martyrdom.  - Endo Shusaku's novel Silent features Rodrigo, modeled after Portuguese missionary Joseph Carler, who was sentenced to death at the age of 84 in 1685 after being punished for hanging a hole, and is silent just because he is a Christian.  Shimabara's Rebellion in Japanese Catholic history is the largest Catholic suffering in Asia. Shimabara was the place where Catholicism revived for 74 years from around 1562. Shimabara's lord "Arima Yoshinao" and his son "Harenobu" invited Portuguese missionaries to be baptized and even established a seminary. However, in 1637, the Tokugawa Shogunate declared a gold school decree and began to impose heavy taxes along with oppression of Catholics. In protest, Amagusa Shiro and 37,000 Christians staged a sit-in at Haraseong Fortress and engaged in a 90-day battle with the Shogunate. The Shogunate mobilizes 120,000 troops to slaughter all 37,000 people, regardless of children or the elderly, just as they dry the seeds of Catholics. This is Shimabara's Rebellion.

Records show that 37,000 soldiers, women, and the elderly were all killed or captured in battle and beheaded. On the other hand, the majority of the remains excavated at Haraseong Fortress Site, where excavation and restoration are in full swing, are surprising because they hold medals in their mouths. Most of the medals made from the remaining bullets are said to be engraved in the shape of the St. Mary's or Cross. At that time, believers felt guilty that they could not serve the holy body during the war, so they participated in the battle with medals in their mouths instead. You can get a glimpse of the holy will of 37,000 martyrs to worship God's body and be willing to martyrdom. Those who fight in the castle will receive God's mercy and the grace of salvation. Also, keeping their land steady without shaking is to serve God. This is what Shiro Amakusa asked the soldiers ahead of the final battle. The Tokugawa shogunate, which suppressed the formidable Shimabara Rebellion and slaughtered many church members, made Girishitan the fourth nationality and used it as an excuse to strengthen the policy of closing the country. In contrast to such terrible Catholic persecution and the search for Kirishitan, the Joseon news agency and the group who visited Japan in 1635 (13th year of King Injo's reign) received great hospitality, and two people who performed the news agency were praised for presenting Ma Sang-jae in front of Shogun Imitsu. The Shogunates of the Edo Shogunate were trying to restore diplomatic relations with Joseon, which was cut off by the Japanese Invasion of Korea in 1592, and enthusiastically accepted the Neo-Confucian academic theory that the Joseon Dynasty's ruling system, based on Confucian values, was consistent with the Shogunate's political orientation. The Tokugawa Shogunate also mandates everyone to belong to a certain temple to eradicate Girishitan, causing them to report all movements of the family, including birth, marriage, death, and relocation, forming a kind of Buddhist state that monitors believers thoroughly. They create a misinjo system to organize five households nationwide to monitor each other, and set up bulletin boards in various places to encourage the smuggling of Girishitan. As a way to search for Girishitan, a vicious technique called Humi, in which believers are screened with the expression of the residents by stepping on the image of the Holy Mary is used. So by the second half of the 17th century, Japanese Kirishtang Church was unable to engage in public activities. Despite such harsh oppression, there are believers who secretly kept their faith after being bitten by generations in the Kyushu Islands over the past two and a half centuries until the Meiji era was met, which marvels churches around the world.   (The Amakusa Christian Museum in Japan offers a variety of relics that give a glimpse into the desperate and persistent beliefs of believers who had to hide from persecution after Shimabara's rebellion, such as a Buddha statue that resembles the Holy Mary and a Buddha's body separately.) It is said that they formed a branch organization of 10 to 20 families in the village and secretly adhered to their religious life by pretending to believe in Buddhism on the outside. These are called "Gakure Girishtan" (Hidden Christian). And the faith that has been persistent overcoming persecution finally came out of the world in 1865, 260 years later. It was the Oura Catholic Party in Nagasaki Prefecture that the latent believers appeared to the world.