Alex > Recent Status Updates

Indeed, I was an idiot. There is one pair of feet on the left and the head on the right.

From the introduction:
"The graph for deconsists of three elements: walking legs on the left and on the right “mind” under “straight, go straight.”"
I have no idea what this sentence means. Either I'm an idiot or it makes no sense.

"The last and perhaps the most important strain of material has been that of local historians and archaeologists in Japan. Archaeological excavations persist at Hara Castle, and continue to uncover chilling untold tales of the rebels, such as the discovery of numerous skulls with crosses or Christian medallions in their mouths – where a samurai looter might not think of looking."

"The Nagasaki atom bomb also obliterated Urakami cathedral, and killed three quarters of the 12,000 Christians in the city. Dougill, In Search of Japan’s Hidden Christians, 193 makes the wry but mathematically incorrect assertion that ‘In a single flash, the Truman administration had killed more Christians than in the whole history of Japanese persecution."

"In an unfortunate coda, Petitjean encouraged the Hidden Christians to proclaim their beliefs openly, which led to several of them being executed, and many of the others banished. It was still several decades before Christianity would be permitted openly in Japan."

"Tamamuro, ‘Local Society and the Temple-Parishioner Relationship within the Bakufu’s Governance Structure’, 266–8. Tamamuro’s account is a shocking litany of abuses and bureaucratic corruption, which makes a mockery of genuine Buddhist belief. After reading it, one will never look at a Japanese religious festival in quite the same way again."

"Hosokawa began the assault on the far side of the castle, through the third keep, but his letter specifically describes the self-immolation of rebel families in the main keep (honmaru). Reading between the lines, Hosokawa was interested in the manner of death of honmaru residents because some soldiers were making bogus claims for bounties on badly burned heads."

"The samurai were not, however, entirely idle during the period. On 4 February, Shigemasa ordered Matsukura and Terazawa, the lords of Shimabara and Amakusa respectively, to send inquisitors into any village that remained inhabited. Any family without a cooking pot was to be suspected of having lent theirs to the rebels, and interrogated about their alleged Christian sympathies."

"‘The conduct of Itakura [Shigemasa], throughout the whole campaign,’ notes Steichen in Les Daimyô Chrétiens, 408, ‘remains inexplicable: either he had an extraordinary incompetence as a general, or, which is also possible, he was disgusted at marching against insurgent peasants, of which he knew the greater part were Christian.'"

Sebastian Ōtomo, a Christian convert who vandalized a temple in supposedly religious zeal, readily cast aside the faith later. His sincerity was doubted even before his apostasy, and he may have converted just to gain the upper hand in an inheritance dispute and other social or legal issues he dealt with.

Hope I didn't post this twice.

"Although many hundreds of Japanese Christians from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries have been beatified and canonised by the Catholic Church, neither Jerome himself nor any of his fellow rebels has attained such an honour."

About the beliefs of the Kirishitans, who passed on the Scriptures orally and in complete secrecy:
"The kings of Turkey, Mexico and France come to offer their congratulations on the birth of Jesus (in a stable), but they tell their story to King Herodes (Yorōtetsu), who orders the massacre of all children – his two henchmen are named as Pontia and Pilate."

"On New Year’s Day each year, stamping on a Christian image was to become something of a party. Giggling children would join the line and eagerly leap onto the simple metal plaque. Their parents would wearily follow, having performed the silly, and to the vast majority meaningless, task once a year for their entire lives."

"His comments were such an affront to the government that his career was immediately brought to a crashing halt. But Suzuki believed so passionately that the people of Amakusa were being wrongly treated that he committed suicide in protest in 1653. Six years later, the government quietly reduced Amakusa’s tax burden by 50%."

"There is a legend in Japan that, perhaps after many years, the elderly Yamada somehow journeyed back to Nagasaki, where he became a Christian once more. But for this, as for almost every other supposition about Yamada’s life, there is no proof."

"Whatever Yamada’s true role in the siege, which nobody could ever be sure of, he wept when he was shown Jerome’s severed head. As far as the army was concerned, the identification was positive – their enemy was dead."

"We must not, either, rule out the likelihood that many of the attackers saw themselves as avenging fallen comrades. Despite Matsudaira’s attempt to end the siege with minimal losses to his own side, the four-month affray with ‘farmers’ in Hara had cost the attackers over 20,000 casualties – 13% of the government forces sent to put down the uprising."

"Once a man has seized power, his love of money displays exactly the same characteristics as gangrene, for gangrene, once established in a body, never rests until it has invaded and corrupted the whole of it. All this was reported by Palaeologus."

Several women and children committed suicide at Hara Castle by running into burning huts, which the besieging forces complimented as "commendable deaths".

"The government forces were not above putting every resource to good use – a report survives of the dissection and amateur post-mortem examination of some of the fallen rebels. We know today what the rebels had been eating inside the castle because the samurai hacked open their corpses."

Not as bad as I expected it to be, at this point.

Couckebacker, the commander of the Dutch:
"The insurgents had on 1 March flung with an arrow a letter amongst the troops, in which letter they ask the reason why the Netherlanders had been called to give assistance, there being so many courageous and faithful soldiers in Japan."
Ouch.

The author esteems Shimegasa surprisingly little, considering his heroic last stand. Maybe because this heroic last stand cost the lifes of several soldiers, achieved nothing, and was the result of several miserable military failures.