Amakusa Shiro
Encyclopedia
Shimabara Rebellion
The was an uprising largely involving Japanese peasants, most of them Catholic Christians, in 1637–1638 during the Edo period.It was one of only a handful of instances of serious unrest during the relatively peaceful period of the Tokugawa shogunate's rule...
.
Biography
The son of former Konishi clan retainer (according to some sources, Shirō may have been the illegitimate son of Toyotomi HideyoriToyotomi Hideyori
was the son and designated successor of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the general who first united all of Japan. His mother, Yodo-dono, was the niece of Oda Nobunaga....
), Shirō was born in modern-day Kami-Amakusa, Kumamoto
Kami-Amakusa, Kumamoto
is a city located in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan.It was founded on March 31, 2004, by merging the three cities Himedo, Matsushima, Ōyano and Ryūgatake, all from Amakusa District....
in a Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
family. The charismatic 15-year-old was known to his followers as "heaven's messenger." Miraculous powers were attributed to him.
Shiro led the defence of Hara Castle
Hara Castle
is a castle in Hizen Province. During the Shimabara Rebellion , the rebellious peasants were besieged there.As a result of the Shimabara Rebellion in 1637, the Shogunate decided to expel the Portuguese from Japan...
and died when it fell. Executed in the aftermath of the fall, his head was displayed on a pike in Nagasaki
Nagasaki
is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. Nagasaki was founded by the Portuguese in the second half of the 16th century on the site of a small fishing village, formerly part of Nishisonogi District...
for a very long time afterward as a warning to any other potential Christian rebels. His death poem
Death poem
A death poem is a poem written near the time of one's own death. It is a tradition for literate people to write one in a number of different cultures, especially in Joseon Korea and Japan.-History:...
was: "Now, those who accompany me in being besieged in this castle, will be my friends unto the next world." (Ima rōjō shiteiru mono wa, raise made tomo to naru.)
In popular culture
Amakusa Shiro is often cast as a tragic villain in Japanese popular cultureJapanese popular culture
Japanese popular culture not only reflects the attitudes and concerns of the present but also provides a link to the past. Japanese cinema, cuisine, television programs, manga, and music all developed from older artistic and literary traditions, and many of their themes and styles of presentation...
. Such portrayal includes Makai Tensho
Makai Tensho
is a novel by Futaro Yamada.It is a tale of historical fiction in which Mori Sōiken resurrects other dead historical figures to overthrow the Shogunate. Yagyū Jūbei Mitsuyoshi rises to fight Amakusa and his warriors of the dead...
, a story about the fictional battles of Yagyu Jubei, in which Amakusa Shiro rejects the Christian God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
at the time of his death and becomes a demon, returning to Earth to destroy the Tokugawa shogunate
Tokugawa shogunate
The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the and the , was a feudal regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family. This period is known as the Edo period and gets its name from the capital city, Edo, which is now called Tokyo, after the name was...
who put him to death with some of Japan's greatest heroes and villains of the age who were also resurrected as demons. A fictionalized Amakusa appears as the antagonist in Kinji Fukasaku
Kinji Fukasaku
was a Japanese film actor, screenwriter, and best known as a celebrated and innovative filmmaker. He was born in Mito, Ibaraki, Japan, and died in Tokyo, from prostate cancer...
's movie Samurai Reincarnation
Samurai Reincarnation
Samurai Reincarnation is a 1981 film directed by Kinji Fukasaku and starring Sonny Chiba. The film was based on the novel Makai Tensho....
. In the anime series Rurouni Kenshin
Rurouni Kenshin
, also known as Rurouni Kenshin and Samurai X, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Nobuhiro Watsuki. The fictional setting takes place during the early Meiji period in Japan. The story is about a fictional assassin named Himura Kenshin, from the Bakumatsu who becomes a wanderer to...
, the antagonist Amakusa Shōgo is said to be the "second coming
Second Coming
In Christian doctrine, the Second Coming of Christ, the Second Advent, or the Parousia, is the anticipated return of Jesus Christ from Heaven, where he sits at the Right Hand of God, to Earth. This prophecy is found in the canonical gospels and in most Christian and Islamic eschatologies...
" of Amakusa Shirō. Shiro Amakusa is a recurring character in the Samurai Shodown series of fighting games, featured as both a boss (in the first Samurai Shodown
Samurai Shodown
Samurai Shodown, known as in Japan, is a competitive fighting game produced by SNK for their Neo Geo arcade and home platform. In contrast to other fighting games at the time which were set in modern times and focused primarily on hand-to-hand combat, Samurai Shodown is set in feudal-era Japan ...
game, which is loosely based on the Shimabara Rebellion) and a selectable character, in which he is a mad and vengeful spirit, resurrected as a being of destruction; his evil side is Aku Amakusa.
Amakusa Shiro was portrayed in a positive light was the 1962 movie Amakusa Shiro Tokisada (distributed in the UK as The Rebel and in the US as The Revolutionary). The manga Amakusa 1637 is a story is about a girl from the present world replacing the role of Shiro because he was killed. Karen Joy Fowler
Karen Joy Fowler
Karen Joy Fowler is an American author of science fiction, fantasy, and literary fiction. Her work often centers on the nineteenth century, the lives of women, and alienation....
's short story "Shimabara" concerns Amakusa Shirō and the siege of Castle Hara. Japanese doll and figure company Volks have released an SD13 sized Super Dollfie
Super Dollfie
, often abbreviated SD, is a brand of ball-jointed doll, or BJD, made by the Japanese company Volks. They are made to be easy to customize and are primarily marketed to adult doll collectors and customizers. They are cast in polyurethane resin, a porcelain-like, hard, dense plastic...
based on Amakusa named Amakusa Shirou Tokisada.
Further reading
- Ivan Morris. The Nobility of Failure: Tragic Heroes in the History of Japan. London: Secker and Warburg (1975)