The Death of Folk Hero and “Saint”, Amakusa Shiro

Shimabara Rebellion's Charismatic Leader, or Opportunist?

Hero of the Shimabara Rebellion, Amakusa Shiro was among the thousands killed on the 28th day of the second month of 1638. (April 12, 1638 by the modern calendar) when Hara Castle fell to the Shogunate forces.

Born in 1621 in modern-day Kami Amakusa, Kumamoto, to the Konishi clan retainer, Masuda Jinbei, who had been converted to the foreign religion by the many visiting Portuguese missionaries, Amakusa Shiro, actual name Masuda Tokisada, has become a folk hero and “saint” among the Japanese. Said to have been a charismatic leader with “miraculous powers” by the age of 15,  two years later he would be among the leaders of Shimabara Rebellion of 1637-38, one of the mostly peaceful Tokugawa / Edo periods’ greatest rebellions.