Amakusa Shiro

A young boy who was made the leader of the Shimabara-Amakusa Rebellion. He is known as Masuda Shiro from his father's surname, Ebe Shiro or Oyano Shiro from his place of residence, and is said to have been Amakusa Shirodayu Tokisada, Amano Shiro Hidetsuna, and baptized Geronimo as the leader of the rebellion, but little is known about him, including his career. His father, Masuda Jinbei Yoshitsugu (?-1638), was born in Oyano, Amakusa, and served the feudal lord Konishi Yukinaga, but was demoted after the Battle of Sekigahara and returned to farming in Ebe Village, Uto County. Based on the facts that Shiro's elder sister was married to the younger brother of the village headman of Oyano village, and that Shiro, who was born in Ebe, began learning to read at the age of nine and subsequently traveled to Nagasaki from time to time to study, as testified by his mother and others who were arrested in Ebe after the outbreak of the uprising, it appears that Shiro grew up in fairly privileged circumstances and acquired an outstanding education for a rural boy of the time.

In the middle of the Kan'ei period (1624-1644), the Shimabara and Amakusa regions were in a state of famine due to heavy taxes and successive poor harvests, but as the area had once been a major center of Christian power, even secular demands such as tax reductions and exemptions were justified as resistance based on faith, and this was the defining feature of "harsh government." The village headmen and prisoners who led the uprising organized a wide range of peasants into an uprising that did not care about life or death, and as a way to maintain unity, they portrayed 15- or 16-year-old Shiro as a savior who had descended from heaven, and performed various miracles. Shiro's name was known to the feudal lord as a central figure from the time the uprising began, but it is unlikely that he actually took command of military affairs. He is said to have entered Hara Castle on December 3, 1637 (Kan'ei 14), but for about four months until he was massacred in an all-out attack on February 27 and 28 the following year, 1638, over 20,000 men, women, and children of all ages held out under Shiro, fighting against an army of over 100,000 shogunate lords, and maintaining the unity of their faith, as seen in Shiro's flag. There is no denying his extraordinary qualities as a leader. Of the many heads taken, the one taken by Kumamoto samurai Jinno Saemon was said to be Shiro's, and was sent to Nagasaki for public exhibition.

[Takumi Nakamura March 19, 2018]

"Amakusa Tokisada by Akio Okada (1960/New edition, 1987, Yoshikawa Kobunkan)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

島原・天草一揆(いっき)で一揆側の首領とされた少年。父の姓から益田四郎(ますだしろう)、居住地にちなんで江辺四郎(えべしろう)、大矢野四郎(おおやのしろう)、一揆の首領としては天草四郎太夫時貞(ときさだ)、天の四郎秀綱、洗礼名はジェロニモといわれるが、経歴を含めて正確なことはほとんど不明である。父益田甚兵衛好次(ますだじんべえよしつぐ)（？―1638）は、天草大矢野の産で、領主小西行長(こにしゆきなが)に仕えたが、関ヶ原の戦いで改易されたので宇土(うと)郡江辺村で帰農した牢人(ろうにん)。四郎は、姉が大矢野村の庄屋(しょうや)の弟に嫁いでいる事実と、江辺生まれの四郎が9歳で手習いを始め、以後学問のために長崎にもときどき赴いた、という一揆勃発(ぼっぱつ)後江辺で捕らえられた母親などの申立てからすれば、かなり恵まれた境遇のなかで、当時の農村少年としては抜群の教養を身につけていたと思われる。

　寛永(かんえい)（1624～1644）中期の島原・天草地方は、重税と相次ぐ凶作のため飢餓的状態にあったが、年貢減免などの世俗的要求でも、かつてキリシタン勢力の一大中心地であったため、ことさら信仰による抵抗として、弾圧とさらなる収奪が正当化されたところに「苛政(かせい)」の特質があった。一揆を指導した庄屋層や牢人たちは、広範な農民を生死を顧みぬ一揆に組織し、結束を維持する手段として15、16歳の四郎を天より下った救世主に仕立て、さまざまな奇跡を演出した。四郎の名は一揆勃発の時点から中心人物として領主側に把握されているが、実際に軍事上の指揮をしたとは考えにくい。彼の原(はら)城入城は1637年（寛永14）12月3日といわれるが、翌1638年2月27、28日の総攻撃で全員虐殺されるまでの約4か月、四郎を中心に籠城(ろうじょう)した2万人を上回る老幼男女は、10余万の幕府諸大名軍を相手に、いわゆる四郎の旗にみられる信仰による結束を崩さなかった。首領としての非凡な資質は否定できないであろう。多くの首のなかから熊本藩士陣野佐衛門がとった首が四郎のものとされ、長崎に送られて晒(さら)された。

［中村　質　2018年3月19日］

『岡田章雄著『天草時貞』（1960／新装版・1987・吉川弘文館）』

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