Julia Otaa

Japanese: ジュリアおたあ - ＪｕｌｉａＯｔａ

Year of birth: Year of birth and death unknown. A Korean Christian maid to Tokugawa Ieyasu. During the Bunroku-Keicho War (1st year of Bunroku - 3rd year of Keicho), she was captured by Konishi Yukinaga and sent to Japan, where she became a Christian in the Konishi family. Her baptismal name was Julia. After Konishi was defeated in the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, she stayed in both Fushimi and Sunpu castles as Ieyasu's "wife's servant," and maintained contact with missionaries. When the Christian ban came into force in 1617, she refused to renounce her faith, and was exiled to Oshima, Niijima, and Kozushima in Izu. She seems to have left the island in 1619, and by the end of the same year, she was in Nagasaki. According to a letter from Father Pacheco dated January 5, 1622 (February 15, 1622), "Ota Julia of Coraijin" was in Osaka and receiving financial support from the priest. Her grave is said to be in the exile cemetery on Kozushima Island. In 1958, a Korean Catholic living in Japan erected a cross there. In 1970, the Julia Memorial Society was formed, and a Julia festival is held every May. In Korea, she is revered as a saint. <References> Luis de Medina, "Goryeo, Far Away"

(Takashi Gonoi)

Source: Asahi Japanese Historical Biography: Asahi Shimbun Publications Inc. About Asahi Japanese Historical Biography

Japanese:

生年：生没年不詳
徳川家康侍女の朝鮮人キリシタン。文禄・慶長の役(文禄1～慶長3)に小西行長に捕らわれて日本に送られ小西家でキリシタンとなる。洗礼名ジュリア。慶長5(1600)年の関ケ原の役で小西が敗れたのち,家康「奥方ノ御物仕」として伏見,駿府両城にあり宣教師と接触を保つ。同17年キリシタン禁教令施行に際し棄教を拒み,伊豆の大島,新島さらに神津島に流刑となる。元和5(1619)年に同島を離れたらしく同年末には長崎にあり,同8年1月5日(1622.2.15)付のパシェコ神父の書翰によると「コライジンCoraijinのオタ・ジュリア」は大坂にいて同神父の経済的援助を得ていた。神津島の流人墓地に彼女の墓と伝えられるものがある。昭和33(1958)年在日韓国人カトリック信者が,同地に十字架を立てた。同45年ジュリア顕彰会が組織され毎年5月ジュリア祭が催されている。韓国では聖女として敬愛されている。<参考文献>ルイズ・デ・メディナ『遥かなる高麗』

(五野井隆史)

出典　朝日日本歴史人物事典：（株）朝日新聞出版朝日日本歴史人物事典について　情報

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