Masuda Tokisada

Japanese: 益田時貞 - ますだ・ときさだ

Year of death: February 28, 15 (April 12, 1638)
Year of birth: Kan'ei 1? (1624)
A leader of the Shimabara-Amakusa Rebellion in the early Edo period. Also known as Amakusa Tokisada. Commonly known as Amakusa Shiro. He was the eldest son of Masuda Jinbei, a ronin of the Konishi family who returned to farming in Ebe Village, Uto County, Higo Province (Kumamoto Prefecture), and was baptized as Geronimo. He began learning calligraphy at the age of nine and began studying at age 12, occasionally traveling to Nagasaki to study. Half of Higo Province was the territory of the Christian daimyo Konishi Yukinaga, so the number of Christians increased among his vassals and subjects, but even after the lord changed and the ban on Christianity was enforced, they continued to live within the domain, either in hiding or having ostensibly abandoned their faith. The Christian ronin hiding in the Amakusa Islands mentioned a book left by an exiled missionary that said that in 26 years, a good man would be born, and that the child would master all things without learning, and that miraculous things would appear in the heavens, the earth, and nature, and white flags would be raised in the fields and mountains, crosses would be placed on people's heads, and everything would be burned down, and they spread the word that this good man was Shiro. From the perspective of the Catholic Church, this was a folk heresy, but the reason for the rallying around 16-year-old Shiro is said to be because the Noriwara folk custom, in which young children are the abode of God, was alive in this area. Some of the miracles that Shiro is said to have performed include when he held out his hand, a dove flew down from the sky and laid an egg in his palm, and when he broke the egg, a Christian sutra appeared inside, a sparrow perched on a bamboo stick did not fly away even when the branch was broken, and he walked across the sea to Yushima, located halfway between Amakusa and Arima. Just before the uprising, he traveled with his father to Oyano Island in Amakusa, where his relatives lived, and was regarded as an "angel of heaven" by the peasants of Shimabara and Amakusa who had reverted to Christianity, and was selected as the "leader" of the uprising, which is said to number more than 20,000 to 30,000. The peasant struggle that began in October 1637 due to the harsh rule of the Shimabara feudal lord (Matsukura Shigemasa, who entered the domain in 1616, and his son Katsuie, who succeeded him in 1631), rapidly spread to the entire domain, and merging with the Amakusa uprising, it turned into a religious uprising, and in the form of fanatical Shiro worship, it drew out the strength to fight without fear of death, prepared for martyrdom. Under various persecutions and policies of indoctrination, the peasants of Shimabara and Amakusa had renounced their Christianity, but they quickly reverted to Christianity in the struggle against the tyranny of the feudal lord, which was originally forbidden by the Church. At the end of that same year, while under siege at Hara Castle, Shiro is said to have preached sermons and presided over mass. Shiro's mother (baptized as Marta), who was about 50 years old, his older sister (baptized as Resina), who was 22 or 23 years old, and his younger sister Man, who was about 7 years old, were captured before they entered the castle and used to persuade them to surrender. The rebels fought bravely, killing the Shogunate envoy Itakura Shigemasa in battle on New Year's Day the following year, 15, but the castle finally fell in an all-out attack by the suppression forces on February 28th and 29th. After the castle fell, Shiro's mother was forced to inspect the head, and it was discovered that a retainer of the Hosokawa clan had killed Shiro. The head was sent to Nagasaki and put on public display. His mother and sisters were later executed as well. <References> Okada Akio, "Amakusa Tokisada"

(Katsumi Fukaya)

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

Japanese:

没年：寛永15.2.28(1638.4.12)
生年：寛永1?(1624)
江戸前期の島原・天草一揆の指導者。天草時貞とも呼ばれる。通称,天草四郎。肥後国(熊本県)宇土郡江部村に帰農した小西家浪人益田甚兵衛の長男で,洗礼名ジェロニモ。9歳で手習いを始め12歳から学問をし,長崎へもときどきでかけて学んだという。肥後国はその半国がキリシタン大名小西行長の領地であったため,家臣にも領民にもキリシタンが増えたが,藩主が変わりキリシタン禁制が強制されてのちも,潜伏あるいは表向き棄教したかたちで領内に住んでいた。天草諸島に潜むキリシタン浪人たちは,追放されたバテレンが残した書物に,26年後に善人ひとりが誕生し,その幼な子が習わないのに諸事を極め,天地自然に不思議な事が顕現し,野山に白旗が立ち,諸人の頭に十字架が立つであろう,全てが焼け果てるであろう,とあると触れ,その善人が四郎に当たると宣伝した。ローマ教会からすれば土俗的な異端教説であるが,16歳の四郎への結集は童児が神の依りましとなるノリワラの民俗がこの地に生きていたためとされる。四郎が起こした奇跡といわれるものに,手をさしのべると空から鳩が舞い降りて掌に卵を生み,その卵を割ると中からキリシタンの経文があらわれた,竹に止まっている雀を枝ごと折っても逃げなかった,天草と有馬の中間にある湯島まで海の上を歩いて渡った,などがある。一揆直前に親類の住む天草の大矢野島に父と渡り,キリシタンに立ち帰った島原・天草の百姓に「天之使」とみなされ,2万余とも3万以上ともいわれる一揆の「大将」に推戴された。島原領主(1616年入部した松倉重政,31年跡を継いだその子勝家)の苛政を原因として寛永14(1637)年10月に始まった農民の闘争は急速に全藩域に拡大,天草の蜂起とも合流して宗教一揆に変わり,熱狂的な四郎崇拝のかたちになって殉教の覚悟で死を恐れず闘う力が引き出された。さまざまな迫害・教化政策のもとで,島原・天草の農民はキリシタンであることを棄てていたが,元来教会から禁じられている領主の苛政に対する闘いのなかで,急速に復宗したのである。同年末原城の籠城態勢のなかで,四郎は説教を行いミサを主宰したといわれる。四郎の50歳ほどの母(洗礼名マルタ)と22,3歳の姉(洗礼名レシイナ),7歳ほどの妹まんは城に入る前に捕らえられ,降伏の説得工作に利用された。一揆勢は翌15年元旦,幕府上使板倉重昌を戦死させるなど果敢に闘うが,鎮圧軍側による2月28,29日の総攻撃でついに落城。落城後,母親が首実検させられて,細川藩の家臣が四郎を討ち取ったことが判明した。その首は長崎に送られて晒首にされた。のちに母や姉妹も処刑された。<参考文献>岡田章雄『天草時貞』

(深谷克己)

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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