205 Martyrs of Japan

Christian missionaries arrived with Francis Xavier and the Jesuits in the 1540s and briefly flourished, with over 100,000 converts, including many daimyōs in Kyushu. The shogunate and imperial government at first supported the Catholic mission and the missionaries, thinking that they would reduce the power of the Buddhist monks, and help trade with Spain and Portugal. However, the Shogunate was also wary of colonialism, seeing that the Spanish had taken power in the Philippines, after converting the population. It soon met resistance from the highest office holders of Japan.[1] Emperor Ogimachi issued edicts to ban Catholicism in 1565 and 1568, but to little effect. Beginning in 1587 with imperial regent Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s ban on Jesuit missionaries, Christianity was repressed as a threat to national unity.[2] After the Tokugawa shogunate banned Christianity in 1620, it ceased to exist publicly. Many Catholics went underground, becoming hidden Christians (隠れキリシタン, kakure kirishitan), while others lost their lives. Only after the Meiji Restoration, was Christianity re-established in Japan.

The first group of martyrs, known as the Twenty-Six Martyrs of Japan (1597), were canonized by the Church in 1862 by Pope Pius IX.[3]

The same pope beatified the second group, known as the 205 Martyrs of Japan (1598–1632), in 1867.

The persecution of Missionaries and Christian followers continued after the martyrdom of the twenty-six souls in 1597. Jesuit fathers and others who had successfully fled to the Philippines wrote reports which led to a pamphlet that was printed in Madrid in 1624 "A Short Account of the Great and Rigorous Martyrdom, which last year (1622) was suffered in Japan by One Hundred and Eighteen Martyrs'.[4]

Through the promulgation of decree on martyrdom, Pope Pius IX venerated these martyrs on 26 February 1866 and beatified them on 26 May 1867.[5] This group is also known as Alfonso Navarrette Benito, Perdo of Ávila, Carlo Spinola, Ioachim Díaz Hirayama, Lucia de Freitas, and 200 companions.[6]

• Christianity in Japan
• Kirishitan
• Martyrs of Japan
• Nanban trade
• Paulo Miki
• Roman Catholicism in Japan
• Twenty-Six Martyrs Museum and Monument

• The 26 Martyrs Museum in Nagasaki City, Japan
• Catholic Bishops Conference of Japan: Timeline of the Catholic Church in Japan
• Daughters of St. Paul Convent, Tokyo, Japan: Prohibition of Christian religion by Hideyoshi and the 26 martyrs
•  Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Japanese Martyrs". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
• The Japanese Martyrs
• Nagasaki Wiki: Detailed Access Information from Nagasaki Station to 26 Martyrs Monument
• 2008 Beatification of Japanese Martyrs
• Kirish'tan: Heaven's Samurai, a historical novel that includes the story of the Twenty-six Martyrs
• Britto, Francis. All About Francis Xavier