Comprised of 120 islands in the Shiranui Sea off the southwestern coast of the Kumamoto Prefecture, Amakusa is one of the hidden jewels of Japan, offering unending breathtaking landscapes and an interesting history.
Amakusa is best known for its historic ties with Christianity, which was introduced in Japan in 1549 and in Amakusa in 1566, when one of the wealthy clans in the area requested Cosme de Torres, a Jesuit priest who had arrived at Kagoshima with Francis Xavier, to send a Catholic missionary to the islands. This request was quickly granted and a Catholic church was built in Amakusa in the same year.
For the next several decades, Christianity spread throughout Amakusa and the rest of Japan, and several ruling clans and lords were baptized. One such lord was Konishi Yukinaga, who served under Toyotomi Hideyoshi during his invasion of Kyushu, and as such, was awarded Amakusa and parts of Higo province as his fief. Later on, Yukinaga also participated in the invasion of Korea alongside Kato Kiyomasa, another powerful lord.
Under the rule of Yukinaga, Amakusa enjoyed peace and the Christians, fair treatment. However, after the execution of Yukinaga following the defeat of Hideyoshi’s forces at the Battle of Sekigahara, Amakusa fell under the Terasawa family and began to experience excessive repression and ostracism.
The imposition of higher taxes on the peasants in the area, most of whom were Christians, was the final blow. In 1637, many of the Christian inhabitants of Amakusa, together with those in neighboring Shimabara, rose up in rebellion, led by 15 year-old Amakusa Shiro.
The Shimabara Rebellion lasted four months, eventually quelled by military forces sent by Tokugawa Ieyasu, the new shogun, during the siege of Hara Castle. Amakusa Shiro was executed after the fall of the castle, and his head was displayed on a pike in Nagasaki as a warning against future rebellions.
Following the end of the rebellion, Amakusa was placed under the direct rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the formal persecution of the Christians in Japan began.
Fearful but clinging to their faith, the Christians in Amakusa started an underground movement and the culture of Hidden Christians began. Members of the movement continued practicing Christianity under the guise of Buudhism, even praying to Buddha statues that had carvings of Jesus and Mary on the opposite side. Today, these statues can be seen in several of the islands’ museums and churches, which were erected after the ban on Christianity was lifted in the late 19th century, the most famous of which are the Romanesque Oe-Tenshudo Church and the Gothic Sakitsu-Tenshudo Church.
Aside from its rich Christian heritage, Amakusa is also known for the beaches along its rugged coastline, for its fine porcelain stones, its spectacular sunsets, its summer festival and the dolphins which frequent its waters all year round.