Photo/Illutration One of the hand-written letters was addressed to Murata Unnaki and dated Aug. 19, 1609. (Provided by the Hagi Museum)

Scholars expressed amazement at the discovery of three letters written in the hand of Julia Otaa, a Korean woman who rose to high rank in 17th century Japan only to earn the moniker of “tragic Christian” for refusing to renounce her faith.

The Hagi Museum in Hagi, Yamaguchi Prefecture, announced April 19 that letters penned by her were donated by descendants of Otaa’s younger brother.

The trove also included a garment worn by renowned shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616) before it was gifted to Otaa’s younger brother.

Museum officials called the items “extremely valuable historical records.”

Otaa was mentioned in records kept by Jesuit priests in the 17th century.

Details of her early life are sketchy, but it is believed Otaa was 14 years old when she was seized as a hostage in Korea and taken to Japan during the invasion of the peninsula by the warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537–1598).

In Japan, she was raised by Konishi Yukinaga, a Christian feudal lord who took part in the invasion and baptized as a Christian.

Julia was her Christian name, and her Japanese name was “Taa.”

After Yukinaga was defeated in the historic 1600 Battle of Sekigahara and executed, Otaa became a lady-in-waiting to Tokugawa Ieyasu.

But it is believed she was banished to Izu Oshima island south of Edo (modern-day Tokyo) for refusing to abandon her faith after Ieyasu banned Christianity in 1612 and lived the rest of her life in exile.

Her tragic life was made into a musical and a novel.

The three hand-written letters were passed down in the Murata family, a retainer family of the Choshu Domain (modern-day Yamaguchi Prefecture).

One of the letters is dated Aug. 19, 1609. 

In it, Otaa asked about the identity of a man in the Mori family, which was the ruling family of the Choshu Domain.

Otaa wrote that she had heard there was a man in the Mori family who resembled her younger brother whom she hadn’t seen since she left the Korean Peninsula.

“The letter was addressed to Unnaki. He was Murata Unnaki, the founder of the Murata family. It is believed that he was Otaa’s younger brother himself (who was taken to Japan from the Korean Peninsula separately from Otaa),” said Masako Fukushima, an associate professor of history of Japanese clothes at Gakushuin Women’s College.

“I believe the letter Otaa sent (to Unnaki) was passed down (in the Murata family).”

The descendants of Unnaki also donated a kosode, a type of short-sleeved Japanese traditional garment, to the museum.

It was worn by Ieyasu and gifted to Unnaki.

It is believed that Ieyasu gave the garment to Unnaki when the pair met through Otaa.

Ieyasu also gave Unnaki a horse and a sword.

Five Tokugawa family crests, called Aoi, are dyed on the kosode.

It is highly likely that Ieyasu wore it, according to the museum.

Otaa was described only as a “woman of high status who was born in Goryeo (a state that governed the medieval Korean Peninsula)” in previously discovered records.

No document had been discovered in Japan to support that assertion, however.

Masakazu Asami, a professor of Christian history in Japan at Keio University in Tokyo said: “We can learn from the letters that Otaa was from an aristocratic class of the Korean dynasty. In addition, the letters describe in her own words the experience of being caught by Japanese forces that came to attack the Korean capital and separated from her brother. They are extremely valuable records.”

Otaa’s letters and the kosode is currently displayed at a special exhibition at Hagi Museum until June 18.

The museum will be closed between June 14 and June 16.

An article in the July issue of the art study magazine “Kokka” will delve into the stunning discovery.

Related News