KUMAMOTO--The trek for an annual ritual started here in frigid predawn temperatures so that participants could experience some degree of suffering.

Alessandro Turco, a 67-year-old Italian Catholic priest, and two of his male followers departed from the Shimasaki Catholic Church in the Kumamoto’s Nishi Ward around 5 a.m. on Jan. 30.

The temperature was 0.7 degree.

They walked along a dark street, chanting: “Hail Mary, full of grace. The lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women ... .”

Twenty minutes later, they arrived at Zenjoji, a Zen temple of the Soto school of Buddhism in Chuo Ward.

Joined by five more followers, they headed to the main hall where they were greeted by chief priest Yushin Saishorin.

“It must have been cold out there. Please come in,” he said.
Saishorin chanted a sutra in front of a Buddhist “ihai” memorial tablet that read, “Martyrs: Mourning Ogasawara Genya and 14 others.”

Each member of the Catholic group offered incense to the tablet. Turco sang a Gregorian chant at the end.

Ogasawara Genya was a retainer of the feudal Hosokawa clan that ruled what is now Kumamoto Prefecture. He and his family were Christians who were repeatedly pressed to renounce their faith.

When they refused for the last time, Genya, his wife, their nine children and four servants were beheaded on Jan. 30, 1636, at the same place.

According to Mitsuyuki Takagi, an 86-year-old member of the Catholic church, the church has been associated with the Buddhist temple for more than 100 years. 

But at least 20 years ago, a Christian priest came up with the idea of visiting the temple before dawn.

After Turco and the group left Zenjoji, they headed to Mount Hanaokayama by car or on foot to visit Genya’s family grave halfway up the mountain in Nishi Ward. The grave was discovered during the Bunsei Era in the late Edo Period (1603-1867).

The group grew to nearly 20 followers. They offered an early morning prayer and hoisted a flag bearing the name of each martyr.

The last words of Genya’s wife were recited during the prayer: “How grateful it is to receive such an honor as a martyr when I am a weak woman.”

The service continued for about an hour and ended just after 6:30 a.m., more than 30 minutes before sunrise.

The temperature was minus 0.2 degree at 6 a.m.

Turco explained that the ritual is performed before dawn mainly because the family was also executed in the early hours.

“Although we can never get even close to their level, we want to feel their suffering, even if only slightly,” Turco said.

Genya and his family were beatified by the pope in 2007, the step before sainthood.

HOW LEGACY ENDURED

Tsuguharu Inaba, head of Kumamoto University’s Eisei Bunko Research Center, and special researcher Noriko Goto, who both study documents left by the Hosokawa clan, explained the background of Genya and his family.

They said powerful warlord Ishida Mitsunari had tried to take Hosokawa Gracia (1563-1600), the wife of rival Hosokawa Tadaoki and a known Christian, for himself.

Gracia refused. She instructed a “karo” top-ranking samurai official to kill her, saying suicide was unforgivable for Christians.

The karo was Ogasawara Genya’s father, Shosai.

Shosai also killed himself, but he was highly respected for protecting the honor of the Hosokawa clan.

Genya was initially spared from execution for not renouncing his faith.

But Christians were severely persecuted under the rule of the third shogun, Tokugawa Iemitsu.

Gracia’s son Tadatoshi, who succeeded his father as leader of the Hosokawa clan, as well as Tadaoki continued to press Genya to renounce his Christianity.

Tadatoshi himself had suggested introducing an informant system to find hidden Christians.

So when the Nagasaki “bugyo” magistrate received an anonymous tip-off about Genya, the lord couldn’t prevent the execution of Genya and his family.

The Christian family faded into oblivion. And their wills were later lost in the Seinan War, a rebellion that took place in the Kyushu region against the Meiji government in 1877.

But a Hosokawa clan retainer had copied their wills, thinking it would be a waste to lose them despite not fully understanding the content.

If the retainer had known they were written by the martyrs, the retainer would likely have avoided the documents for fear of being labeled a secret Christian.

Because of the retainer’s work, the martyrs are still remembered to this day.