Just recently I went on a Christian tour of the Hanto. The Hanto is the name of the peninsula that Shimabara is situated on, and as it turns out, it has a significant Christian history. Being an agnostic myself, I still always welcome any opportunity to learn about religion of any sort because I find it fascinating. What is particularly interesting about the Nagasaki region is that it has historically (and I believe currently) had the largest Christian population in Japan. The history is pretty bloody though, as a lot of the Christians were persecuted hundreds of years ago due to concerns about their influence leading to a possible subversion of the Japanese government. Despite an initial acceptance of Christianity when it was first brought over by Spanish, Portuguese and Italian missionaries, it soon became a source of fear, and later mistrust for the powers that be. This mistrust eventually culminated in a mass murder and torture of the followers of Christianity, with the Shimabara area serving as the main setting. Initially a few of the Christians were tortured in the boiling hot waters of the “hells” at Unzen and many were publicly executed. Later though, there were mass slaughters. During this time, a person could not declare their Christianity for fear of having their whole family killed. In addition, once a year, all the people in the region had to line up and step on an image of Christ or the Virgin Mary to prove that they did not believe either image to be holy. Those who failed to do so were immediately (again along with family and close associates) executed in a brutal way as an example to others. Many people therefore chose to hide their religion and practiced in secret. Eventually however, due to the strict rule, many of the mainly Christian peasants rebelled. The rebellion started in Shimabara, but spread quickly across the Hanto. Since they could not overtake Shimabara Castle, the rebels retreated to Hara castle instead (a 45 min drive South of Shimabara) and it was there they made their final stand. At Hara, the Christian peasants fought the onslaught of Imperial Troops well but eventually they ran out of food and having no way of getting any further resources they were overcome and slaughtered. In all, about 40,000 men, women and children were brutally killed. No one was spared. To guard against possible resurrection (since the Emperor at the time knew the Christians believed in the resurrection of Christ) the heads and feet of the dead were removed and buried separately.
That is basically the very abridged version of what happened as I understood it from our guides. But as you can imagine, the whole story goes much the same way. It made me think once again about how stupid humanity really is sometimes. I mean how many horrendous things have been done in the name of religion or some other overly rigid system of beliefs? The crusades and the Inquisition were lead by Christians, we have extremist Muslim terrorist, there are the Protestants and the Catholics who fought each other for many years, and the list goes on and on. That is the main thing about religion and generally rigid beliefs that I dislike. Although it’s not necessarily the fault of religion, but rather the fault of the occasional insanity of the human race as a whole, I suppose. I honestly and firmly believe that if a person is fully confident in their own beliefs then they will not need to persuade nor persecute others who believe differently. They shouldn’t care what others think if they know that they are right. The conflict I believe arises because people are fundamentally at their core insecure and therefore unsure of their beliefs and so the only way they can reassure themselves that their existence is not pointless is to convince everyone else to believe in the same things as they do and get rid of whoever does not. It’s ridiculous. I mean, why is it still a problem in our century for people to just live and let live? Why would reasonable, intelligent, well adjusted people hate other races, religions, or even different sexual orientations? It makes no sense. As long as what the other person is doing does not directly affect your own freedoms then what does it matter? You can go to your church, they can go to their mosque and you can meet for dinner later. One person can skip religious service altogether and go to the movies, or go volunteering, or get drunk, or whatever, and I say so what?? Just do what makes you feel good people and stop worrying so much about what others are doing. You will be a lot happier.
In any case, that is my rant for the day. I know I haven’t really gotten too serious on this blog so far, but sometimes I just gotta get this stuff out. Life is about balance after all. If anyone would care to comment, please do so – I am interested in discussion on the topic and this is probably one of the few times that I will write an entry like this.
For now though, let me get back to the Tour. Despite the grimness of the history of the area, the day of the tour was gorgeous. By the end of it we had forgotten the dark details and were just enjoying the sunshine. Jenny and I traipsed about Hara Castle (which is no longer a castle really, but only a ruin of wall and scattered rocks) and performed show tunes. We had lunch near the cliffs and talked to our Japanese tour guides about the similarities and differences between Japanese and North American society. As we were leaving, I looked around the plain of Hara Castle. Nothing betrayed the events that had taken place there hundreds of years ago. Those events of long ago are only remembered by a few now, and only one solitary monument stands in a lonely corner of the field. However, as we walked down the ramp around the castle we reached the moat where an archeological dig was taking place. Kayoko, who had helped with the dig, said it was ok to cross the barrier and so I did. As I looked around hoping to find some artifact from long ago, my eye caught on a whitish object protruding from the dirt. I picked it out and examined it. It was about half a foot long and slightly rounded. I would have guessed from my classes back in university that it was a bone. Kayoko looked over and confirmed it – I was holding a piece of a human leg bone. It was eerie to say the least, but Kayoko said that it was common to find bones everywhere there since so many people had been buried in one place. I carefully put the bone back and walked quietly back to the car, lost in thoughts of the person to whom the bone had belonged to, and trying to imagine the last moments of their life. Sometimes I really do wish I believed in God.
