Hara Castle Ruins: Minamishimabara City, Nagasaki Prefecture

The Hara Castle Ruins on the Shimabara Peninsular in Nagasaki Prefecture that stands today is just a small reminder of the Shimabara Rebellion.   It was an uprising on the Shimabara Peninsular in Nagasaki from 1637–1638 during the Edo Period.  It largely involved peasants, most of them being Catholic Christians.

It was one of only a handful of instances of serious unrest during the relatively peaceful period of the Tokugawa Shogunate's rule.  The construction of a new Castle in Shimabara City caused taxes to be drastically raised, which provoked anger from local peasants and the lord less samurai of the time. Religious persecution against the local Christians exacerbated the discontent, which turned into open revolt in 1637.  The Tokugawa Shogunate sent a force of over 125 000 troops to suppress the rebellion, and after a lengthy siege against the 37 000 rebels at Hara Castle, defeated them.

In the wake of the rebellion, the rebel leader Amakusa Shiro was beheaded and persecution of Christianity became strictly enforced. Japan's national exclusion policy was tightened and formal persecution of Christianity continued until the 1850's.

With all this knowledge and still many visual clues available today, it is quite surreal and at times a somber feeling to stroll around the ruins of the Castle and try and visualize all that anger and hatred of opposition forces coming together in death and bloodshed and in many ways a massacre of ordinary people rebellion against injustice.  The site is widely visited by many people today and is a reminder of how Christianity flourished in Japan all those years ago.

A compulsory visit by anyone interested in Christian History in Japan or any History Buff.

Come and checkout the Hara Castle Ruins in Nagasaki here on a map:

 

Click on the photos below to enlarge:

The outer walls still remain

Christian Symbols

Fight over Christianity

Amakusa Shiro, the Rebellions leader

The remains of the grounds

The site of the Christian Rebellion

Please click on this video to see more about Hara Castle:

 

Shimabara Peninsular: Nagasaki Prefecture

The Shimabara Peninsular in Nagasaki is a popular Hot Spring and hiking destination that lies to the east of Nagasaki City.  Formed by the volcanic eruptions of Mount Unzen at its center, Shimabara Peninsular was the site of several deadly volcanic eruptions, including recent eruptions in the early 1990's.

Today the volcano is dormant but its byproduct which we all love and need, piping hot spring water which we use for bathing and other activities such as steaming food and recently with the need for Japan to recycle and find a cleaner and less dangerous energy source (that being Nuclear Reactors) communities and industry are using the steam from the Hot Springs to produce electricity for everyone to use in order to make themselves self sufficient and reduce their carbon print on Mother Nature.

The Shimabara Peninsular is also known for the Shimabara Rebellion, a significant peasant uprising during the Edo Period in the 15th Century that eventually cost the life of 37 000 people of whom many were local Christians and resulted in foreigners being banned from Japan for over 200 years.  It was this incident that changed Christianity in Japan forever and it has never rebounded from its glory days of the 15th and 16th century whereby Christians were here there and everywhere.

I see the Shimabara Peninsular as a wonderful scenic spot with magnificent views all over the entire circumference.  In my point of view a picture is worth a thousand words and these pictures below will show you why I am in awe of this place and all the great things associated with living and working on the Shimabara Peninsular.

Check out the Shimabara Peninsular in Nagasaki on a map!

Click on the pictures below to enlarge:

Have a look of the Shimabara Peninsular Nagasaki taken from a mountain top and showing the Panorama that stops everyone in their tracks:




Check out this video of the Shimabara Peninsular taken from another lookout point: