50 Martyrs
On December 4, 1623, 50 followers of Christ were marched from the center of Edo Tokyo to a hill just outside the city gate, where they were bound to wooden poles and burned alive. On Christmas Day, the authorities repeated this horrific act for 37 others, wives and children of the previous martyrs and those who gave them shelter.(1) One of the largest public executions of Christians in Japanese history, this atrocity put their faith and loyalty to God on full display.
On a cold winter morning almost 400 years later, I followed their path with a group of Japanese Christian leaders and pastors. Snow blew in our faces as we endured the strong winds rushing between the rows of skyscrapers that now line the streets of central Tokyo. Each of us held a piece of paper with the name of one martyr from that day. Mine read “Peter” Shozaburo. Who was this man? What was his story? I know nothing about him but his name.
After an eight-hour walk, we approached the end of their journey in what is now the bustling train station of Shinagawa, following noisy railroad tracks of what used to be the coastline of Tokyo Bay. My body shivered. My feet ached. How much worse it must have been for the men on that day centuries earlier! Only one large foundation of stone remained of the ancient city gate. Only a small memorial stone hidden in the shadow of a large office building remained of the former martyrs’ hill.
47 Ronin
Mere minutes away on another hilltop, the famous temple of Sengakuji marks the end of another historic march. On January 31, 1703, 47 ronin samurai with no master traversed heavy snows from the city’s center following the very same road as the martyrs, carrying the decapitated head of their enemy in a bucket! Their vengeance for the death of their master became known as the Ako Incident. To atone for their crime, by order of the shogun, they committed seppuku death by a self-inflicted stab to their stomachs and were buried there at the temple. Today, businessmen and women continue to visit their graves and honor them for their loyalty to their master to the point of death.
Walking through the cold winter wind, I thought about these two groups of men, the 50 martyrs and the 47 ronin. Both marched to the edge of the city to show loyalty to their master. Both climbed a hill to their place of execution. The 50 martyrs, all but forgotten to the general public but gaining eternal life with their master, and the 47 ronin, continuously immortalized in movies, books, and art. The 50 followers of Christ marched for their heavenly Lord. The 47 ronin for their earthly lord.
One Lord of All
Walking that road, I thought about all the similarities and differences to the death of Jesus Christ. He, too, marched through the city and up a hill to his place of execution. He, too, was publicly displayed as a criminal. The crime of the ronin was murder. The crime of the martyrs was faith. The only crime of Jesus was love. The martyrs and ronin gave their lives for their master above them, but Jesus gave his life for the sinners beneath him. We should be serving Jesus, but Jesus instead served us.
“[He] emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant. . . . He humbled himself by becoming [loyal] to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:7–8)
The loyalty of the Son of God changes lives, because he personally walked that path at the penalty of death, in order to open the path of eternal life for us.
(1) Read more at https://russellstutler.com/russ/kirishitan.html.
Excerpt from "Hidden Beauty: Seeing God in Japan" by Roger W. Lowther
Execution site of 50 Christian martyrs on December 4 & 25, 1623
Graveyard of the 47 ronin