The Rebellion that Began with an Account Book, and the Cannonballs Paid for with Rights

The Rebellion Began with an Account Book

The rebellion began not with a sword, but with an account book. In 1616, Matsukura Shigemasa entered Shimabara with a fief of 40,000 koku. However, Shigemasa built the new Shimabara Castle with its four-story keep, assisted with construction at Edo Castle, and even prepared to invade Luzon. This spending, far beyond the means of a 40,000-koku daimyō, fell upon the people of his domain as land taxes and corvée labor.

It is said that Shigemasa reported his domain, which was actually around 40,000 koku, as being 100,000 koku. The same was true for Amakusa, where the official koku assessment was reportedly about half the reality. The land survey registers themselves do not survive. Nevertheless, on the day the numbers in the account books were doubled, the tax rate doubled.

Unpaid Taxes Paid for with the Body

The Matsukura clan did not ease taxes even in years of poor harvest. Those who could not pay were put in water prisons, submerged up to their necks in winter water. A form of torture in which a person was dressed in a straw raincoat and set on fire was called the minoodori, or "straw coat dance." This scene was recorded by Duarte Correa, a Portuguese man in Nagasaki.

While details may differ, descriptions of the harsh rule also remain in the diary of the Dutch factory chief Nicolaes Couckebacker and in the 'Nabeshima Katsushige Kōfu.' What these different lines of records consistently convey is the fact that unpaid taxes were paid for with the body. The bodies of those unable to pay became collateral for their taxes. The shogunate began minting the domestic Kan'ei Tsūhō coins the year before this rebellion.

Besieged in Ruins

On the 25th day of the 10th month of Kan'ei 14 (1637), the Christians of Arima village attacked the magistrate's office and killed the magistrate. A boy of about sixteen, Masuda Shirō Tokisada, known as Amakusa Shirō, was made commander-in-chief. The army was actually led by rōnin who were former retainers of the Konishi and Arima clans, and by village headmen. This rebellion cannot be explained by faith or taxes alone; the theory that it was a peasant uprising is now more strongly advocated.

Some 37,000 people barricaded themselves in the ruins of Hara Castle, a castle that had been dismantled around 1616 under the "one province, one castle" law. The shogunate sent an army of over 120,000, and the commander, Itakura Shigemasa, was killed in action leading an all-out assault. His replacement, Matsudaira Nobutsuna, ceased the attacks and chose to starve them out. The core of the battle was logistics.

The Price of Cannonballs

The shogunate's camp received unexpected help. At the request of the Nagasaki magistrate, the Dutch factory chief Couckebacker sent the ship De Ryp to the waters off Shimabara and fired cannonballs at Hara Castle. For the Protestant Dutch, it was an opportunity to drive their Catholic rivals, Portugal and Spain, from the Japanese market.

The price for the cannonballs used to suppress the faith was paid with raw silk trading rights. The following year, 1639, Portuguese ships were forbidden from arriving, and in 1641, the Dutch factory was moved to Dejima. However, this bombardment did not cause the castle to fall. Its effect was limited, and it is said to have been mocked—"Is it not shameful to ask a foreign country for aid?"—leading to dissent within the shogunate and its discontinuation. After a three-month siege, the castle fell on the 28th day of the 2nd month. The number of dead varies greatly by historical source: the 'Shimabara Ki' states 1,130, the 'Arima Ikken' 2,800, and the Dutch factory chief's diary records 5,712.