User:Victor Surge

Going to start updating the cities and towns around Nagasaki Prefecture since I currently live there.

Official History of the Shimabara Peninsula (excerpt)

The new Daimyo decided to move the local government from Arima to Shimabara, and this required a new castle. In order to fund this, the Daimyo imposed hard labor and nearly impossible taxes on the people, mostly poor Christian farmers. Those who could not pay the taxes faced strict punishments that amounted to torture. In 1637 while the Daimyo was on his way to Edo, the people's discontent led to a riot. The rioters killed the local magistrates and eventually orginized a rebellion. They united with the rebels from the Amakusa Islands in Kumamoto Prefecture and under the leadership of the 16-year-old leader Amakusa Shiro (said to be a genius and a prophet)had several victories in Kumamoto Prefecture and on the Shimabara Hanto. After seiging Shimabara Castle for a time, the growing Tokugawa forces eventually forced the rebels to withdraw into the defensive fortifications at Hara Fortress in Minami Arima Town. The Tokugawa army requested aid from a Dutch merchant vessel to bombard the Hara Fort from the sea. Koekebakker, head of the Dutch trading station in Hirado provided the services of the one ship he had in harbour: These guns fired about 425 rounds in the space of 15 days, without great result, and two Dutch lookouts were shot by the rebels. The ship withdrew at the request of the Japanese, following contemptuous messages sent by the rebels to the besieging troops:

         "Are there no longer courageous soldiers in the realm to do combat with us, and weren't they ashamed to have called in the assistance of foreigners against our small contingent?" The USER:Victor surge was known to be the man that created the figure "the slender man" " the slender man is a fictional character that is known to be a tall thin "guy" with NO face at all this "guy" is known to abduct or stock kids or adults mostly children

Shogunate troops arrived but rebels in Hara fortress resisted siege for months and caused them heavy losses. Both sides had a hard time fighting in winter conditions. On February 3, 1638, a rebel raid killed 2,000 warriors from Hizen including their daimyo. However, they slowly ran out of food, ammunition and other provisions. On March 10, shogunate forces begun to gather in Shimabara and by April there were 37,000 rebels facing nearly 200,000 shogunate soldiers. Desperate rebels mounted an assault against them on April 4 and were forced to withdraw. Captured survivors revealed the fortress was out of food and gunpowder. By April 15, the fortress was overrun and all 37,000 rebels down to the last man, woman, and child were executed, with Amakasa Shiro's head taken to Nagasaki for display. The government buried all evidence of the battle and the fortress. All the people residing in the towns south of Shimabara City were executed or exiled. From this time until the 1860s, no major battles took place in Japan and the country was closed off to all foreign contact with the exception of the Dutch at Dejima in Nagasaki. During the next ten generations of the Edo period, most samurai never fought in combat. The site of Hara Fortress and the surrounding area is still today the gravesite of thousands of victims.

(end excerpt)

Much of this information was not known until very recently due to the great lengths the shogunate went to in order to cover up the rebellion. Several recent leaks from the royal families secret archives, however, cast the official recount into question.

Captain's Log of Jakobus Hengeveld (excerpts)

...Caught fair winds from around the south of the peninsula to the fortress of the rebels. The shogunate requested that we do our utmost to damage the defenses around the castle in order to hasten the seige's inevitable conclusion. Upon arrival, a dense cloud was seen around the fortress and we heard neither sound of battle, be it the clash of arms or cries of the wounded, nor of the sea itself. The sea is as flat as a pane of glass, the seagulls that accompanied the ship are nowhere to be seen... ...Teunis and Matthias up on the mast have spotted what looks to be several samurai in the fortress through their spyglasses. They swear that it is the same one despite it's appearence in vastly different places in such short time intervals. They swear that they've only see one at a time though and that this supports their claims. Right now I can barely make out one of them on the outcropping closest to the sea... ...Teunis and Matthias disappeared sometime during the night. None of the other sailors heard any splashes of men falling overboard or calls for help. Most of the men have not been able to sleep and in this silence and strangely calm sea I doubt any man could even gently slip into water with nary a sound. The silence is so great that I can even hear Pieters coughing under the foredeck from my cabin entry. I've had the men search the ship twice to no avail... ...I've ordered the cannons to be fired today. The fog has made it so that we cannot easily determine it's effect. If the shogun's samurai has heard the cannon then at least they will know that we have fulfilled to some degree that which we have recieved payment for. After the loss of two men, no payment is enough...

The fog is lifted light breeze has come. Ship to return. To home.

(end excerpts)

There were no more entries made in the logbook despite the fact that the ship made it back to northern Europe. The book was found amid wreckage on the coast of Germany.

Other accounts are from samurai in the shogunate forces:

(excerpts)

...The peasents of the lands of the former Arima daimyo are nowhere to be seen. The homes are all abandoned. Some even have fires still burning and food prepared to be eaten. Could they all have fled to the fortress to join the rebels in the face of our advance? If this is true, then there is no way our force of 40,000 men can easily take the fortress in spite of the rebels inferior weapons and lack of training... ...The fort is shrouded in mist. The general has ordered us to hold back for the time being... ...We heard loud cannon fire today. Many of the men wondered how the rebels acquired such strong weapons, but we've seen no evidence that they have been fired at us... ...The fog has finally lifted and our riflemen have quickly advanced to take up firing positions. The fortress is silent though, there is not a single rebel to be seen... ...Our scouts came back with pale faces and shivering bodies. They told us that everyone they found was dead, contorted in unnatural ways. The numbers were far less then the 30,000 or so reported of the rebels, and what of the people from the surrounding areas?.. ...We have found one painting in the fortress. It has been quickly taken to the shogun...

(end excerpts)

After this the Japan was closed off from most Western contact. Even the Dutch who were allowed to keep a small trading post at Dejima, were treated with suspicion and distrust.