was an instrument of
Spanish aggression had been engendered. Iemitsu, son of Hidetada, now
ruled in Yedo, though Hidetada himself remained "the power behind the
throne." The year (1623) of the former's accession to the shogunate
had seen the re-issue of anti-Christian decrees and the martyrdom of
some five hundred Christians within the Tokugawa domains, whither the
tide of persecution now flowed for the first time. From that period
onwards official attempts to eradicate Christianity in Japan were
unceasing. Conspicuously active in this cause were two governors of
Nagasaki, by name Mizuno and Takenaka, and the feudal chief of
Shimabara, by name Matsukura. To this last is to be credited the
terrible device of throwing converts into the solfataras at Unzen,
and under him, also, the punishment of the "fosse" was resorted to.
It consisted in suspension by the feet, head downwards in a pit until
death ensued. By many this latter torture was heroically endured to
the end, but in the case of a few the pains proved unendurable.

It is on record that the menace of a Spanish invasion seemed so
imminent to Matsukura and Takenaka that they proposed an attack on
the Philippines so as to deprive the Spaniards of their base in the
East. This bold measure failed to obtain approval in Yedo. In
proportion as the Christian converts proved invincible, the severity
of the repressive measures increased. There are no accurate
statistics showing the number of victims. Some annalists allege that
two hundred and eighty thousand perished up to the year 1635, but
that figure is probably exaggerated, for the converts do not seem to
have aggregated more than three hundred thousand at any time, and it
is probable that a majority of these, having embraced the alien creed
for light reasons, discarded it readily under menace of destruction.
"Every opportunity was given for apostatizing and for escaping death.
Immunity could be secured by pointing out a fellow convert, and when
it is observed that among the seven or eight feudatories who embraced
Christianity only two or three died in that faith, we must conclude
that not a few cases of recanting occurred among the vassals.
Remarkable fortitude, however, is said to have been displayed."
Caron, one of the Dutch traders of Hirado, writing in 1636, says:

At first the believers in Christ were only beheaded and afterwards
attached to a cross, which was considered as a sufficiently heavy
punishment. But when