followers. To make room for these new retainers the old ones
were displaced placed from their dwellings and holdings, and compelled to
become farmers or to take up any other occupation which they could find.
Like the _samurai_ of other parts of Japan who had been unaccustomed to
any calling except that of arms, these displaced retainers proved very
unsuccessful farmers, and were of course very much dissatisfied with the
new course of things. The daimyo was a cruel and inconsiderate man, who
made small account of the hardships and complaints of the _samurai_
farmers. The taxes were made heavier than they could pay, and when they
failed to bring in the required amount of rice, he ordered them to be
dressed in straw rain-coats which were tied around their neck and arms.
Their hands were fastened behind their backs, and in this helpless
condition the rain-coats were set on fire. Many were fatally burned, and
some to escape the burning threw themselves into the water and were
drowned.

This senseless cruelty awakened an intense feeling of hatred against the
daimyo. And when his son who succeeded him was disposed to continue the
same tyrannical policy, the farmers rose in insurrection against their
lord. The peasants of the island of Amakusa, which lies directly opposite
to the province of Arima, also joined in this rising, owing to their
discontent against the daimyo of Karatsu.

The Christians, who had so long groaned under the persecutions of their
rulers, seized this opportunity to rise, and joined the farmers. They
declared that the time had now come for them to avenge the innocent blood
of Christians and priests who had perished throughout the empire. The
rising of the Christians began at the village of Oyei in Amakusa, October,
1637. The excitement was intense, and in a few days it is said that eight
thousand three hundred men and one thousand women were assembled at this
village. They chose as their chief Shiro Tokisada, the son of the head man
of the village of Hara, who proposed to march immediately upon Nagasaki
and open negotiations with foreign nations, and if possible obtain from
them the help of troops. He was an enthusiast and without experience in
war. The leading spirit in the insurrection seems to have been a
_ronin_(217) named Ashizuka, who recommended that the insurgents should
cross over to Shimabara. But Shiro and his enthusiastic followers resolved
to attack the castle of Tomioka situated on the north-