THE 420TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 26 CHRISTIAN MARTYRS OF JAPAN (FEBRUARY 5)

            Every year on this date, February 5, the comrades of Unit 1012, will honor the Twenty-six Martyrs of Japan. We will do something similar here, every February 5 we will get 26 Christian Martyrs who either were martyred or murdered and honor them on February 5, June 8 and September 14 every year.

             

日本二十六聖人
26 мучеників Японії
Twenty-six Martyrs of Japan

The Twenty-six Martyrs of Japan (日本二十六聖人 Nihon Nijūroku Seijin^?) refers to a group of Christians who were executed by crucifixion on February 5, 1597 at Nagasaki. Their martyrdom is especially significant in the history of Roman Catholicism in Japan.

A promising beginning to Catholic missions in Japan — perhaps as many as 300,000 Christians by the end of the sixteenth century — met complications from competition between the missionary groups, political difficulty between Spain and Portugal, and factions within the government of Japan. Christianity was suppressed, and it was during this time that the 26 martyrs were executed. By 1630, Christianity had been driven underground. Two hundred and fifty years later, when Christian missionaries returned to Japan, they found a community of "hidden Christians" that had survived underground.