Amakusa (天草), which means "Heaven's Grass," is a series of islands off the west coast of Kyushu, the southernmost of the four main islands of Japan.
The Shimabara Rebellion, also known as the Shimabara-Amakusa Rebellion or Shimabara-Amakusa Ikki (島原･天草一揆), was an uprising that occurred in the Shimabara Domain of the Tokugawa Shogunate in Japan from 17 December 1637 to 15 April 1638.
Masuda Shirō Tokisada, also known as Amakusa Shirō, was a Japanese Christian of the Edo period and leader of the Shimabara Rebellion, an uprising of Japanese Roman Catholics against the Shogunate. His Christian name was Geronimo and was later known as Francisco.
Shimabara Castle, also known as Moritake Castle and Takaki Castle, is a Japanese castle located in Shimabara, Hizen Province. This five-story white building stands in stark contrast to the black Kumamoto Castle in neighboring Kumamoto Prefecture.
Karatsu Castle is a Japanese castle located in Karatsu, Saga Prefecture, Japan. It is a hirayamajiro, a castle built on a plain rather than a hill or mountain. At the end of the Edo period, Karatsu castle was home to the Ogasawara clan, daimyō of Karatsu Domain. It was also known as "Dancing Crane Castle".
Minamiarima was a town located in Minamitakaki District, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan.
Ninja Resurrection, known in Japan as Makai Tenshō: Jigoku Hen is a two-part original video animation directed by Yasunori Urata.
Akechi Hidemitsu was a Japanese samurai of the Sengoku period. A senior retainer of Oda Nobunaga's vassal Akechi Mitsuhide, he served Mitsuhide until the latter's death in 1582 at the hands of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. He is also known as Akechi Mitsuharu.
Matsukura Shigemasa was a Japanese feudal lord of the late Sengoku and early Edo periods. He held the title of Bingo no Kami and the Imperial court rank of junior 5th, lower grade. Though he began as a retainer of Tsutsui Sadatsugu of Yamato Province, he became a lord in his own right, acquiring the 60,000 koku Shimabara Domain in Kyushu, in 1600. He is most famous for being the lord whose domain was the center of the Shimabara Rebellion of 1638.
Samurai Reincarnation is a 1981 Japanese fantasy film written and directed by Kinji Fukasaku and starring Sonny Chiba, Kenji Sawada, and Hiroyuki Sanada. It is based on the novel of the same name by Futaro Yamada.
Amakusa 1637 is a shōjo manga written and illustrated by Michiyo Akaishi. It is about the time-traveling adventures of six modern-day Japanese high school students from the St. Francisco Academy to the 17th century, where they take part in the Shimabara Rebellion. It was serialized in the manga magazine Petit Flower from 2000 to 2002 and in Flowers from 2002 to 2006, and was collected in 12 tankōbon volumes.
Terazawa Hirotaka (寺沢広高) was a Japanese daimyō of the early Edo period. Hirotaka was the builder of Karatsu Castle. He was a retainer of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, became lord of Karatsu in 1595.
The Hizen-Arima clan is a Japanese samurai family. From 1695 until 1871 they ruled the Maruoka Domain as daimyo. They were appointed Viscount after the Meiji Restoration.
Nicolaes, Nicolaas, or Nicolas Coeckebacker or Couckebacker was twice Chief of the Dutch trading factory at Hirado, the Japanese trading post of the Dutch East India Company. He arrived in 1633 and stayed until fall 1635. His second stay as VOC Opperhoofd in Hirado was from 1637 till 1639.
The history of Kumamoto Prefecture has been documented from paleolithic times to the present. Kumamoto Prefecture is the eastern half of Hinokuni, and corresponds to what was once called Higo Province. Exceptions are the parts of Kuma District, which had once been part of Sagara Domain, and Nagashima which was included in Kagoshima Prefecture.
Hosokawa Tatsutaka was a Japanese samurai in the Sengoku period.
The siege of Hara Castle was the final battle of the Shimabara Rebellion. The news of an upcoming Shogunate army forced the rebel forces to retreat to the south, where they fortified themselves in the dilapidated Hara Castle and withstood a two-month siege, inflicting heavy casualties on the government troops.
The Battle of Fukae Village was the first recorded engagement of the Shimabara Rebellion. It was an early rebel victory against a punitive expedition sent from Shimabara Castle.
The siege of Shimabara Castle was an unsuccessful siege of the Shimabara Castle by rebel peasants and ronin during Shimabara Rebellion. Although the castle garrison was too weak to defend the castle town, which was completely looted and burned down, the numerically superior rebels were not able to storm the heavily fortified citadel. After a siege that lasted for 20 days, the news of an upcoming Shogunate army forced the rebel forces to retreat to the south, where they fortified themselves in the dilapidated Hara Castle.
The siege of Tomioka Castle was a defeat of the rebel peasants and ronin during Shimabara Rebellion. After a successful uprising in Shimabara Domain, several thousand of rebels crossed the sea to the nearby Amakusa islands, domain of the Terazawa family, to help the local Christians who rose to arms at the same time. The local Terazawa samurai suffered a devastating defeat at Hondo Castle, but the survivors took refuge in Tomioka Castle, where they were able to repulse several assaults.
Tokugawa shogunate 
