Hara Castle

Hara Castle was originally built in 1496 as a subsidiary fortification to nearby Hinoe Castle, with upgrades made from 1599 to 1604. Later dismantled and abandoned by the then daimyo (lord) Matsukura Shigemasa (1574-1630), it was briefly occupied by the rebels who took part in the Shimabara Rebellion (1637-38). It now exists as a series of ruins accessible by bus from the city of Shimabara. Hara Castle & the Arima Clan Arima Takazumi, the then daimyo of the Hinoe domain (located east of Nagasaki on Japan's southern island of Kyushu and later referred to as the Shimabara domain), constructed Hara Castle as a supporting fortification for nearby Hinoe Castle (they were spaced about 5 kilometres or 3 miles apart). It was situated on a hillside coastline bordering the Ariake Sea and was regarded as a highly defensible stronghold. It was later upgraded by Arima Harunobu (1567-1612), the daimyo at that time and a descendant of Arima Takazumi, from circa 1599 to 1604, and it was designated as the area's primary castle. It contained main, second, and third baileys (honmaru, ninomaru, and sannomaru respectively), as well as outer baileys (such as the named Amakusamaru). The main bailey also included a tenshu (keep). The upgrades Arima Harunobu made included stone walls, dry moats, and updates to the gates and yagura (watchtowers). Although initially an opponent of Christianity in Japan, Harunobu eventually converted and was even baptised by Alessandro Valignano (1539-1606), a prominent Jesuit priest in Japanese history. Notably, many of these improvements later enabled the Christian rebels of the Shimabara Rebellion to resist the shogunate's (military dictatorship) siege for as long as they did. Further, these rebels and Harunobu shared the same fate in that their deaths were ordered by the shogunate. Harunobu's son, Arima Naozumi (1586-1641), played a significant part in his father's death and went on to inherit Harunobu's lands. At the behest of then shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616), he renounced his Christian faith and began persecuting followers of the religion in his domain. Eventually frustrated with persistent Christian uprisings, he was voluntarily transferred out of Shimabara, and Matsukura Shigemasa (1574-1630) took his place. The Matsukura Clan & the Shimabara Rebellion In 1618, Shigemasa decided to begin construction of Shimabara Castle, a grand edifice that was pulled down in the mid-1870s and then rebuilt in the 1960s as a museum that can be visited today. At the time it was built, Ikkoku-ichijō or ‘One Castle Per Province' was in effect. Passed into law in 1615, this mandate was designed to prevent daimyo from having multiple centres of military power, thus safeguarding against potential future regional uprisings, and was a direct result of the siege of Osaka Castle in the same year. As such, Shigemasa ordered that Hara and Hinoe Castles be abandoned and cannibalised, their resources to be used in the creation of Shimabara Castle. What remained of Hara Castle were its foundations, dry moat, and stone walls, all features of the fortification that were too difficult to dismantle, as well as a number of buildings that slowly fell into various states of disrepair. Hara Castle became a shadow of its former self, abandoned and seemingly insignificant until the year 1638. Shigemasa died at the Obama Hot Springs in 1630 and was succeeded by his son, Matsukura Katsuie (1598-1638), who continued and in some respects intensified his father's oppressive policies. Persistent persecution of Christians, heavy taxation to fund the construction of Shimabara Castle, and the added hardships of a recent famine led to growing acts of disobedience by the peasants of the domain toward local administrators. These tensions eventually boiled over into a full-scale rebellion in late 1637, dubbed the Shimabara Rebellion. Supposedly led by a 16-year-old messianic figure named Amakusa Shiro (1621-1638, his baptismal name was Jerome), the dissidents achieved some initial success but were ultimately forced to retreat by sea to the abandoned Hara Castle in early 1638. There, they dismantled their vessels and repurposed the materials to construct improvised defenses, reinforcing the castle's dilapidated fortifications. Some 30,000-40,000 rebels sought refuge within Hara Castle in makeshift buildings and campsites. Behind Hara Castle's walls, they waited knowing that a shogunate force of approximately 100,000 men was gradually advancing towards them. The Siege of Hara Castle Itakura Shigemasa (1588-1638) was appointed the leader of the shogunate's forces, which outnumbered the rebels almost 3 to 1. While having their backs to the sea almost certainly ruled out any assault from the rear, it also made the castle easier to envelop and any escape far more difficult. While some historians argue that the rebels were fully aware of their fate and purposefully decided to engage in a last stand when choosing to fortify themselves within Hara Castle, it is much more likely that they believed help would arrive from the rebels in the Amakusa Island chain and surrounding areas. Attempts were made to tunnel beneath the castle's walls, artillery towers were set up to fire upon the besieged, and even a Dutch ship, De Ryp, was sent to provide cannonade assistance to the shogunate's forces from the Ariake Sea. Largely ineffective, various attempts were made to breach the castle's walls, during one of which Itakura Shigemasa was killed. As is typical of siege warfare, numerical superiority is not always the key factor when offset against difficult terrain, fortifications, and determined defenders, and so the besiegers dug in, attempting to starve the rebels out. Before the siege had even begun, the rebels' food stores were under pressure, in no small part due to the recent famine. Scavenging what they could from the nearby coastline and surrounding fields, they had also brought with them large stores of mochi (rice cakes), which were mixed with various other foods to create a filling soup called guzōni, which is still eaten in the area today. Eventually, a shogunate assault broke through the castle's defences, and the starved rebels were overwhelmed and slaughtered in their thousands. Many of the rebels were buried where they died, if not by the shogunate's forces, then gradually by the passage of time. When the dust had finally settled, Hara Castle was a ruin once more and has largely remained as such until this day. Matsukura Katsuie, who does not appear to have been present in his domain upon the outbreak of the rebellion, was subsequently stripped of his power and status once the rebellion had been suppressed, as it was believed that his extreme belligerence toward the Christians of his domain, overtaxation, and general misrule had directly led to the revolt. An investigation was undertaken, and he was executed by beheading, the only instance of a daimyo meeting such an end during the Edo period (1603-1868). Kōriki Tadafusa (1584-1656) took over and quickly set about rebuilding the area's former prosperity through granting tax relief, offering pardons to former rebels, and promoting settlement in the region. Ikkoku-ichijō Proved Inefficient? An argument could be made that the Ikkoku-ichijō (One Castle Per Province) edict was unsuccessful in this instance – after all, the idea behind the law was that no daimyo should be able to project power, potentially in opposition to the shogunate, from more than one regional castle and thus such acts of insurrection would not only be discouraged but, because of the dismantling of supplementary fortifications, would prove to be highly difficult or perhaps nigh impossible even when accompanied by fighting men. However, far from a lord and his retinue, peasants had held out against the might of the shogunate for an extended period of time in such a castle and, after the siege had concluded, the shogunate's men meticulously knocked down and buried the castle's stone walls not only as a clear sign that the rebellion had been stamped out, but also so that the fortification might never be used in such a way again. That said, a rebellion of this magnitude was entirely unforeseeable and, given the tens of thousands of rebels involved, such a force would have posed a formidable challenge even without the safety of Hara Castle. It is therefore difficult to argue that the castle was originally insufficiently dismantled or that the edict failed in this case, given its primary purpose was to hinder a daimyo's power and not entirely destroy every supplementary defensible fortification. Instead, the limitations of the edict were exposed: while it may reduce the likelihood that a daimyo would rebel against the shogunate, it did not eliminate the possibility of a stronghold, even an abandoned one, being used against the shogunate in times of extreme crisis. Kakure Kirishitan Although the shogunate had already begun sakoku ("locked country"), a policy of isolating themselves from the rest of the world, the events at Hara Castle further revealed the potential threats of foreign religions and governments and were used in part to justify the expulsion of the Portuguese from Japan's shores and the intensification of Christian persecution. Many of the remaining Christians were forced underground and became known as Kakure Kirishitan (Hidden Christians). Sermons were conducted in secret, and religious symbols were often disguised as ordinary household items. Over time, the faith evolved significantly from its original form, largely due to the limitations of transmitting knowledge primarily through oral tradition. Furthermore, the tendency of many Kakure Kirishitan communities to isolate themselves meant that beliefs and practices could vary considerably from one village to another. When religious freedoms were established in 1873, Japan and the world were surprised to discover that the religion had survived, with some 30,000 Kakure Kirishitans emerging from hiding. Although some Japanese continue to practice the ancient traditions of the Kakure Kirishitans today, their numbers continue to dwindle. Hara Castle Today Visitors to Hara Castle can find various information boards set up around the site in both Japanese and English, and there is a VR experience that shows what the castle might have looked like when it was originally constructed. From the main bailey and along the coastline, Yushima can be seen in the distance: this was the island upon which the rebel leaders met in secret to plot the insurrection. The nearby Arima Christian Heritage Museum recounts the Shimabara Rebellion and the siege of Hara Castle through beautifully carved reliefs, short documentary videos, miniature figurine set-ups, and period-specific artefacts. There is also a recreation of a burial site unearthed by archaeologists at Hara Castle, showing the sword-chipped bones of rebels killed during the massacre. Many crucifixes were also uncovered during the excavations.