근세 일본 ‘島原天草의 亂’에 보이는 天草四郞의 신격화와 그 영향

Abstract

This article is on the deification of Amakusa Shiro(天草四郞) who was the leader in ‘Rebellion of Shimabara․Amakusa’ flared out in October 1637 and the miracle he did, and the role of Shiro(四郞) in rebellion and its effect on later settlement. It can be briefed to three perspectives. First, Shiro who studied Christianity before the rebellion became deified as ‘the messenger from the heaven’(天之使) and ‘celestial’(天人) by ringleaders(a group of a masterless samurai) of the rebellion and used for rallying the rebels. The ringleaders of rebellion circulated the words on Shiro’s birth by prophecy in Shimabara․Amakusa and encapsulated him as a divine person from the heaven, not from the humans’ world, who does miracles at the same time. It was the strategy for strengthening the power of rebels for religious resistance against the shogunate government by calling 37,000 rebels with a leader at age 15․16 only. Second, according to researches up until now, the role of Shiro as the leader of rebellion was emphasized, but his main role was the spiritual leader of rebels who were mostly Christians and in trouble instead of the military leader. In order to divert their weakening position from the superior military power of the shogunate government who shot arrows with statements and secret communication to surrender, the rebels tried to find a way out by uniting with religious power. Therefore, the Shiro’s role was presumably a messenger from the heaven to strengthen the unity with religious power during the demonstration at Hara Castle(原城). Third, the rebellion was terminated with killing of everyone of 37,000 rebels, and Shiro was also killed miserably. The rebellion strengthened the heresy of Christianity in Japan then and abscission with the western ideas relate to Christianity which provided the ground for creation of the nationalism in recent years such as ethnocentrism. Of course, I agree to the ambiguity between the people and nationalism in recent years, but the nationalism was certainly existed. For recent years in Japan, the prohibition against Christianity became the background of nationalism resulted from the national isolation(鎖國) and the ban on international trade by sea(海禁).