Footprints of Gracia Hosokawa (seven episodes)

　　About 400 years ago, during Japan's Warring StatesPeriod,
　　there was a Christian woman who loved Jesus Christ
　　with all her heart and followed Him with absolute trust.

4. Time of Reflection

Although it broke her heart to part with her two young children, Tama went to Midono in the heart of the Tango Peninsula with some ladies-in-waiting and some vassals to guard them. From Miyazu the party sailed by ship to Hiki, then through Shimoseya, Kamiseya, and Konakura across mountains and valleys, and finally reached Midono. It was a place so remote, deep in the mountains, that it was not rediscovered until 1936. In this lonely island in the heart of the mainland, Hideyoshi’s solders would never be able to find them. “Gracia no sato,” a memorial now stands in this place as the home of Hosokawa Tadaoki’s wife during her life of seclusion.

During the two years she was there, surrounded by the mountains which isolated her from the turmoil of the world, Tama came to think that the world as she had known then was impermanent, transient, and vain. The melancholy of the Warring States period affected her deeply. When she saw her husband Tadaoki and his father Fujitaka hasten to change their allegiance when they heard that her father Mitsuhide had died, she must have struck by the fickleness of the human heart. It is not surprising that Tama’s thoughts should have turned away from the vanity of life to the eternity of heaven. In the fate of her father Mitsuhide and the short-lived Nobunaga government she had seen what happened to men who were obsessed by worldly power. As she dwelt on the stupidity of ambitious men and the folly of losing lives in battle, she sought something permanent in the beautiful surroundings of the nature in Midono retreat.

　　　“Again, I saw that for all toil and every skillful work a man is envied by
　　　　his neighbor. This also is vanity and grasping for the wind.”
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　(Ecclesiastes 4:4)

Tama, still only twenty, looked back upon her life.

It was then that her lady-in-waiting, Maria, told her about Jesus.

“God is one and only, and the Creator of everything. All people are children of the same father. Farmers, feudal lords, even supreme rulers, have the same rights and obligations.” Those words became the true light which shone in the darkness of Tama’s heart.

　　“All flesh is as grass, And all the glory of man as the flower of the grass.
　　　　The grass withers, And its flower falls away, But the word of the Lord
　　　　endures forever.” (I Peter 1:24-25)

　　“Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.”
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　(Mark 13:31)

Tama was also impressed by the way of life of Maria who believed steadfastly in Jesus and accepted all situations calmly.
Tama said in her heart, ”I want to be like Maria.”
It would seem that from this point onwards Tama came to have faith in Christ.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　(Esther Atsuji is responsible for the wording of this article.)

References
　｢細川ガラシャ～炎の十字架～」　さかいともみ著
　｢細川ガラシャのすべて」　上総英郎編