Footprints of the Martyrs of the Hosokawa Domain@No.17@ @@@@@
Genya Ogasawara and Miya Kagayama 8
On November 1st, 1635, again, new billboards were put up. They say:
Whoever report missionaries (padres) will receive the 100 silver coins,
preachers (irmaos)
the 50 silver coins, general believers the 30 silver coins. ( That was
just the same amount
as the one Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus Christ! )
"Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief
priests
and said, gWhat are you willing to give me if I deliver Him to you?h
And they counted out to him thirty pieces of silver.
So from that time he sought opportunity to betray Him." Matthew 26:14-16
Thus the government routed out Christians more thoroughly.
Both Tadaoki Hosokawa and Tadatoshi worried the family of Genya and Miya
would
be indicted. Hoping to save at least their children, Tadaoki and Tadatoshi
ordered the
key people many times to let their children go to the other countries.
However Genya and Miya hesitated to part with their children who had always
believed Jesus Christ one-heartedly. They were prepared never to forsake
their faith
for their lives, but unable to make a decision when they thought of their
children.
About that time, what Tadaoki was most anxious about happened; the family
of
Genya and Miya was informed not to Kumamoto but to Nagasaki magistrate's
office.
Nagasaki magistrate's office ordered Tadatoshi to arrest them immediately.
Tadatoshi could not do anything about it. After all, 15 people including
all their children were arrested and put in jail. It was on December 11th
in 1635.
Tadatoshi told his chief retainer, "If Nagasaki tells us to handle
them by ourselves,
just put them in jail. And if Nagasaki doesn't say so strictly, treat them
as gently
as possible. Also, ask the informant why he denounced not to Kumamoto but
to Nagasaki magistrate's office."
Thus the family of Genya and Miya spent the last 50 days in the prison
in the cold
winter until January 30th in 1636. They wrote a number of letters to people
close to
them and spent time writing to lapsed Christians to strongly recommend going back
to the faith of believing Jesus Christ again.
(The Kyoto Glory Church Translation Committee is responsible for the wording of this article.)