Footprints of the Martyrs of the Hosokawa Domain@No.8A 
@Hanzaemon Kagayama 1
Balthazar Kagayama Hanzaemon, one of the cousins of Diego Kagayama Hayato,
was another Christian who followed God to the end. He was martyred
with his four-year-old son Diego in Hiji, Bungo, (now Hiji-cho in Oita
Prefecture) on October, 15th, 1619. This was the very day on which
Hayato met his end.
There is a report about his final days in the
Jesuitfs annual report of 1619.
As a vassal of Tadaoki Hosokawa of Buzen in Bungo, where his role was to
exact the land tax, Balthazar had lived a life of comfort and ease.
Like Hayato@Kagayama, he was stripped of his position and banished merely
because of his faith in Jesus Christ. Thereafter he lived in poverty
and his every move was put under surveillance.
When told by a messenger that he had been condemned to death, Balthazar,
cheerfully, and without faltering, expressed his gratitude to his master
(Tadaoki) and went into his house where he bade farewell to his mother
Justa, his wife, Lucia and his daughter, Tekura. He encouraged them to
put up with their sufferings, to remain steadfast in faith and to keep
their bodies pure to the end. He then thanked God for allowing him
to give the ultimate proof of his faith, by dying a martyr.
(The Kyoto Glory Church Translation Committee is responsible for the wording
of this article.)
References
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