Latest / The History of Portugal: The Small Nation That Built a Global Empire — Fexingo History / The Portuguese and the Samurai: Mercenaries in the Shimabara Rebellion
Transcript
- Lucas: So we've talked a lot about the Portuguese in Japan—the Nanban trade, the Jesuits, the arrival of the arquebus. But there's one episode that really marks the end of that era: the Shimabara Rebellion of 1637 to 1638. Lucas: It's this massive Christian-led uprising in southern Japan, and it ends with a siege that involves Portuguese mercenaries fighting alongside Japanese samurai and peasants—against the Tokugawa shogunate's army. Lucas: And the aftermath directly leads to Japan closing itself off from the outside world for over two centuries—the sakoku policy we mentioned before. Luna: Wait, Portuguese mercenaries? I thought the Portuguese were mainly traders and missionaries by that point. Lucas: Right, but by the 1630s, the Tokugawa shogunate had been cracking down on Christianity for decades. The Shimabara Peninsula and the Amakusa Islands were hotbeds of converts, partly because the local daimyo, Matsukura Katsuie, taxed them brutally and persecuted Christians. Lucas: He imposed massive rice taxes to build a new castle, and when a famine hit, people starved. So in December 1637, a coalition of peasants, ronin, and Christians—led by a charismatic teenage boy named Amakusa Shiro—rose up. Lucas: They seized Hara Castle, an old Portuguese-built fortification, and held out against the shogunate. And among the defenders were some Portuguese and Spanish men—mercenaries and traders who had been stranded or chose to fight. Luna: How many were there? And were they actually Portuguese soldiers? Lucas: It's hard to say exactly. Contemporary accounts mention maybe a few dozen Europeans, but they were crucial because they knew how to operate cannon and cast arquebus balls. The rebels had captured some Portuguese artillery pieces, and the Europeans helped maintain them. Lucas: They weren't official Portuguese soldiers—more like adventurers or former soldiers of fortune. But they fought alongside the Japanese rebels, and that made the shogunate even more suspicious of foreign influence. Lucas: The shogunate sent a huge force—over 120,000 men—to crush the rebellion. They besieged Hara Castle for months. It's a brutal siege: the rebels are outnumbered, low on food, but they hold out because the castle is strong. Luna: And the Portuguese are in there helping them? That must have looked terrible for Portuguese-Japanese relations. Lucas: Exactly. The shogunate already distrusted Christians. Now here were Europeans actively fighting against them. But the really devastating blow came from the Dutch. Lucas: The shogunate asked the Dutch East India Company—the VOC—at their trading post in Hirado to send a ship to bombard the castle from the sea. The Dutch complied. They anchored a ship off Hara and fired cannon at the rebels. Lucas: That was a huge betrayal of the European community, and it showed the shogunate that the Dutch were willing to side with them against Catholics. The Dutch even gave the Japanese some cannon and ammunition. Luna: So the Dutch basically sold out the Portuguese and the rebels. Lucas: For trade. The Dutch wanted to keep their access to Japan, and they saw an opportunity. After the rebellion, the shogunate expelled the Portuguese entirely. In 1639, the last Portuguese ship left Nagasaki. Lucas: The only Europeans allowed to stay were the Dutch, confined to the artificial island of Dejima. And the shogunate enforced sakoku—no Japanese could go abroad, no foreigners could enter, except for very limited Dutch and Chinese trade. Luna: So the Shimabara Rebellion is the final nail in the coffin for the Portuguese in Japan. Lucas: Exactly. It's the violent end of the Nanban trade era. The rebellion itself was crushed in April 1638. The shogunate's forces stormed Hara Castle, and almost all the defenders were killed—including Amakusa Shiro, whose head was displayed. Lucas: But the Portuguese presence, which had been so influential since the 1540s, was gone. The sakoku policy lasted until 1853, when Commodore Perry forced Japan open. Luna: What happened to Amakusa Shiro? Was he really a teenage leader? Lucas: He was supposedly 16 or 17. Some accounts say he was the son of a Christian samurai, and he was seen as a messiah figure by the rebels. There are legends that he survived and fled, but most evidence says he died in the final assault. Lucas: His story became a symbol of Christian martyrdom in Japan. Even today, there are hidden Christians—kakure kirishitan—who preserved their faith in secret for centuries. Luna: And the Portuguese mercenaries—did any survive? Lucas: We don't know for sure. Most likely they died in the castle. If any were captured, they would have been executed. The shogunate wasn't taking prisoners. Lucas: So the rebellion marks a real turning point. It's the last time Europeans fight in Japan until the Meiji Restoration. And it's a brutal reminder of how the Portuguese dream of a Christian Japan ended in blood and isolation. Luna: It's amazing how far the Portuguese reach went—and how quickly it could all be undone. Lucas: That's the story of the Portuguese empire in a nutshell: incredible reach, fragile foundations. The Shimabara Rebellion is a perfect example of how local dynamics, religious fervor, and geopolitics could upend a trading network built over decades. Luna: So what's next for our series? Are we leaving Japan behind? Lucas: We'll come back to other parts of the empire. But for now, I think we've covered the Portuguese in Japan pretty thoroughly. Next time, maybe we'll head back to Africa or look at the decline of the Estado da Índia. There's always more story.