17th-Century Catholic Samurai-Martyr Beatified

Justo Takayama Ukon was an example of ‘great fidelity to the Christian vocation.’

TOKYO, Japan — A 17th-century Catholic Samurai and martyr was beatified during a Mass in ‎Osaka, Japan, on Tuesday.

Cardinal Angelo Amato, prefect of the Vatican’s ‎Congregation for the Causes of Saints, presided over the beatification Mass of Justo Takayama Ukon, who was declared a martyr by Pope Francis in January last year. Takayama Ukon was born in 1552 in Japan during the time when Jesuit missionaries were being introduced within the country. By the time Takayama was 12, his father had converted to Catholicism and had his son baptized as “Justo” by the Jesuit Father Gaspare di Lella.

Takayama’s position in Japanese society as daimyo (a feudal lord) allowed him many benefits, such as owning grand estates and raising vast armies. As a Catholic, Takayama used his power to support and protect the short-lived missionary expansion within Japan, influencing the conversion of thousands of Japanese.

When a time of persecution set in within the country under the reign of Japanese chancellor Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1587, many newly converted Catholics abandoned their beliefs.

I’m going to check that out. Any thoughts on Shogun?

Shogun (James Clavell) is in my amateur opinion a good historical fiction novel about Japan’s early interactions with European Christians. Others may have more to say on the quality of the history, but I saw it as a pleasantly non-political novel, in the sense that it omits the nonsense that plagues most more recent writing.

The Samurai And The Ainu

Findings by American anthropologist C. Loring Brace, University of Michigan, will surely be controversial in race conscious Japan. The eye of the predicted storm will be the Ainu, a "racially different" group of some 18,000 people now living on the northern island of Hokkaido. Pure-blooded Ainu are easy to spot: they have lighter skin, more body hair, and higher-bridged noses than most Japanese. Most Japanese tend to look down on the Ainu.

Brace has studied the skeletons of about 1,100 Japanese, Ainu, and other Asian ethnic groups and has concluded that the revered samurai of Japan are actually descendants of the Ainu, not of the Yayoi from whom most modern Japanese are descended. In fact, Brace threw more fuel on the fire with:

"Dr. Brace said this interpretation also explains why the facial features of the Japanese ruling class are so often unlike those of typical modern Japanese. The Ainu-related samurai achieved such power and prestige in medieval Japan that they intermarried with royality and nobility, passing on Jomon-Ainu blood in the upper classes, while other Japanese were primarily descended from the Yoyoi." The reactions of Japanese scientists have been muted so. One Japanese anthropologist did say to Brace," I hope you are wrong."

The Ainu and their origin have always been rather mysterious, with some people claiming that the Ainu are really Caucasian or proto-Caucasian - in other words, "white." At present, Brace's study denies this interpretation.

Some say that the Geshi habit of 'White Face' has its origins in an attempt to resemble the 'royals.'

I read Shogun a long time ago (before it was made into a miniseries). I got the impression that Clavell was anti-Catholic, but maybe he was just trying to portray the Englishman in the novel realistically. I don't know how accurate the novel is in what it depicts.

I just looked up Clavell's biography on Wikipedia--had not known about his having been a prisoner of the Japanese in WWII. I haven't read any of his other novels.

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