Great Genna Martyrdom

17th-century anonymous painting of the Great Genna Martyrdom at the Church of the Gesù, Rome[1]

The Great Genna Martyrdom (元和の大殉教, Genna no daijunkyō), also known as the Great Martyrdom of Nagasaki, was the execution of 55 foreign and domestic Catholics killed together at Nishizaka Hill in Nagasaki, Japan, on 10 September 1622. Beginning in 1614, Christianity was banned in Japan and a smuggling incident concerning two foreign missionaries prompted the killing. The mass execution was part of the persecution of Christians in Japan by Tokugawa Hidetada, the second Shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate.

  1. ^ Teather 2014, p. 7.