Tokugawa Shogunate's Ban on Christianity

Timeline

1. 1632–1635Nagasaki · Nagasaki PrefectureThe shogunate extended the fumie (fumi-e) system, in use in Nagasaki since 1629, nationwide, forcing every household to trample a bronze image of the Virgin Mary or Jesus Christ before officials in an annual check distinguishing believers from ordinary people. Those who refused were deemed Christians, arrested, and subjected to severe torture.
2. 1633–1637Nagasaki and throughout Kyushu · KyushuThe shogunate conducted mass arrests of Jesuit and Dominican missionaries preaching in secret, inventing the ana-tsurushi torture—hanging victims upside down in a pit of filth to force conversion through extremely slow death. Christopher Ferreira and many other European missionaries were forced to publicly renounce their faith, while many Japanese believers chose martyrdom, known historically as the Great Martyrdoms of Genna and Kan'ei.
3. 1637–1638Shimabara Peninsula and Amakusa Islands, Kyushu · KyushuContinued harsh persecution in Shimabara and Amakusa—hot-spring torture (yuami), burning of believers' property, collective family punishment—combined with heavy taxes and oppression, ultimately igniting the Shimabara Rebellion. After the rebellion was suppressed, the shogunate took the opportunity to order the expulsion of the Portuguese (1639), as the ban on Christianity and the sakoku system finally converged at this stage.