Line #25 UsefulNotes/AmakusaShiro


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tumblr_mn5erztpat1rpyzy2o1_400.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:Amakusa Shirou as painted by Creator/TakatoYamamoto.]]
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4	Amakusa Shirō (天草四郎?, 1621? – April 12, 1638) also known as Amakusa Shirō Tokisada (天草四郎時貞?) was the teenage leader of the Shimabara Rebellion. With time, he has become a staple of Japanese culture - specifically, of the JidaiGeki-based fiction.
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6	According to Website/TheOtherWiki, Shirō was the son of former [[UsefulNotes/KonishiYukinaga Konishi clan]] retainer Masuda Jinbei (益田甚兵衛?)... though according to some sources, he may have been the illegitimate son of Toyotomi Hideyori. He was born in modern-day Kami-Amakusa, Kumamoto in a Catholic family. At age 15, the boy was charismatic enough to be known to his followers as "heaven's messenger." Miraculous powers were attributed to him, like [[HealingHands healing]] and being able to walk on water.
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8	When he had enough of all the genocide against Christians and the mistreatment of peasants in the Shimabara area, Shiro led the defense of Hara Castle and defeated the strongest of the Shogunate attackers in a series of coordinated defensive surges. But, because the rebel force had no logistical support, their morale was seriously weakened in the following days. Shiro displayed posters in the castle in an attempt to enhance the morale of rebel force, saying "Now, those who accompany me in being besieged in this castle, will be my friends unto the next world."
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10	A rebel soldier, Yamada Uemonsaku, betrayed Shiro and notified the Shogunate of the truth that rebel food supplies were becoming strained. The Shogunate forces performed a final assault, taking Hara Castle in the process. The Shogunate forces massacred almost 40,000 rebels, including women and children. Yamada, who previously betrayed his fellow rebels, was the only recorded survivor.
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12	17-year-old Shiro was executed in the aftermath of the fall, [[DeadGuyOnDisplay his head being displayed on a pike in Nagasaki for an extended period of time afterward as a warning to any other potential Christian rebels.]] His last words were: [[{{Revenge}} "I shall return after 100 years and take my revenge!"]] Even now, many {{UsefulNotes/Japanese Christian}}s consider Shiro as a saint, but the Roman Catholic Church has not officially listed him as such.
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14	In media, Shirō [[HistoricalVillainUpgrade tends to be portrayed as]] a [[DudeLooksLikeALady girlish-looking]] FallenHero who [[BreakTheCutie endures soul-breaking hardships]] while fighting for his fellow Christians' freedom. He often ends up being BackFromTheDead ''and'' having a FaithHeelTurn into a DarkMessiah after said breaking process, but sometimes [[RedemptionEqualsDeath is able to regain his faith in people as he dies]].
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17	!!Some Japanese media involving Amakusa Shirō are:
18	* ''Manga/{{Azumi}}'' includes an {{expy}} of Amakusa Shirō named Konishi Shizune, a half-Japanese Christian who claims to be the Son of God and possess miraculous powers, and who is organizing the peasants into a heavily-armed militia to resist persecution by the Shogunate. [[spoiler:This turns out to be smoke-and-mirrors on his part and the part of his twin brother Tadane, who are sadistic sociopaths using religion to manipulate the public in order to reignite the Warring States period.]]
19	* ''Literature/FateApocrypha'' has him under the false name of [[spoiler:Shirou Kotomine]]. While he is nominally an antagonist, he's also a WellIntentionedExtremist [[spoiler:whose goal is to bring salvation to humanity through the use of the Holy Grail. His methods, however, are far from innocent and he's perfectly willing to manipulate and kill just about anyone who stands in his way]]. He can also be summoned as a Ruler-class Servant in ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'', and appears in the Shimosa chapter of ''Epic of Remnant'' [[spoiler:as an Avenger, his mindset much closer to the FallenHero and TragicVillain he's popularly depicted as due to being an AlternateSelf that's been hopping dimensions seeing what happened to his rebellion and going completely insane over it]].
20	** The legacy of the ''Fate'' version of Amakusa continues in ''VideoGame/FateSamuraiRemnant'', wherein the only known SoleSurvivor of the Shimabara Rebellion, Chiemon, becomes a TragicVillain hell-bent on spreading the misery of their defeat out of SurvivorGuilt.
21	* In the {{josei}} manga ''Manga/{{Amakusa 1637}}'', a {{Bifauxnen}} ActionGirl named Natsuki Hayama must become the BodyDouble of Shirou as she and her friends are thrown via TimeTravel into the Shimabara rebellion that he once led. Later we learn that [[spoiler: Shiro was never executed but was instead made into the slave of the mentally unstable time traveler Naozumi "Kotaka" Yatsuka, one of Natsuki's friends, who saw him as a stand-in for her due to Shirou being Natsuki's IdenticalStranger. Despite Naozumi's abuse of him, Shirou treated him gently and tried to reason with him instead, in hopes to make him an ally of the oppressed Christians and help him be redeemed. But when Naozumi realised how Shirou ''was'' getting under his skin, he reacted with fright and strangled him to death. Shirou's last words were ''still'' of affection and forgiveness towards Naozumi: "Yatsuka-sama... may God's blessing be with you...!".]]
22	* In ''VideoGame/LiveALive'', Amakusa appears in the Twilight of Edo Japan chapter, having been resurrected as a spirit by Ode Iou for his scheme to plunge Japan into civil warfare. If Oboromaru goes to rescue [[spoiler: Sakamoto Ryoma]], he'll have to fight Amakusa first, who in battle will be flanked and rendered invunerable by his Lost Soul minions. Defeating them is required to open him up for attack.
23	* Amakusa Shirou appears in ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiImagine'' and ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIV'' as a recruitable ally.
24	* In ''VideoGame/SamuraiShodown'', one of the main antagonists is a ''very'' embittered Amakusa. Having crossed the DespairEventHorizon before dying, he made a DealWithTheDevil and became an EvilSorceror as well as the first game's BigBad ''and'' SNKBoss. [[spoiler: After his defeat, however, the deal was FAR more complicated as he developed a case of SplitPersonality: half of him was still a villain, the other wanted to become TheAtoner.]]
25	* In the Shimabara arc of ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'', the ReligiousBruiser Shougo Mutou sought to become an {{expy}} of Amakusa and used his image to gather an army of UsefulNotes/{{Japanese Christian}}s.
26	* In ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry'', Ange's bodyguard Juuza Amakusa is named after him in keeping with the ReligiousAndMythologicalThemeNaming. He sports a Christian cross on his jacket to further the reference.
27	* Played by Creator/KenjiSawada in ''Film/SamuraiReincarnation''.
28	* In ''Literature/ACertainMagicalIndex'', the Amakusa Catholics are named for him, and claim to be descendants of his movement that went into hiding following the rebellion's defeat.
29	* He's the main character of the 2018 Creator/TakarazukaRevue musical ''Messiah''.
30	* In ''VisualNovel/OlympiaSoiree'', Tokisada is one of the love interests that the heroine, Olympia, can romance.
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Context UsefulNotes / AmakusaShiro