The 1597 martyrdom of the Twenty-Six Martyrs of Japan

Record summary

Twenty-six Christians, including missionaries and Japanese converts, were executed by crucifixion at Nagasaki during Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s anti-Christian policies. Contemporary and near-contemporary Jesuit accounts developed the episode into a martyr narrative that circulated internationally and later supported canonization. It is relevant for comparing eyewitness testimony, hagiographic shaping, translation, and institutional memory. The executions are historically documented, but details in devotional retellings may derive from later elaboration. Researchers should compare Japanese administrative context with Latin, Italian, and Portuguese missionary sources.