Narrow Road To The Deep North 30

Luis Sotelo was burned at the stake in Ōmura, on August 25, 1624, at the age of 50, together with two other Franciscans, a Jesuit, and a Dominican. Before his execution, he left an account of Hasekura Tsunenaga. returning to Japan as a Christian hero.

   ‘My other colleague, the ambassador Philippus Faxecura, after he

    reached his aforementioned king (Date Masamune), was greatly

    honored by him, and sent to his own estate, to rest after such a 

    long and tiring journey, where he made his wife, children, 

    servants, and many other vassals into Christians, and advised 

    other nobles who were his kith and kin to accept the faith, which 

    they indeed did. While he was engaged in these and other pious 

    works, a full year after his return, having provided much 

    instruction and a great example, with much preparation, he 

    piously passed on, leaving for his children by a special 

    inheritance the propagation of the faith in his estate, and the 

    protection of the religious in that kingdom. The King and all the 

    nobles were greatly saddened by his passing, but especially the       

    Christians and Religious, who knew very well the virtue and 

    religious zeal of this man. This is what I heard by letters from the 

    very Religious who administered the sacraments to him, and who 

    had been present at his death, as well as from others.’

                       Luis Sotelo, De ecclesiae Iaponicae statu relatio

For his part, Masamune died in Edo at the age of 70 on June 27, 1636, of esophageal cancer. Fifteen of his samurai committed ritual junshi seppuku to follow him. Three hundred and thirty years later, in October of 1974, his grave was opened. Inside, along with his remains, archeologists discovered his tachi sword, a letterbox with a paulownia crest, and his armor. From the study of those remains, they determined that Masamune had type B blood. According to the Japanese practice of Bura-Hara, based on the myth that blood type determines personality, type B's are selfish and whining. I’m type B and I don’t believe it. Dare Masamune just wouldn’t have cared.

    ‘I am Sanada Nobushige, no doubt an adversary quite worthy of 

     you, but I am exhausted and can fight no longer. Go on, take my 

     head as your trophy.’

     Sanada Nobushige, Battle of Tennōji, June 4, 1615. A Hero who 

     may appear once in a hundred years, Crimson Demon of War,    

     Number one warrior in Japan.