Gracia Tama Hosokawa: A Japanese Saint (Early Life and Marriage)

Yes! Now is the time where I can finally talk about Gracia! :)

Tama Akechi was born in the 6th year of Eiroku (1563 A.D.), just when Christianity was rising in Japan. At the time of her birth, Tama's father, Mitsuhide Akechi, was 38 years of age and was teaching military arts in Echizen province. 4 years later, Tama's father would be drafted into the army of Nobunaga Oda, one of the three most famous warlords in this age of Japan. This change in her father's position would be very important to her future.

Tama's name meaned "Jewel." Her mother mother, Fuseya, named her this because she was the most beautiful baby she had ever seen. Fuseya was a model Japanese wife and was willing to share poverty and riches alike with her husband. She was not a Christian, so Tama did not learn about the Jesus from her mother or father. It is because of her mother though that Tama learned to have a strong will and self-control. This would help her through the many trials and hardships she would have to face in her life. Fuseya, for example, once sold her own hair to provide money for her family. That is quite a bit of dedication. The Akechi family would become rich when they joined with Nobunaga, but they still would live as if they were of average wealth.

On the other side of Tama's life, the Hosokawa family were the descendants of the Minamoto clan, the clan who first united Japan. Yoriyuki Hosokawa was the leader of the clan at the time and was a retainer of the current shogun. In 1573, when Tama was around 11 years old, Yoriyuki went to Mitsuhide Akechi for a favor. He wanted Mitsuhide to ask Nobunaga to take the shogun out of power. Nobunaga already had the idea the do this and took marched on Kyoto, the capital city. Nobunaga became the new shogun shortly after. In this battle against the shogun, Nobunaga Oda was helped by three famous followers. They were Mitsuhide, Hideyoshi Hashiba, and Yusai Hosokawa. Yusai Hosokawa was Yoriyuki's brother and a famous warrior and poet. His eldest son was named Tadaoki and was turned into a samurai at the age of ten, helping his father in the battle against the old shogun; Nobunaga praised Tadaoki that day over his ability to fight. Yusai and Mitsuhide met during the battle while becoming friends also started to form the idea of an arranged marriage between Tama and Tadaoki. Nobunaga approved the match and did everything in his power to hasten the match of the two families, so the Tama and Tadaoki were married in the 7th year of Tensho (1579 A. D.), when Tama was only around 17 years old. It was said by the people that the two were perfect for each other as Tadaoki's future was promising and Tama was clever and beautiful.

Tadaoki was very much devoted to his wife and Tama to her husband. Despite being an arranged marriage, the two truely loved each other and cared for each other. It was the perfect situation and their first son, Tadataka, was born to them a year or so later in Yamashiro province. This happy existence would not last long though. Their lives would be thrown into suffering and grief and it would all be because of Mitsuhide Akechi....

Gracia Tama Hosokawa: A Japanese Saint (Background Info)

Gracia Tama Hosokawa (Tama Akechi was her name before marriage) was born into the era of Japan known as the Sengoku Period. Sengoku means Warring States. The Ashikaga Shogunate had a collapse in power that kick-started this age. The leaders of the various Japanese states fought over who would become the next Shogun. Morals were low, and disease and famine were prevalent across the land. Even the Emperor hid in his palace in fear of death. This time of civil war erupted from 1467 to 1616. 

Tama lived her life always knowing the struggle of war. She never knew what it was like to have a steady government, etc. Though history had set in motion events that would lead to Tama learning what peace, happiness, and love were despite the war. Christianity would come to her country through the form of the Europeans.  

In 1275 A.D. an Italian explorer named Marco Polo traveled with his father to Mongolia, where they were received well by Kublai Khan, Grandson of Genghis Khan. They served him for ten years and then returned to Venice. There Marco Polo wrote a book of his travels and within them he talked about Japan. The Mongolians had tried to invade Japan twice, you see, and that's where the word "Kamikaze" came from, but that is a story for another day. Marco describes Japan as a "Land of Gold." This was the first information the Europeans would hear about Japan. Naturally, they were eager to head over to Japan and see this gold for themselves, but this would not happen until the 15th century. The first missionary would come even later than that.

  

The first missionary to Japan was Saint Francis Xavier. He was a Spaniard who joined a group of Jesuits under Ignatius Loyola, and with a few followers, he came to preach the Gospel to Japan. His ship reached the bay of Kagoshima on the 15th of August, 1549 A.D. His arrived caused a stir among the people there. foreigners always did. Xavier stayed in Japan until 1551 A.D. He managed to convert fifteen hundred Japanese citizens to Christianity, and he decided this satisfied his mission to plant a seed in Japan. He left his followers Torres and Fernadez to continue his work while he left back for Europe.

Many missionaries followed after Xavier. These missionaries were strongly encouraged by the warlord Nobunaga Oda who thought it good policy for the promotion of foreign trade. Because of this, the city of Nagaaki almost became known as the City of Christians and the island of Kyushu became the center of the Christian church. Christianity even was able to spread to various famous warlords, such as Sorin Otomo and Ukon Takeyama. This spread of Christianity has stood firm to this day despite what would eventually happen. Christianity eventually became the most hated religion in Japan...

That is where the great Gracia Hosokawa really starts to step into history, but first, stay tuned for next week to get to know Gracia before she was Gracia. Let's get to know her as Tama Akechi.  

  

Anguish (A Poem)

I am a loyal friend who loves to be loved.
I wonder why the world is so evil.
I hear my anguish, though I rarely speak it.
I see a faint glimmer of hope from time to time.
I want love of all kinds.
I am a loyal friend who loves to be loved.

I pretend that I am in control.
I feel the weight of my life crashing down on me.
I touch others' hearts in hope of rescue.
I worry they won't care to help.
I cry because I feel worthless and alone.
I am a loyal friend who loves to be loved.

I understand what it's like to be depressed.
I say that I don't deserve the friends I have.
I try to tell myself otherwise.
I hope my friends can convince me of my worth.
I am a loyal friend who loves to be loved.

Gracia Tama Hosokawa: A Japanese Saint (Overview of a Series of Posts)

Gracia Tama Hosokawa

I am a nerd for Japanese history and culture. I love it! I have come to know that much of how I live my life has been influenced by their culture despite the fact that I am a white American, so it is only natural that I blog about Japanese stuff from time to time. 

I apologize for doing a rather poor job at posting on my new blog. This is only my third official post in 1 month and a half... I am working on doing better and hopefully with my Christmas break from college coming in a few days, I will be able to blog a lot more than before. 

Let me explain how the rest of this month's posts, and January's, shall work. I will be blogging about this specific Japanese historical figure (Titled above) weekly until I am finished with the different aspects of her story. To put her story all in one post would be too much reading at once, so I am saving you guys that trouble. Along with that, I will also have a second post to be put up either at the same time or anywhere between 1 to 2 days afterwards. This other post could be about anything and won't be related. This is all my hope of how this month will finish out, but I tend to not always have the best control of my life, so let's just hope for the best! Now, shall we go forth?

Gracia Tama Hosokawa has become one of the most famous women of Japan to her people. Just look at the pictures below................

   

(Gracia has been put it several video games and other types of media.)

Why is Gracia Hosokawa so famous? In one way, it may be because of how counter-cultural she was to the Japanese world, especially considering the fact that she was a Japanese woman in the 1500s. It could also be because she became the first Japanese saint. Or maybe it was because God fulfilled some great purpose through this faithful servant of his (Christians were rare in Japanese culture). Well, let's go through her story and see if we can discover what is so special about this woman, shall we?

Gracia Hosokawa (1563-1600 A.D.) is more than just the perfect model of a Japanese wife, but she was also a model Japanese Christian. Being a Christian was no small feat in a place like medieval Japan, nor was being woman, yet, she gained more respect than many of the greatest of men during this time. The Japanese have likened her simplicity and purity to that of a snow-white lily, and her beauty to that of a cherry blossom. She was considered the perfect wife and mother and Gracia was a fervent upholder of God's Word. She was a self-sacrificing woman whose chastity and affection for her husband was seen as unique, and even more unique, was the chastity and affection shown back to her from her samurai husband. 

Much of Gracia's life was that of suffering, but she lived by her faith and was happy because of it. She believed in God no matter what happened. Her strong faith was felt by everyone that ever came in contact with her and had even the simplest of conversations with her. She shone was an aura of righteousness and love. She has become a historical figure that I deeply admire.

Now that you have an overview of what's to come, it's time to end the post here. Tune in next week for more in depth discussion of this amazing woman. Next week will be more about setting up the cultural background of Japan that she lived in. This is important to understanding her. See you next week, but not really! I can't see you through a computer...

   

Tips for Emotional Resilience

I know my blog is called "Subete no mono" which means "Everything", but I am going to continue on the mental health subject for awhile. If you read the description it does claim that my blog is about whatever is on my mind, so still eventually I will get to everything. Right now my mind is focused on talking about mental health, so let's continue on that. Tonight I am talking about Emotional Resilience.

What are some tips on how to be emotionally resilient?

Focus on what you can control, not what's out of your control: Don't focus on the things out of your hands. For example: you cannot control the people around you. They make their own decisions, so don't cause yourself anxiety because of them. Your main focus is yourself; you can control your own decisions.

Use events as learning experiences: Be flexible and open-minded. Don't let things of the past consume you. Learn from them and move on. Don't worry, I'm still working on this one myself, and I'm sure I'll talk about some of these events later on.

Alter your perceptions: A very awesome quote that my counselors told me was by a man from 1 A.D. named Epictetus. He stated, "It is not events which disturb us, but our view of those events." Events don't control us, our view of them does. Change our views and we can regain control. Try to find the good in a bad situation.

Limit the hostility factor: Negativity and anger is more harmful to yourself than anyone else. Try to avoid negative focus.

Accept limitations: We aren't perfect. None of us are. Accept this and you will make your life a whole lot easier. We can only strive to be the best we can be.

Develop compassion: Resist the need to be critical. Choose being kind of being right. Believe, this works out for everyone.

Develop good self-care habits: Take care of the needs of your mind, body, and spirit. Eat well, exercise, get sleep, take breaks from work, etc. Set the limits you need, prioritize, and delegate. You need to take care of yourself. One thing I learned is that your mood can be affected by your physical health and mental health and spirituality. It's all connected. It's all important.

Don't isolate yourself: I fall into this a lot. When I am depressed I tend to isolate myself and it only ever makes things worse. As God said in the book of Genesis, we are not made to be alone, so stop trying!

Look for the humor in things: Life is too serious to be taken too seriously! So lighten up and enjoy things!

 These sharks are funny. :) Laugh a little.

Develop mindfulness: This is the last on my list. Learn to live in the present. Don't live in the past. Watch your thoughts an respond to them in a positive manner. How can you respond to negative self-talk? That's something for another day, so stay tuned. ;)

Be AWARE of Your Anxiety

I deal with anxiety and depression. I have been dealing with these things throughout my life and I probably always will, but I am learning on how to deal with these things, how to not let them control me, but I to control them.

For the sake of the title, let's start with talking about anxiety, shall we? With a counseling program I involved myself in, myself and a group of others my age were taught a lesson on dealing with anxiety. We were told to be AWARE. Let me walk you through what that means.

A: Accept the anxiety

This is simple in concept, but maybe not as simple in practice. The idea is to, as it says, accept that you are dealing with anxiety. Don't reject or resist it. By doing that you prolong the effects of it and make it responsible of how you think, feel, and act. By accepting it, you open things up to dealing with it and moving on from it. 

W: Watch your anxiety

Look at your anxiety without judgement. Trust me, judging it would just make things worse. Instead try to look at your thoughts, feelings, and actions as if you are a friendly, but not overly concerned bystander. The point is to be in the anxiety state, but not of it. Just observe yourself and try to understand you.

A: Act with the anxiety

 The point of this is to act as if you are not anxious; function with it. Sounds easier said than done, right? I would agree, but it's important and I never claimed any of this was easy. This all requires work and effort. Here's some tips that were given to us on this step. Breathe slowly and normally. Watch your breathing. If you do, it will make you feel more calm. Why do you think they talk about breathing control in Tai Chi and all that? Because it is relaxing. Also, slow down if you have to, but keep going on with your day. Don't let the anxiety crush your day. If you run from the situation, your anxiety will just go up, but if you stay and deal with it, your anxiety will go down. I promise.

R: Repeat the steps

I am going to assume that I do not need to explain this one. Cool beans, let's continue!

E: Expect the anxiety

So you have done all of the above until your anxiety has come to a comfortable level. What now? You expect it for next time. Chances are that your anxiety will return. That is just a fact of life, so expect it. By expecting future anxiety, you are putting yourself in a good position to accept it when it returns. Making this whole process way easier! That would be awesome!!

Anxiety is a struggle that is hard to overcome, but I hope that this helps any who read this. I believe it helped me to understand myself more and to deal with my anxiety as it comes. Do I still struggle? Yes, I do. I am still learning and figuring things out, but I like to think I can handle it better now.

What is this Blog About?

I started this blog due to a suggestion of a new freshman college friend named Scott. He figured I could do this kind of thing, so I figured I would try. Why not try?

The purpose of this blog is for me to talk about anything. I have no set subject, except maybe you could say 'life' is my set subject. That encompasses everything though, so there. I may talk about movies, games, annoying people, stuff I find wrong with the world, cats that happen to be 23 pounds, etc. I will talk about everything!!!

Well, that's about it for explaining this blog....