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...