Ōmura Sumitada (大村純忠, 1533 – June 23, 1587) was a Japanese ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji era, Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and n ...

'' lord of the

Sengoku The was a period in Japanese history of near-constant civil war and social upheaval from 1467 to 1615. The Sengoku period was initiated by the Ōnin War in 1467 which collapsed the feudal system of Japan under the Ashikaga shogunate. Various s ...

period. He achieved fame throughout the country for being the first of the daimyo to convert to

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

following the arrival of the

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

missionaries in the mid-16th century. Following his baptism, he became known as "Dom Bartolomeu". Sumitada is also known as the lord who opened the port of

Nagasaki is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. It became the sole port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hidden Christian Sites in the ...

to foreign trade.

Early life

Ōmura Sumitada was born in 1533, the son of

Arima Haruzumi Arima Haruzumi (有馬晴純, 1483 – March 19, 1566) was a Japanese feudal lord in the Sengoku period. Biography Initially known as Arima Sadazumi, he held the title of ''Shuri-dayu'' and a position in the '' shobanshu'', the private guard o ...

, lord of Shimabara, and his wife, who was a daughter of Ōmura Sumiyoshi. His childhood name was Shōdōmaru 勝童丸. At age 5, he was adopted by his uncle

Ōmura Sumisaki Omura (小村) or Ōmura (大村) are Japanese surnames, but may also refer to: * Ōmura, Nagasaki, a city located in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan * Omura's whale (''Balaenoptera omurai''), a species of rorqual about which very little is known Peopl ...

, and succeeded to the Ōmura family headship in 1550. As Sumisaki had no legitimate heirs, and the Ōmura clan had its origins in the family line of the Arima, Sumisaki readily adopted the young Shodomaru, who took the name Sumitada at the time of his succession.

Career

Following his succession, he was immediately faced with a multitude of pressures, the greatest of which was the attack from

Ryūzōji Takanobu was a Japanese ''daimyō'' in Hizen Province during the Sengoku period. Takanobu was the head of the Ryūzōji clan. Biography Takanobu was the grandson of Ryūzōji Iekane (1454-1546). Ryūzōji Takanobu is known for expanding his clan's ho ...

of Hizen-Saga. Sumitada found the answer to his problems in the form of Christianity. In 1561, following the murder of foreigners in

Hirado is a city located in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. The part historically named Hirado is located on Hirado Island. With recent mergers, the city's boundaries have expanded, and Hirado now occupies parts of the main island of Kyushu. The component ...

(in the area of influence of the Matsura clan), the

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

began to look for other ports where they could trade. In response to their search, Sumitada offered them safe haven in his domain, at

Yokoseura Yokoseura (横瀬浦) is a port located at the northern tip of the Nishisonogi Peninsula on the Japanese island of Kyushu, administratively under Saikai city, Nagasaki Prefecture. It was developed as an entrepot by the Portuguese in 1562 with th ...

. This cast a great impression on the

, and particularly on the Society of Jesus (the

Jesuits The Society of Jesus ( la, Societas Iesu; abbreviation: SJ), also known as the Jesuits (; la, Iesuitæ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

). This they readily agreed to, and soon after, in 1563, Sumitada and his retainers became Christian, and Sumitada took the baptismal name Bartolomeu. However, Sumitada was radical in his faith, razing Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines, defacing his ancestors' graves, and because he forced Christianity on his retainers and the people of his domain, he ran the serious risk of a general uprising. There is also a view that Sumitada pursued Christianity mainly to profit from Portuguese technology and weapons. To illustrate Sumitada's devotion to Christianity, the

Jesuit father

Luís Fróis Luís Fróis (1532 – 8 July 1597) was a Portuguese missionary who worked in Asia during the second half of the 16th century. While in Japan in 1582, he witnessed the attack on Honnō-ji, a Buddhist temple that ended in the death of Oda Nobuna ...

had once wrote:from ''The Samurai Sourcebook''

Opening Nagasaki

Goto Takaakira, an illegitimate son of Ōmura Sumisaki who hated Sumitada, led an uprising against him. During the chaos, Yokoseura was burned, ending the foreign trade there. As a result, in 1570, Sumitada opened the port of Nagasaki to the Portuguese and sponsored its development. When the Ryūzōji attacked Nagasaki in 1578, the Portuguese assisted Sumitada in repulsing them. Following this event, on June 9, 1580 Sumitada ceded Nagasaki "in perpetuity" to the Society of Jesus. Following

Toyotomi Hideyoshi , otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: Military Innovations that Changed the Cour ...

's campaign against the

Shimazu clan The were the ''daimyō'' of the Satsuma han, which spread over Satsuma, Ōsumi and Hyūga provinces in Japan. The Shimazu were identified as one of the '' tozama'' or outsider ''daimyō'' familiesAppert, Georges ''et al.'' (1888). in contrast ...

, the Ōmura were confirmed in their holdings, though Nagasaki was taken from the Jesuits and made into a ''chokkatsu-ryo'', or direct landholding, of the Toyotomi administration.

Later life

Sumitada handed over domainal administration to his son Omura Yoshiaki and retired, living in a mansion at Sakaguchi. He died there of tuberculosis, on June 23, 1587.

References

*Stephen Turnbull, ''The Samurai Sourcebook'' London: Arms and Armour Press, 1998. ()
Information on Sumitada, as well as a copy of the edict by which he granted Nagasaki to the Jesuits
* ttp://www2.harimaya.com/sengoku/html/ohmura_k.html Lengthy genealogy and discussion of Omura clan history {{DEFAULTSORT:Omura, Sumitada 1533 births 1587 deaths Daimyo Converts to Roman Catholicism Japanese Roman Catholics 16th-century deaths from tuberculosis Tuberculosis deaths in Japan Jesuit Asia missions Members of the Tenshō embassy