was a ruling head of the clan of Ōmura throughout the latter

Sengoku period The was the period in History of Japan, Japanese history in which civil wars and social upheavals took place almost continuously in the 15th and 16th centuries. The Kyōtoku incident (1454), Ōnin War (1467), or (1493) are generally chosen as th ...

Feudal Japan The first human inhabitants of the Japanese archipelago have been traced to the Paleolithic, around 38–39,000 years ago. The Jōmon period, named after its cord-marked pottery, was followed by the Yayoi period in the first millennium BC whe ...

. As Yoshiaki was the respective son of

Ōmura Sumitada Ōmura Sumitada (大村純忠, 1533 – June 23, 1587) was a Japanese ''daimyō'' lord of the Sengoku period. He became famous throughout the country for being the first of the daimyo to convert to Christianity following the arrival of th ...

, he followed his father in succession at some variable time, at which relations with the

Jesuits The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

and trade with the Portuguese had been already firmly developed. In 1570, Yoshiaki was baptised into Christianity and given the name Dom Sancho. Following

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). His father was Ryûzôji Chikaie and his mother was Ke ...

's suppression of the Omura in the year of 1580, it can be surmised that Yoshiaki then followed with support beneath the former, at which he would retain the lowly position of vassal up until the Toyotomis' rise to prominence after 1584. Supporting

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

initially during the

Korean campaign The Imjin War () was a series of two Japanese invasions of Korea: an initial invasion in 1592 also individually called the "Imjin War", a brief truce in 1596, and a second invasion in 1597 called the Chŏngyu War (). The conflict ended in 159 ...

of 1592, Yoshiaki's mutual support following this scenario is relatively unknown, but it is recorded that he at least chose to remain as a neutral power by the year 1600, when he declined the proposal to attend the

Sekigahara Campaign The Sekigahara Campaign was a series of battles in Japan fought between the Eastern Army aligned with Tokugawa Ieyasu and the Western Army loyal to Ishida Mitsunari, culminating in the decisive Battle of Sekigahara. The conflict was sparked by a ...

. Though Yoshiaki was subsequently forced to stand down in favour of his son, Sumitada, as a consequence of his failure to support the Tokugawa's Eastern Army in Sekigahara, Yoshiaki still entered the

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

with a level of authority over the Omura, which he justified by means of expelling the Jesuits from his domain after a show of defiance at Nagasaki port. Around 1606, Yoshiaki apostatised from Christianity. Initially following this, Yoshiaki persecuted Christianity in his domain and enforced

Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

, possibly to appear favourably to

Tokugawa Ieyasu Tokugawa Ieyasu (born Matsudaira Takechiyo; 31 January 1543 – 1 June 1616) was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, which ruled from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was the third of the three "Gr ...

and potentially redeem rank that could benefit his social position. As his Christian name "Dom Sancho" was additionally discarded, Yoshiaki's life following this period in time is unknown. He died by the year 1615.

References

* http://wiki.samurai-archives.com/index.php?title=Omura_Yoshiaki Omura Yoshiaki - SamuraiWiki]. (Samurai Archives) FWSeal & CEWest, 2005 *Hall, John Whitney. ''The Cambridge History of Japan'' Samurai Daimyo Converts to Buddhism from Roman Catholicism People of the Imjin War 1568 births 1615 deaths Place of birth unknown Converts to Buddhism from Christianity Date of death unknown Place of death unknown Date of birth unknown {{daimyo-stub