* Image is for illustrative purposes only.Arima Harunobu
有馬晴信
Description
Overview
Arima Harunobu (1567-1612) was a devout Christian daimyō and lord of Shimabara in Hizen Province. His baptismal name was Dom Protásio, later João. He sent the Tenshō embassy to Europe and actively engaged in the Nanban trade. He was active from the late Sengoku period into the early Edo period, and in Keichō 17 (1612) he was ordered to die as a result of the Okamoto Daihachi incident.
Faith and Diplomacy
He was baptized and converted to Christianity in Tenshō 8 (1580). In Tenshō 10 (1582), together with Ōmura Sumitada and Ōtomo Sōrin, he sent the Tenshō embassy to Rome. At the Battle of Okitanawate in Tenshō 12 (1584), he hung a relic given by the Pope around his neck, inscribed a great cross and the name of Jesus Christ on his battle banner, and defeated Ryūzōji Takanobu.
Military Career and Service under Toyotomi and Tokugawa
In Tenshō 15 (1587), during Hideyoshi's campaign against Kyūshū, he cut ties with the Shimazu clan, joined the Toyotomi forces, and served the Toyotomi house. He took part in the Bunroku–Keichō campaigns (1592-1598), the military expeditions to the continent. At the Battle of Sekigahara (1600) he sided with the Eastern Army; because Harunobu was suffering from an eye ailment, his son Arima Naozumi took the field in his place in the attack on Konishi Yukinaga's Uto Castle. In Keichō 14 (1609), under orders from the shogunate, he sent retainers to Taiwan to explore the possibility of trade, and he was one of the daimyō most actively engaged in the Nanban trade.
The Nossa Senhora da Graça Incident and His Death
The turning point was an incident in Macau in which many crew members of Harunobu's red-seal ship were killed by the Portuguese side. With Tokugawa Ieyasu's permission, Harunobu attacked the Portuguese ship Nossa Senhora da Graça at Nagasaki in the 12th month of Keichō 14 (January 1610). André Pessoa, commander-in-chief of Macau, was aboard, and Pessoa blew up the ship. Hoping to recover his former domain as a reward for this achievement, Harunobu gave a large sum of money and valuables to Okamoto Daihachi, a retainer of Honda Masazumi. In the course of the Okamoto Daihachi incident, when Daihachi's fraud was discovered, Daihachi accused Harunobu of plotting to murder Hasegawa Fujihiro, the Nagasaki magistrate. In the 3rd month of Keichō 17 (1612), he was exiled to Kai Province, and on the 7th day of the 5th month of the same year, he was ordered to die at his place of exile. Harunobu was a Christian and did not choose to take his own life; it is said that he had a retainer cut off his head.