Shimabara Rebellion - Aftermath

Aftermath

After the castle fell, the shogunate forces beheaded an estimated 37,000 rebels and sympathizers. Amakusa Shirō's severed head was taken to Nagasaki for public display, and the entire complex at Hara Castle was burned to the ground and buried together with the bodies of all the dead.

The shogunate suspected that Western Catholics had been involved in spreading the rebellion and Portuguese traders were driven out of the country. The policy of national seclusion was made more strict by 1639. An already existing ban on the Christian religion was then enforced stringently, and Christianity in Japan survived only by going underground.

Another part of the shogunate's actions after the rebellion was to excuse the clans which had aided its efforts militarily, from the building contributions which it routinely required from various domains. Matsukura Katsuie committed suicide, and his domain was given to another lord, Kōriki Tadafusa. The Terazawa clan survived, but died out almost 10 years later, due to Katataka's lack of a successor.

On the Shimabara peninsula, most towns experienced a severe to total loss of population as a result of the rebellion. In order to maintain the rice fields and other crops, immigrants were brought from other areas across Japan to resettle the land. All inhabitants were registered with local temples, whose priests were required to vouch for their members' religious affiliation. Following the rebellion, Buddhism was strongly promoted in the area. Certain customs were introduced which remain unique to the area today. Towns on the Shimabara peninsula also continue to have a varied mix of dialects due to the mass immigration from other parts of Japan.

With the exception of periodic, localized peasant uprisings, the Shimabara Rebellion was the last large-scale armed clash in Japan until the 1860s.