Historical Tourism ~ Shimabara’s Castle

Hoping to give tourists a dramatic impression of historic Shimabara, the city has hired eight tour guides to don traditional costumes to give their spiels.

Giving local color to history, Asahi, 2010/02/05

Siege at Hara Castle

The armies under the command of the Tokugawa shogunate requested aid from the Dutch, who first gave them gunpowder, and then cannons. Nicolaes Couckebacker, Opperhoofd of the Dutch trading station on Hirado, provided the gunpowder and cannons, and when the shogunate forces requested that he send a vessel, he personally accompanied the vessel de Ryp to a position offshore, near Hara Castle. The cannons sent previously were mounted in a battery, and an all-out bombardment of the fortress commenced, both from the shore guns as well as from the 20 guns of the de Ryp. These guns fired approximately 426 rounds in the space of 15 days, without great result, and two Dutch lookouts were shot by the rebels. The ship withdrew at the request of the Japanese, following contemptuous messages sent by the rebels to the besieging troops: “Are there no longer courageous soldiers in the realm to do combat with us, and weren’t they ashamed to have called in the assistance of foreigners against our small contingent?“

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