WAmakusa Shirō , also known as Amakusa Shirō Tokisada (天草四郎時貞), often romanized as Shirou, led the Shimabara Rebellion, an uprising of Japanese Roman Catholics against the Shogunate. They were defeated, and Shirō was executed at the age of 17. His head was displayed on a pike near Nagasaki as a warning to Christians. His struggle was reflected in the 1962 movie Amakusa Shirō Tokisada, by the renowned Japanese movie director Nagisa Oshima. Since the late 20th century, he has been featured in popular culture as a character in numerous manga, anime, and video games.
WLudovicus Baba, also known as Louis Baba or ルイス馬場, was a Roman Catholic Franciscan Tertiary from Japan. He was beatified in July 1867 by Pope Pius IX.
WSaint Guillaume Courtet (1589–1637) was a French Dominican priest who has been described as the first Frenchman to have visited Japan. He was martyred in 1637 and canonized in 1987.
WLorenzo Ruiz, also called Saint Lorenzo of Manila, is a Filipino saint venerated in the Catholic Church. A Chinese-Filipino, he became his country's protomartyr after his execution in Japan by the Tokugawa Shogunate during its persecution of Japanese Christians in the 17th century.
WLudovicus Sasada, also known as Louis Sasada or ルイス笹田, was a Roman Catholic Priest from Japan. He was beatified in July 1867 by Pope Pius IX.
WLuis Sotelo, in English known also as Louis Sotelo, was a Franciscan friar from Spain who died as a martyr in Japan, in 1624, and was beatified by Pope Pius IX in 1867.
WBlessed Charles Spinola, also known as Carlo Spinola, was a Jesuit missionary from Genoa, Italy, martyred in Japan as a missionary.
WJana Ueekata Rizan (1549–1611), also known by the Chinese-style name Tei Dō (鄭迵), was a Ryukyuan aristocrat and bureaucrat in the royal government of the Ryukyu Kingdom. A member of the Sanshikan, the king's closest advisors, Rizan was the only Ryukyuan official to refuse to recognize the suzerainty of Japan's Satsuma Domain over the kingdom; he was executed as a result.