Japan, Nagasaki, Great Martyrdom, Montanus, 1670, t Ziedende water van Singock – das siedende Wasser zingock

Very rare 17th century hand colored copper engraving showing the mass killing of the Christian Japanese from Nagasaki in boiling water of Singoc in 1622.The Christian Japanese from Nagasaki were transported to Arima and horribly tortured and killed. Some were drenched in seething water, others bound to stakes in the burning sun, and other means of torture.

The Great Genna Martyrdom (元和の大殉教, Genna no daijunkyō), also known as the Great Martyrdom of Nagasaki, was the execution of 55 foreign and domestic Catholics killed together at Nishizaka Hill in Nagasaki, Japan, on 10 September 1622. Beginning in 1614, Christianity was banned in Japan and a smuggling incident concerning two foreign missionaries prompted the killing. The mass execution was part of the persecution of Christians in Japan by Tokugawa Hidetada, the second Shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate.

This engraving was published in Arnold Montanus' influential early account of the 17th Century Dutch embassies to Japan, first published in Amsterdam in 1669 by Van Meurs.

This edition of the engraving is taken from the first German edition of 1670, titled: ´ Ambassades Mémorables de la Compagnie des Indes Orientales des Provinces Unies, vers les Empereurs du Japon….´

Good-very good condition. Some minor stains and small repairs in the margins. Wide margins, central fold as published. Clear print.

Image 26,5x33,5cm, page 30x36cm