Case file · Apparition / miracle
Amakusa Shirō's miracles
Followers of the teenage leader of the Shimabara rebellion (1637–38) said he walked on water and that a dove laid an egg containing Christian scripture in his hand.
1637 CE · 32.63, 130.25 · status: legend
The account
Persecuted Christians and starving farmers rallied to the boy as a promised messenger. About 37,000 people died when shogunate armies took Hara Castle in 1638.
The sceptical view
The miracles are reported in later accounts and served the rebellion's propaganda; no contemporary record confirms them.