Bad things are said against the Japanese, with more or less
truth. But yet, a nation whose history has so many moral heroes
can not be bad at heart. Japan has produced one man who gave
his life to save the people of his province from oppression and
ruin. He was cruelly crucified, his innocent wife with him, and
their children were barbarously executed before the parents’
eyes. Yet this man’s dying words on the cross were: “Had I five
hundred lives, I’d gladly give them all for you, my people.” So
far as I know, there is no other story in all history so closely
resembling that of the crucifixion of Christ as this. The nation
that can produce one such hero has the potency and promise of
noble morality. This fearlessness of death in the face of duty
runs all through the history of the people, which tells of
wives who willingly died for their husbands, of children for
their parents, of parents for their children, and of subjects
for their lords.--JOHN H. DE FOREST, “Sunrise in the
Sunrise Kingdom.”
(1979)
=Martyrdom=--See MISSIONARY MARTYRDOM.