### Execution of 26 Martyrs of Japan **Date**: February 5, 1597 • **Location**: Nagasaki, Japan As part of enforcing Toyotomi Hideyoshi's ban on Christianity in Japan, twenty-six Catholics, a mix of European missionaries and Japanese converts, were executed (depicted) near Nagasaki by crucifixion and impalement. Toyotomi Hideyoshi , otherwise known as Kinoshita Tōkichirō and Hashiba Hideyoshi , was a Japanese samurai and daimyō of the late Sengoku and Azuchi–Momoyama periods, regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan. He rose to the rank and title of kampaku and daijō-daijin , the highest offices at the imperial court. He was the first commoner to become kampaku. He then passed the position and title of kampaku to his nephew, Toyotomi Hidetsugu. He remained in power as Taikō (太閤), the title of a retired kampaku, until his death.

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