The Shimabara Rebellion was a peasant uprising that occurred from 17 December 1637 to 15 April 1638 in Japan's southern island of Kyushu. Economic desperation, famine, and religious persecution led the peasants of the Shimabara peninsular region to take up arms against the shogunate (military government), culminating in the siege of Hara Castle, where the rebellion was quashed and its leader, a...