section_path: History/Missions/Japan
section_name: Japan
paragraph_text: Japan
  
  The Augustinian missions in the Philippines provided missionaries for the East since their first establishment. In 1602 some of them penetrated into Japan, where several were martyred during a period of Christian persecution. Among those martyred, Augustinians include: Ferdinand of Saint Joseph, Andrew Yoshida, and Peter Zuñiga. Augustinian Ferdinand of Saint Joseph, along with Andrew Yoshida, a catechist who worked with him, were beheaded in 1617. In 1653 others entered China, where, in 1701, the order had six missionary stations before their expulsion.
  
  Despite a vigorous early Christian foundation in Nagasaki by Jesuits, Franciscans and Filipino Augustinians and the many 17th century Japanese Augustinian martyrs, the earlier Augustinian mission attempts eventually failed after the repression of Tokugawa Hidetada (ruled 1605–1623; second Tokugawa shogun of Japan) and the expulsion of Christians under Tokugawa Iemitsu (ruled 1623 to 1651; third Tokugawa shogun of Japan).
  
  However, American Augustinian friars returned to Japan in 1954, establishing their first priory in 1959 at Nagasaki. They then established priories in Fukuoka (1959), Nagoya (1964), and Tokyo (1968). As of 2006, there are seven American Augustinian friars and five Japanese Augustinian friars in Japan.