These markers honor the 33 Japanese Christians who were thrown into the Unzen Jigoku (or Unzen "hells") and scalded to death by the Shimabara Lords in 1630 for refusing to renounce their faith. After initially welcoming Christianianity with open arms, as they had Buddhism before it, the Shogun eventually expelled all Westerners from mainland Japan, and restricted them for trade only to Dejima. During this time (the Edo period), Christianity was violently suppressed in Japan. Two stones were placed in "Oito-jigoku" to honor the martyrs. The "Seika Moyu no Hi," (monument of sacred flame) was built in 1939. According to my sources, the following Japanese poem written by Chosuke Ikuta is inscribed on the stone: Your exalted spirits and sacred red blood have never faded away. They are still vividly seen along the red mountain covered by azaleas . The other monument of the cross was raised by Archbishop of Nagasaki in 1961.

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