Biography
Michael Kozaki
About Michael Kozaki
Michael Kozaki was a Japanese lay Christian from Ise, remembered as a maker of bows and as the father of Thomas Kozaki. The Kyoto diocesan newspaper’s account identifies him as a member of the Franciscan Third Order and gives his age at death as forty-six. It describes his conversion after hearing Christian teaching. His religious life was that of a craftsman and parent, rather than an ordained priest.
Michael and Thomas were among the Christians condemned to death in the persecution that culminated at Nagasaki in 1597. The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Japan dates the execution of the twenty-six martyrs at Nishizaka to February 5. The group included priests, religious and lay believers. The father and son belonged to a community whose members faced the sentence together.
A devotional account published by the Daughters of Saint Paul preserves a letter attributed to Thomas, addressed to his mother while the prisoners were being taken toward execution. The boy asks her not to be anxious about either him or his father, Michael. He also asks her to care for his younger brothers, Mancio and Philip, and to remain steadfast in her faith. The letter makes the family’s separation visible within the larger history of the martyrs.
The same account says the letter was found in Michael’s sleeve after the deaths. That detail belongs to the transmitted account of the letter’s preservation. Thomas’s words provide a view of his own faith and concern for his family; they should not be turned into invented conversations or an account of Michael’s private thoughts.
Pius IX canonized the martyrs on June 8, 1862. In Japan their feast is celebrated on February 5.
At Catholic Futamatagawa Church, Michael is included in the collective patronage of the Twenty-Six Martyrs. A participant in its 2025 candle procession reflected on his roles as father, catechist and helper in building the religious community. This local remembrance connects his death with the ordinary skills and relationships through which he had served.
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