paraded through the city, then beheaded. 122 women and children of Itami Castle were executed at Nanatsumatsu, near Amagasaki:Making mothers hold on to their children, the soldiers affixed the women to crosses one after the other and then shot them point-blank with harquebuses or stabbed them to death with spears and halberds. As the hundred and twenty-two women were being slaughtered, their dying scream ripped through the sky in one massive burst. The eyes of those present dimmed and their hearts sank; they could not suppress their tears. They say that for twenty or thirty days, eyewitnesses were haunted by the victim's visages, unable to forget them.An additional "388 females, the wives and children of low-ranking retainers and their maids" along with "124 males, from junior personnel assigned to the important ladies on down" were forced into four houses, which were set on fire. A total of 670 persons were executed. Araki Murashige lived the rest of his life in obscurity. References Itami 1579 1579 in Japan Conflicts in 1579 Itami 1579