Crucifixion

=== Japan ===
[[File:Japanese Crucifixion.jpg|thumb|Early [[Meiji period]] crucifixion (c.&nbsp;1865–1868), [[Yokohama]], [[Japan]]. A 25-year-old servant, Sokichi, was executed by crucifixion for murdering his employer's son during the course of a robbery. He was affixed by tying to a stake with two cross-pieces.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wD4U34XRlU4C&q=crucifixion+of+sokichi|first=William A.|last=Ewing|title=The body: photographs of the human form|year=1994|publisher=Chronicle Books|page=250|isbn=978-0-8118-0762-3|others=photograph by [[Felice Beato]]}}</ref><ref name="Worswick1979">{{cite book|author=Clark Worswick|title=Japan, photographs, 1854–1905|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g6XpAAAAMAAJ|year=1979|publisher=Knopf : distributed by Random House|isbn=978-0-394-50836-8|page=32}}</ref>]]

Crucifixion was introduced into [[Japan]] during the [[Sengoku period]] (1467–1573), after a 350-year period with no capital punishment.<ref name=JapaneseMind>{{cite book|title=The Japanese mind: essentials of Japanese philosophy and culture|last=Moore |first=Charles Alexander|author2=Aldyth V. Morris|year=1968|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|location= Honolulu|isbn=978-0-8248-0077-2|oclc=10329518|page=145|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x7PT8_QS6OgC}}</ref> It is believed to have been suggested to the Japanese by the introduction of [[Christianity]] into the region,<ref name="JapaneseMind" /> although similar types of punishment had been used as early as the [[Kamakura period]]. Known in Japanese as {{Nihongo|''haritsuke''|磔}}, crucifixion was used in Japan before and during the [[Tokugawa Shogunate]]. Several related crucifixion techniques were used. Petra Schmidt, in "Capital Punishment in Japan", writes:<ref>{{cite book|title=Capital Punishment in Japan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8fZKH4cbcmQC|last=Schmidt|first=Petra|year=2002|publisher=Brill|location=Leiden|isbn=978-90-04-12421-9|pages=14–15}}</ref>{{Blockquote|Execution by crucifixion included, first of all, ''hikimawashi'' (i.e, being paraded about town on horseback); then the unfortunate was tied to a cross made from one vertical and two horizontal poles. The cross was raised, the convict speared several times from two sides, and eventually killed with a final thrust through the throat. The corpse was left on the cross for three days. If one condemned to crucifixion died in prison, his body was pickled and the punishment executed on the dead body. Under [[Toyotomi Hideyoshi]], one of the great 16th-century unifiers, crucifixion upside down (i.e, ''sakasaharitsuke'') was frequently used. Water crucifixion (''mizuharitsuke'') awaited mostly Christians: a cross was raised at low tide; when the high tide came, the convict was submerged under water up to the head, prolonging death for many days}}

[[File:Martyrdom-of-Nagasaki-Painting-1622.png|thumb|The Twenty Six Martyrs of Japan]]
In 1597, [[26 Martyrs of Japan|26 Christian Martyrs]] were nailed to crosses at [[Nagasaki]], Japan. Among those executed were Saints [[Paulo Miki]], [[Philip of Jesus]] and [[Pedro Bautista]], a Spanish [[Franciscan]]. The executions marked the beginning of a long history of [[Japanese Martyrs|persecution of Christianity in Japan]], which continued until its decriminalization in 1871.

Crucifixion was used as a punishment for prisoners of war during [[World War II]]. [[Ringer Edwards]], an Australian prisoner of war, was crucified for killing cattle, along with two others. He survived 63 hours before being let down.