Pillar II · Apparitions · Japan, 1973
In a small convent in the hills outside Akita, in northern Japan, a deaf religious sister said she heard a voice from a wooden statue of Mary. Three messages followed in 1973, calling for prayer and reparation, and over the next years the statue was seen to weep. The local bishop recognized the events in 1984; the Holy See has never given a final judgment.
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| Place | The convent of the Handmaids of the Holy Eucharist (Seitai Hoshikai) at Yuzawadai, near Akita City, in the Diocese of Niigata, Japan |
|---|---|
| Dates | Three messages, on July 6, August 3 and October 13, 1973. The statue was reported to weep 101 times, from January 4, 1975 to September 15, 1981. |
| Seer | Sr. Agnes Katsuko Sasagawa, a convert from a Buddhist family, who had become completely deaf. She died on August 15, 2024, the Solemnity of the Assumption, at 93. |
| Church judgment | Recognized by the Bishop of Niigata, John Shojiro Ito, in a pastoral letter of April 22, 1984. He recognized “the supernatural character of a series of mysterious events concerning the statue” and authorized its veneration in his diocese “while awaiting that the Holy See publishes definitive judgment on this matter.” The Holy See has published no such judgment. As of October 2026 the bishop's recognition has not been withdrawn, and the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith has issued no judgment on Akita under the 2024 norms. The details are below. |
| Feast | None in the universal or Japanese calendar |
| Weight | Private revelation with a diocesan recognition only: Catholics may accept it with prudent devotion but are not bound to believe it (CCC 67). Bishop Ito said the same in his letter. |
Agnes Sasagawa had joined the small community at Yuzawadai in 1973, already deaf. On June 12 she reported seeing brilliant rays coming from the tabernacle, and later that month a cross-shaped wound appeared on her hand and bled. On July 6, while praying before the convent's wooden statue of Mary, about three feet tall and carved from a single block of katsura wood, she said she heard a voice from the statue. The same day the sisters noticed drops of blood on the statue's right hand. Later that year they reported that the statue seemed to “sweat,” especially on the forehead and neck.
On January 4, 1975 the statue began to shed tears. Over nearly seven years this was reported 101 times, the last on September 15, 1981, and was seen by many witnesses. Sr. Agnes's own deafness was healed on May 30, 1982, Pentecost Sunday; a doctor's certificate found “no further anomaly in the two ears,” though the doctors themselves did not call the cure miraculous.
The details above follow the account of the community's chaplain, Fr. Teiji Yasuda, and Bishop Ito's 1984 letter. They are reported events, which the bishop weighed; they are not doctrine.
The quotations below are from the English text of the messages given by EWTN, which follows the account of Sr. Agnes and Fr. Yasuda (published in English as Akita: The Tears and Message of Mary). There is no text of the messages published by the Holy See. Quotations are kept short.
“Pray very much for the Pope, Bishops, and Priests.”
“Many men in this world afflict the Lord.”
“As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity.”
Akita is often described as “approved by the Vatican.” That is not accurate, and the history deserves to be told exactly.
| Date | Act |
|---|---|
| 1975–1976 | Bishop Ito consults the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), which replies that judgment belongs first to the local bishop. A first commission of inquiry (1976) concludes that it is “not in a position to prove the supernatural events.” |
| 1981–1983 | According to Bishop Ito's own letter, the CDF wrote in 1981 in terms “unfavorable to the events,” a letter he judged to contain “some misunderstandings.” He re-examined the facts and sent a fuller dossier, and in October 1983 three CDF officials decided it should remain under examination. |
| April 22, 1984 | Bishop Ito's pastoral letter recognizes the supernatural character of the events concerning the statue, finds nothing contrary to faith and morals, and authorizes veneration in the Diocese of Niigata, explicitly pending a definitive judgment of the Holy See. |
| June 1988 | Now retired, Bishop Ito meets Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Prefect of the CDF. Some later accounts say the Cardinal approved Akita or found its messages “reliable and worthy of belief.” No decree or document of the CDF exists. According to a UCA News report of September 13, 1988, as later quoted, Bishop Ito himself explained that the Cardinal's “limited remarks only indicated that he did not object to the pastoral letter.” |
| 1990 | As quoted from 30 Days (April 1990), the Apostolic Nuncio in Japan, Archbishop William Aquin Carew, said that Cardinal Ratzinger “did not give any judgment on the reliability or credibility” of the messages, only that there was no objection to the conclusions of the pastoral letter. Later that year (July–August 1990) the same magazine quoted the president of the Japanese bishops' conference, Archbishop Peter Seiichi Shirayanagi of Tokyo: “The events of Akita are no longer to be taken seriously.” |
| 1999 | According to the British magazine Christian Order (December 1999), the Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Ambrose De Paoli, answering its query at the request of the CDF, wrote: “The Holy See has never given any kind of approval to either the events or messages of Akita.” |
| Since 2024 | Under the 2024 norms any new judgment would require the approval of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. The Dicastery has published none on Akita. When Sr. Agnes died in August 2024, Catholic news agencies reported that the Vatican has not officially ruled on Akita. |
Where things stand. Akita has a diocesan recognition, given in 1984 by the competent local bishop and never revoked by his successors or by Rome. It is not a recognition by the Holy See, which has neither confirmed nor rejected it, and the bishops of Japan have at times been reserved about it. Catholics may venerate Our Lady of Akita and pray with its messages; they should not claim for them more authority than the Church has given.
Akita does not interpret the Book of Revelation, but several of its images echo it.
For reflection
To pray for the Pope, the bishops and priests; to offer my day in reparation; to pray the Rosary each day. A warning taken to heart leads to prayer, not to fear.