The Twenty-Six Martyrs of Japan (日本二十六聖人 Nihon Nijūroku Seijin) were a group of Roman Catholics who were executed by crucifixion on February 5, 1597, at Nagasaki. Their martyrdom is especially significant in the history of Roman Catholicism in Japan. A promising beginning to Catholic missions in Japan — perhaps as many as 300,000 Catholics by the end of the sixteenth century — met complications from competition between the missionary groups, political difficulty between Spain and Portugal, and factions within the government of Japan. Christianity was suppressed, and it was during this time that the 26 martyrs were executed. By 1630, Catholicism had been driven underground. Two-hundred and fifty years later, when Christian missionaries returned to Japan, they found a community of "hidden Catholics" that had survived underground.

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