Amazing Wooden Statue of Blessed Virgin Mary That Wept 101 Times: The Miracle of Our Lady of Akita

This is a true story of a wooden statue of Blessed Virgin Mary that wept 101 times.

What do you think if you hear from someone that there is a weeping wooden statue like a living person?

I can’t believe it!

That’s not true!

That must be cheating!

It may be hard to believe in a weeping wooden statue.

However, such an amazing wooden statue of the Holy Mother Mary actually existed in Japan.

In this post, I would like to introduce a miraculous wooden statue of the Holy Mother Mary that wept 101 times.

Our Lady of Akita, a miraculous wooden statue that wept 101 times.

The Miracle of Our Lady of Akita

The following story is based on the book “Akita: The Tears and Message of Mary” written by Father Teiji Yasuda (1916 – 2013), chaplain of Convent-Marian Shrine in Akita, Japan.

Father Teiji Yasuda (1916 – 2013)

In this book, Father Yasuda introduced “Our Lady of Akita,” a miraculous wooden statue of the Holy Mother Mary that wept 101 times and shed blood from its hand.

It may be hard to believe, but on March 14, 1989, the Most Rev. John Shojiro Ito (1909-1993), retired Bishop of Niigata approved this book in the following words:

I recommend this book and testify that its contents are true.

Bishop of Niigata, the Most Rev. John Shojiro Ito (1909-1993).

Actually, the weeping and bleeding statue of the Virgin Mary was so miraculous that it was broadcast on Japanese national television.

Furthermore, it gained notice with the miraculous healing of hearing loss of Sister Sasagawa who received messages from the Blessed Virgin.

Therefore, it was a miracle happened to a convent in Akita.

Source Maximilian Dörrbecker (Chumwa) – Own work

Weeping Wooden Statue of Virgin Mary

It was about 9:00 a.m. on January 4, 1975, the first Saturday.

When Father Yasuda was in the presbytery, he suddenly got the shocking news.

The statue of the Virgin Mary is weeping!

That day was the last day of a retreat of the sisters and thus he had begun to prepare the sermon.

However, to hear the news, Father Yasuda threw away his pen and got up from the desk.

According to Sister Agnes Katsuko Sasagawa (born May 28, 1931), who was one of the first witnesses, the detailed description at that time was as follows.

It was the time of prayer after the breakfast.

Suddenly, Sister K., who was cleaning the chapel, rushed out to call Sr. Sasagawa in the hallway.

Sister Sasagawa, come here!

What happened?

So, she followed Sr. K. into the chapel with wonder.

Then Sr. K. pointed with her finger to the statue of the Virgin Mary without a word.

What’s up with that?

Saying that, she looked at the face of Sr. K..

To her surprise, Sr. K. had a ghastly pale face.

Her pointing fingers were trembling.

So, Sr. Sasagawa moved a step closer to the statue and she was shocked to see its face.

The two eyes of the statue were filled with water.

Oh!  Water …

Just when she thought it, the water began to run down along the nose.

At that time, she noticed for the first time,

Those are tears!

So, she asked Sr. K.,

Could it be that this is the tears of the Virgin Mary?

However, Sr. K. stood bolt upright and her lips were trembling.

Sr. Sasagawa got too scared to stand up and thus she wanted to prostrate herself on the spot.

But, she pulled herself together soon.

Anyway, I have to inform the Father!

So, she made a phone call to the Father who was in the presbytery at that time.

Sr. Sasagawa did not remember what she was doing after that.

Soon, the Father came rushing over to the chapel.

And before she knew it, the other sisters gathered to the chapel.

At that time, Sr. Sasagawa prostrated herself in the very back, because she did not have the courage to approach the statue.

So, she prayed desperately.

Holy Mary!

Pardon me!

It is I who have made you cry.

Pardon!

Lord, forgive me for my sins.

She wondered if Mary was weeping because she had thrown away that much of graces through Her intercession.

Thus, Sr. Sasagawa was overwhelmed by deep remorse.

The 2nd Weeping

That day, the tears appeared two more times.

The second time was around 1:00 p.m.

A little while before, two or three sisters were on retreat, but they had to leave early.

Then, Sr. Sasagawa went to gather medals placed in offering before the statue of Mary, because she was sacristan that day.

After taking the medals from the table, she looked into the face of the statue to greet Mary.

At that moment, she was amazed to see the statue was in tears.

Sr. Sasagawa felt herself overwhelmed by a severe shock, because this time, she was the first person to find it and then looked closely at the tears of the statue.

But, she pulled herself together to inform the sister who was praying at the one end of the chapel.

Then she hurried to tell the others.

Immediately, the Father Yasuda and the other sisters gathered at the chapel and then they recited the Rosary.

At 4:00 p.m., the Father Yasuda gave a talk on the weeping statue.

He said,

These tears are the assurance of the messages of Mary.

Sr. Sasagawa was so touched by the Father’s interpretation.

The Father’s words triggered a flood of emotions which she had held back until then and thus she felt as if all her strength has gone.

The 3rd Weeping

The third time, the tears began to flow while Sr. Sasagawa was remaining for a long absorbed in prayer.

At 6:30 p.m. in the evening, when a sister came to let Sr. Sasagawa know the dinner, she found it.

Then the sister taught that to Sr. Sasagawa and to another sister who was also praying.

This time, the tears more like overflowed from the eyes than oozed out.

The tears streamed incessantly and sprung up in the eyes one after another.

Then, they streamed down the cheeks, the chin, and the breast of the statue, which looked like thin lines.

To see the tears continuing to drip from the statue, Sr. Sasagawa was unable to move from the prostrating position.

Holy Mary!

Holy Mary!

What makes You cry so much?

She repeated in herself with feelings that she could not put into words.

Each sister who gathered at the chapel also seemed moved by the weeping statue of Mary.

By the way, the first two times, some people were skeptical about the tears, because they had not seen them well.

However, this time, even those skeptical people seemed convinced that it was clear evidence of the miracle.

This time, Bishop Ito also came to the chapel to see the tears for the first time.

He asked for a absorbent cotton and wiped away the tears with it many times.

That day, indeed 20 persons witnessed the statue shedding tears.

Usually, there were less than ten sisters in the convent, but, at that time, members of other regional branches joined them for the New Year retreat.

Both eyes of the carved wooden statue were glistening.

They were filled with tears and the tears overflowed and streamed down.

It really just looked like the statue was weeping.

Later, everyone spoke of it.

It was just as if a living person was weeping!

Actually, the tears rolled from the corner of the eyes where the lachrymal glands would be located.

Then they trickled down along the nose and on the cheeks.

It was just like as if a living person was weeping standing up.

Some teardrops were staying under the chin like beads and the others accumulated on the collar of the garment.

They rolled on the cincture and ran down along the folds of the robe and then splashed down on the footstool.

Oddly enough, the wooden statue was so dry that it was cracked in some places.

Nevertheless, mysterious liquid was overflowing from the statue.

So, Father Yasuda said,

Who could explain such a phenomenon as natural one?

I could not help but feel that these are the tears of Mary newly created by the power of God!

Indeed, it was more than a matter of whether or not one believes in the supernatural phenomenon.

Every witness who happened to be there felt,

Our Lady was crying!

And they seemed struck by what they saw with their own eyes.

The Result of the Scientific Analysis of “Liquid” from the Statue

Amazingly, the scientific analysis found that the liquid was “human tears.”

The statue had been carved from the Japanese Judas tree more than ten years before by Saburo Wakasa, a prominent local sculptor.

It had so completely dried out at that time that it was found that little cracks were running.

So, it would be miraculous that water overflowed from such dry wood.

Furthermore, slightly salted “human tears” flowed from the eyes, not the cracks of the statue!

At first, everyone was so amazed that no one thought of taking a picture of the weeping statue of Mary.

But, later, the photos of the weeping wooden statue of Mary were taken many times as objective evidences.

Therefore, this supernatural phenomenon is not apparently illusion or something like that.

This supernatural phenomenon of weeping statue of Holy Mary begun on the January 4, 1975 and lasted intermittently until September 15, 1981.

Amazingly, the statue wept 101 times!

In this way, the wooden statue of Our Lady of Akita was indeed a living miracle.

Visit Akita and Confirm the Miracles of Our Lady of Akita

As described above, Our Lady of Akita worked various miracles, such as the miraculous cures of a deaf woman and a patient with terminal brain cancer as well as the bleeding and weeping statue.

Nevertheless, some people still cannot believe these miracles.

For such skeptical people, I recommend that you go and see if the miracles of Our Lady of Akita are true.

Especially, if you plan to visit Japan for the 2020 Summer Olympics, you should go to Akita!

For the detailed information of Our Lady of Akita, please click on the following link.

Please go and see the miracles of Our Lady of Akita with your own eyes!

Published on October 27, 2019

Updated on November 23, 2019

Written by OTAKUPAPA

References

1. Convent-Marian Shrine of Our Lady of Akita
2. Teiji Yasuda (1994) “Akita: The Tears and Message of Mary”
3. Our Lady of Akita in Wikipedia.