Our Lady of Akita

Our Lady of Akita refers to a series of events reported by a deaf religious sister, Agnes Katsuko Sasagawa, at a convent near Akita in northern Japan in 1973. A wooden statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the convent chapel was said to weep and to shed what appeared to be blood, sweat, and tears on many occasions witnessed by the community and others, and the sister reported receiving messages from the Virgin calling the world to prayer, penance, and reparation for sins, and warning of chastisement if humanity did not repent.

The messages echoed the call of Fátima, emphasizing the Rosary and sacrifice for the conversion of sinners. After investigation, the local bishop of Niigata declared the events of Akita worthy of belief and permitted devotion in 1984, and the case is often cited as an approved apparition, though it has not received a formal judgment from the highest authority of the universal Church. The weeping statue remains a place of pilgrimage, and the message is commemorated on the anniversary of the Virgin's final words on 13 October.