One thing I picked up regarding traveling was to buy the one-day tram pass at a JR station (or hotel, supposedly). It cost 500 yen and provided unlimited travel for one day (or more... if you're unscrupulous).
I was originally going to divide Nagasaki up into multiple tours (as they were outlined in a tour book I bought), but I thought that it might be easier if I divide it into more of a linear historical way instead.
Due to its close proximity to the rest of Asia, Nagasaki Port was opened for trade in 1571 at the request of Portuguese Jesuit missionaries. At that point, Little Nagasaki the Fishing Village became Big Nagasaki, the Hot New City.
Interestingly, Christianity was already flourishing in this city thanks to the work of the aforementioned Portuguese Jesuits. The local feudal lord, Omura Sumitada, even converted to Christianity and gave jurisdiction of Nagasaki to the Jesuits in 1580. Did the Japanese suddenly see the light, so to speak? Not exactly, the suspicion is that Omura converted (and ceded the city) to ensure continued trade with the Portuguese though there were definitely true Believers (not Beliebers -- Justin Bieber wasn't even born yet, duh).
It was all fun and games until it was rudely taken back by Shogun Toyotomi Hideyoshi (under the Portuguese Missionary Expulsion Edict) in 1588 when he became suspicious of foreign intent for Japan. The fires were flamed with the "San Felipe incident" in 1596, when the Spanish ship ran aground in Japan, was found to have large amount of munitions and the captain said that missionaries preceded military conquest. Someone get that guy an approved talking points list, sheesh!
Clearly this required action -- Japan was not going to fall victim to Spanish (or Portuguese) rule! To prove his point, Hideyoshi gathered up 26 Christians (including three children) in Kyoto and made them march the 800km (about 500 miles) to their crucifixion on Nishizaka Hill (Nagasaki) on February 5th, 1597.
Above is the monument dedicated to them. On the other side is a design of a 26 grapes to symbolize their sacrifice (or struggle? the translation wasn't very clear).
There was also a museum on the other side (cost of 500 yen) and had a lot of cool Christian relics that I wasn't allowed to take pictures of. That didn't stop the other foreign tourist, whose phone camera click was quite evident. Some people.
Unfortunately, they were not the last to be executed. Christianity was subsequently banned in 1612 (as indicated by this plaque):
Hideyoshi's successor instituted the terauke seido or dank seido, which required all Japanese citizens to show proof of belonging to Buddhist temples. Special tests were required, one known as as the "Trampling Ceremony" which required a potential Christian to stomp on a Christian symbol, such as the one shown below. I guess if they were able to do it, they weren't a Christian.
However, a group of people known as the "kakure kirishitan" (or "hidden Christians") found their ways to practice in secret. One way was to make Kannon statues that resembled the Virgin Mary or otherwise hide their true faith within Buddhist-appearing figurines, but they had no scriptures.
This essentially began Japan's Isolation Policy, but I'll continue to talk about what happened with the Christians and revisit that later.
The Oura Cathlic Church is Japan's oldest Gothic-style church, officially named the "Church of 26 Saints of Japan" and as such faces Nishizaka Hill. It was built under new treaty rights allowing foreigners to build places for personal worship (also, FYI, Japan was beginning to open its ports). However, its real claim to fame is as the site where the Kakure Kirishitan revealed themselves to Father Petitjean in 1865. As it turns out, almost all of the citizens of the town of Urakami were secret Christians.
The white marble statue in front was built to commemorate their "coming out". The below bronze relief depicts their reveal.
However, Christians weren't quite out of the clear yet. The ban on Christianity continued and a mass exile of the Urakami Christians (the hidden group who revealed themselves) to all corners of Japan. The torture of Christians continued, sometimes via the "Torture Stone" where unrepentant believers were forced to stand naked endlessly.
The ban on Christianity was finally lifted in 1873 and the Urakami Christians who had been exiled returned to Nagasaki to begin building their own church. They chose the land owned by the village chief who had required them to trample the Christian symbols. It took a while, but in 1925 the church was completed. At the time, it was the largest cathedral in East Asia!
Unfortunately.... it was destroyed when the atomic bomb landed in Nagasaki, but that's a story for another day.
My next blog post will discuss the fate of the Dutch and Portuguese under Japan's new isolation policy.
How to find:
1) 26 Martyrs Monument - Get off at the Nagasaki-eki Station and walk left (away from the JR station). You'll take a sharp right and climb up a hill about 50 meters. It's on your left
2) Oura Church - Take the blue #1 tram line (toward Shokakuji-Shita) and get off the Tsuki-Machi Station. From there, switch to the green #5 tram toward Ishibashi and get off at the Ishibashi Station. Take a right and follow the signs
3) Urakama Cathedral - From Nagasaki-eki Station, take the red #3 tram toward Akasako and get off at the Matsuyama-Machi Station. Cross the main intersection and keep going straight.
Who knew?
ReplyDeleteI know I didn't until I was there!
ReplyDeleteThat torture stone totally has blood stains all over it.
ReplyDelete