Tsuwano Catholic Church

 

I have photographed quite a few churches in Japan, simply because they are rare and therefore exotic.

Of course, none of the churches in Japan are very old as Christianity was outlawed until the late 19th century.

It is thought that in 1601 the daimyo of Tsuwano flirted with Christianity. Missionary records claim him as a convert, but he seemed to have renounced the religion soon after. There are said to be a couple of Christian gravestones at Yomeiji Temple.

In 1870, 153 "Hidden Christians" from Nagasaki were imprisoned in Tsuwano and tortured to recant their faith. 37 died. A lovely chapel has been built on the hillside above Tsuwano... see this post for details.

The Catholic church in Tsuwano  was built in 1934 by a German priest. Built of wood, the Japanese carpenters came from Nagasaki. In 1892 a mission was established in Tsuwano, and so the church dates its foundation to then.

In early November every year a procession goes from the church up to the chapel.

There are said to be about 70 parishioners at the church. There are several other churches now in the Tsuwano area, although official statistics say only 2 per cent of the popukation of Japan are Christian, however, there has been quite a lot of Christian Prime Ministers....

The church is usually open to visitors from 9 to 5, unless services are taking place.

The previous post in this series on Tsuwano was on the childhood homes of Nishi Amane and Mori Ogai.

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Childhood Homes of Nishi Amane & Mori Ogai

 

Nishi Amane and Mori Ogai are two of the most famous sons of Tsuwano, the small castle town in the mountains of Shimane.

Though located a little outside the main tourist area of the town, their childhood homes are still standing and in close proximity to each other, and offer visitors the opportunity to see some traditional architecture.

Nishi Amane (1829-1897), was born to a family of physicians and spent the first twenty years of his life in this house. Actually the main house burned down, and this in the ancillary building where he had his study. He is known as the father of Western Philosophy in Japan and spent time as a bureaucrat in the Meiji Government.

Said to be a child prodigy, he studied in the local domain school before heading to Edo in 1853 to study "Dutch Learning". Along with Fukuzawa Yukichi and others, he was a champion of Western Learning and in 1863 went to the Netherlands to study and, incidentally, was inducted into Freemasonry.

He came back to Japan in 1865 and was a tireless advocate of Western philosophy as the basis for Japan's future. He was a staunch anti-Confucianist.

Mori Ogai (1862-1922) was an Army Surgeon and writer, and credited with introducing Western poetry into Japan. His former home and an attached museum to him is across the river from the Nishi Amane House.

The Mori were also a family of physicians, in fact, head physicians to the daimyo. Mori Ogai also studied at the local domain school, but in 1872, the family moved to Tokyo. He stayed with Nishi Amane for a while to study German before attending medical school. He graduated with a medical license at the age of 19 and became an Army doctor.

The army sent him to Germany to study for 4 years, and he eventually became Surgeon General. he is perhaps most well known as a writer. The only work of his I am familiar with is Sansho Dayu, and Edo Period story which he rewrote. His version was made into a movie by Kenji Mizoguchi and was the movie that introduced me to Mizoguchi's awesome movies.

Both houses are along the river, south of the main tourist area. When I last visited they were  both free to view but could not be entered. Another of Mori Ogai's homes can be seen in Kokura.

The previous post in this series on the delights of Tsuwano, was on the samurai quarter.

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Tonomachi Street Tsuwano Samurai Quarter

 

Koi swimming in small canals along the street are an icon of Tsuwano, a small castle town in the mountains of Shimane.

In the previous post we looked at Tonomachi Street, the main street of the town that is part of an Historic Preservation District.

That post looked at the merchant section of the street, but in this post we will look at the samurai section of the street, closer to the castle.

Fewer of the buildings remain in this section, but plenty of walls and gates remain.

One of the remaining building is the Yorokan, the domaoin school for samurai. Running alonside it is the main canal filled with koi.

It was founded in 1786 by the 8th Lord, and closed in 1872.

Mori Ogai, the famous author born in Tsuwano, studied here.

It used to hold a huge collection of artifacts relating to local history and folklore, as seen above, but has been renovated back to its original condition, as seen below.

While some space was for book learning and lectures, most of the spaces were used for various weapons training.

There are a lot of large storehouses in the immediate vicinity.

One of the first group of buildings inside the samurai quarter, opposite the Catholic church, has been converted into a restaurant, coffe shop and tearooms, and souvenir shop called Saronoki, well worth visiting for its garden.

The previous post in this series on Tsuwano was on the other section of the old street, the merchant quarter.

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Tonomachi Street Tsuwano Merchant Quarter

 

Tsuwano, a former castle town in the remote mountains near the Shimane and Yamaguchi border is known as a "Little Kyoto".

Little Kyoto is actually a registered name you can use if you pay the organization the right fees, and I find it quite misleading. What it really means is there are historic attractions in a relatively small area, not that they are pretentious, overcrowded, and overpriced like the real Kyoto.

Tsuwano is also one of the more than 120 areas of Japan that is a Historic Preservation District. Actually the Japanese term is a long-winded title involving "traditional buildings," but I prefer the simplicity of Preservation District.

Tsuwano is also classified as a Japan Heritage site, a fairly recent system that includes sites and practices that they can't get onto UNESCO World Heritage status. Actually, that is a little cynical of me.... a lot of the Japan Heritage sites are quite interesting...

The preservation district in Tsuwano centres on Tonomachi Street, the main street of the old town, and it was in earlier days divided into the samurai section, closer to the castle, and the merchant section. At that time a huge gate separated the two sections. That gate is now relocated to be the gate of Yomeiji Temple.

Worth exploring are the narrow side streets...

In fact a few traditional ryokan are hidden away down side streets...

The main street does have some modern buildings on it, but also a range of traditional businesses...

There are a couple of sake breweries....... incidentally, the final photo of the post is from inside one Sake brewery.

There is a traditional rice shop, well worth visiting for the small ponds crammed full of koi in the rear...second photo of the post

There are some eateries and coffee shops....

My favorite though is a traditional pharmacy filled with weird and wonderful example of Chinese medicine....

The Japan Heritage information centre is also well worth a visit.....

In the next post I will look at the samurai quarter....

I have done quite a few posts on Tsuwano, click here to see some in reverse chronological order....

I have also posted on quite a few Preservation Districts, recent ones being Yanai in Yamaguchi and Yuasa in Wakayama.

The previous post was on the gardens at the Hori Mansion, a little out of town...

if you would like to subscribe by email, just leave your email address in the comments below. It will not be published or made public. I post new content almost every day, and send out an email about twice a month with short descriptions and links to the most recent posts.