Oura Catholic Church

Established in 1864 during the closing years of the Edo period, Oura Church was built by the French in Nagasaki to dedicate prayers for the 26 Martyrs of Nishizaka Hill, the place where 26 European and Japanese Christians were brought to Nagasaki and crucified in 1597 to discourage Japanese from becoming Christian following Hideyoshi's edict of 1587 banning Christianity in Japan.

A few days after the church opened a group of Japanese "Hidden Christians" appeared and introduced themselves to the French priest. These people had been secretly practising Christianity since the late 16th Century. I posted earlier about what was done to some of these hidden christians as Christianity was still banned in 1865.

The stained glass was installed in the early years of the twentieth Century, and while the church survived the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, most of the stained glass did not. However it has been replaced with glass from the same period.

Oura Church is the only western building to be listed as a National Treasure.

Oura Church served as the model for the Catholic Church in Tsuwano.

There is a 300 yen entrance fee to enter the church, and photography inside is banned, but I guess my camera accidentally took some pictures all by itself without my knowledge.

Catholic Church in Tsuwano

Tsuwano

Must be in the Christmas spirit to be posting all these churches :) The Catholic Church in Tsuwano was built in 1931.

It's a replica of the Oura Tenshudo, the church built by the French in Nagasaki in 1865.

Inside, no pews or chairs, only tatami to sit on.

The church is open daily. On May 3rd there is a procession from the church up to the Chapel at Otome Pass followed by a Mass in front of the church.

Torture in Tsuwano! The Memorial Chapel of Mary

The Memorial Chapel of Mary is located in Otome Pass in Tsuwano. It was built in 1951 on the site of the torture and martyrdom of 25 Christians, including a 5 year old girl, in the early years of Meiji (1867-).

 

When Japan "opened" in the 1850's thousands of "hidden christians" mistakenly believed that it was safe to come out of the closet as a Christian Church had been constructed in Nagasaki by the French. Rather than execute them all, which is what the law proscribed, it was decided by the new government to disperse them to "re-education" camps across Japan and "encourage" them to join the new state-created religion of Shinto.

 

One method used on some of the 153 Christians sent to Tsuwano was imprisonment in tiny cages and left exposed to the elements. These statues show one of the famous martyrs, Yasutaro, who was visited by the Virgin Mary every night during his torture. Otome is the Japanese word for "virgin girl", and the pass was named Otome Pass because of an old, local legend that told of a young girl who was spurned and she wandered into the mountains here and disappeared.

 

There is a lot more detailed information on the martyrdom of the hidden Christians at this site

The short path leading up to the pass and chapel starts not far from the station in Tsuwano.