Where Diverse Cultures Met and Intermingled Nagasaki City

From Hirado, Yokoseura and Fukuda to Nagasaki. New towns sprang up alongside the ports frequented by Portuguese ships, and numerous churches appeared. Nagasaki garnered the nickname "Little Rome" but eventually suffered under the ban on Christianity. Behind the façade of a busy international trade port lies the long road to the discovery of the underground faithful.

Back in time to the age of the Magistrate’s Office

Nagasaki Museum of History and Culture

Back in time to the age of the Magistrate’s Office

Nagasaki Museum of History and Culture

The Nagasaki Magistrate's Tateyama Office once stood in this leafy neighborhood. site of present-day Nagasaki Museum of History and Culture and, further back in time, it was the site of the Santa Maria do Monte Church. Sections of the original stone walls and steps were unearthed during excavations before the construction of the museum. These have been reused on-site, and the building itself incorporates features reminiscent of the era. The design was supervised by the late world-renowned architect Kurokawa Kisho. When considering the interior of the Magistrate's Office, he referred to the 1808 illustrated map Nagasaki shokankōgazu (Drawings of Public Offices in Nagasaki). Treating the Magistrate's Office as a “life-size exhibit,” he revived parts of it based on the floor plan depicted in the map. The permanent exhibition room displays fumi-e (images for trampling) and items seized from Christians, reconfirming the fact that the Magistrate's Office once stood here.

Exhibits

Nagasaki Museum of History and Culture

1-1 Tateyama, Nagasaki City TEL. 095-818-8366
Hours: 8:30–19:00 (Dec–Mar: until 18:00)
Last admission 30 minutes before closing
Closed: First and Third Mondays (or the following if Monday is a public holiday)
December 28 – 31
Permanent exhibition: Adults ¥630, Students ¥310 *Admission to the building is free

Evidence of French Expertise Preserved

Oura Tenshudo Christian Museum

Evidence of French Expertise Preserved

Oura Tenshudo Christian Museum

Following the Ansei Five-Power Treaty of 1858, Japan engaged in full-scale trade with the Netherlands, United States, Russia, Britain, and France. A foreign settlement was established in the Oura district of Nagasaki as a designated residential area, and Oura Tenshudo (church) was built in Minamiyamate for foreign residents but was commonly referred to as the "French temple" by local people. Within the grounds are the former Roman Catholic Seminary and the former Nagasaki Archbishop's Residence, currently in use as museums housing artifacts from the period after the reintroduction of Christianity. The collection includes items used for missionary work, such as the woodblock print “The Last Hours of the Good Man” created by Marc-Marie de Rotz, as well as religious artifacts donated by former underground Christians upon their conversion to the Catholic orthodoxy.

Exhibits

Oura Tenshudo Christian Museum

5-3 Minamiyamate-machi, Nagasaki City TEL. 095-801-0707
Hours: 8:30–18:00 (Nov–Feb: until 17:30)
Last admission 30 minutes before closing
Open year-round
(May be closed for church events or exhibition changes)
Admission: Included in Oura Tenshudo admission
(Adults ¥1,000, Junior/Senior High School Students ¥400, Elementary School Students ¥300)

The Suma Collection: Approaching the Essence of Spanish Art

Nagasaki Prefectural Art Museum

The Suma Collection: Approaching the Essence of Spanish Art

Nagasaki Prefectural Art Museum

The Nagasaki Prefectural Art Museum stands adjacent to Nagasaki Mizube-no-Mori Park, looking over the port of Nagasaki where people arrived from distant lands.During World War II, a diplomat named Suma Yakichiro served as Minister Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Spain. A proud possession of the Nagasaki Prefectural Art Museum, the Suma Collection consists of artworks Suma collected in Spain during his tenure. Although not originally from Nagasaki, Suma donated part of the collection to Nagasaki Prefecture about ten days before his death, expressing a wish for the artworks to go to "a place with deep ties to Spain." Suma collected over 1,700 artworks in Spain, approximately 500 of which are preserved today in the Nagasaki Prefectural Art Museum.

Exhibits

Nagasaki Prefectural Art Museum

2-1 Dejima-machi, Nagasaki City TEL. 095-833-2110
Hours: 10:00–20:00 (museum closes at 18:00 on Jan 2–3)
Closed: 2nd & 4th Mondays (if Monday is a holiday, closed the following Tuesday);
December 29 – January 1
Collection exhibition: Adults ¥420, University Students ¥310, Students ¥210,
Seniors (70+) ¥310 *Admission to the building is free

Historical Figures

The leader who forged a basis for the international trade port of Nagasaki

Omura Sumitada

1533-1587

The second son of Arima Haruzumi, Sumitada was adopted by his maternal uncle, Omura Sumitsune, and succeeded the latter as 18th head of the Omura domain at age 17. To fortify his position and enrich the Omura domain, which was surrounded by enemy states, he welcomed Portuguese trade ships and Christianity to Yokoseura and Nagasaki. He underwent baptism himself and became Japan's first Christian daimyo. In 1580, he transferred jurisdiction of Nagasaki and Mogi to the Jesuits.

Elite official supervising the foreign trade and the suppression of Christianity

Nagasaki Magistrate

The Nagasaki Magistrate was a typical provincial magistrate dispatched by the shogunate, but the unique circumstances of Nagasaki brought unusual responsibilities, particularly the suppression of Christianity and supervision of foreign trade. Early magistrates like Takenaka Shigeyoshi used brutal torture to force Christians to choose between recantation and death as martyrs. The Nagasaki Magistrate's Office meanwhile handled all aspects of administration, justice, diplomacy, and military affairs. After the Shimabara-Amakusa Uprising, the magistrates maintained a permanent presence in Nagasaki.

The French priest who discovered the underground Christians

Bernard Petitjean

1829-1884

A member of the Paris Foreign Missions Society, Petitjean was dispatched to Nagasaki in 1863 while the ban on Christianity was still in effect. Tasked with building a church for residents of the foreign settlement, he completed the building the following year but raised a sign bearing the Japanese word tenshudo (Heavenly Lord's Hall) in the hope that descendants of the Japanese Christians might still exist in Japan despite 250 years of isolation. His encounter with the Urakami faithful in 1865 has come down in history as the "Discovery of the Hidden Christians," a miracle in religious history.

Transmissions to the Present Day

Santo Domingo Church whispers
across a gap of 400 years

Around 1600, Nagasaki was called "Little Rome" due to the many churches that lined its streets. One of these was "Santo Domingo Church" located on the site of present-day Sakura-machi Elementary School (formerly Katsuyama Elementary School). Excavations in 2000 uncovered a medal engraved with the Virgin Mary, a brass cross, and over eighty floral cross-pattern tiles. The site of the former church, which stood for only five years, is now a museum where the ruins are displayed just as they were found.

Santo Domingo Church Ruins Museum

30-1 Katsuyama-machi, Nagasaki City (inside Sakuramachi Elementary School)
TEL. 095-829-4340
Hours: 9:00–17:00
Closed: Mondays; Dec 29 – Jan 3 Admission: Free

The cry of mottekoi echoes through the streets
Nagasaki's traditional Kunchi Festival

The Nagasaki Kunchi Festival, affectionately known as "Osuwasan," is the grand autumn festival of Suwa Shinto Shrine. Held continuously since 1634, the festival is said to have originated when two courtesans, Takao and Otowa, dedicated the Noh song Kodai to the deities of the shrine. Today, the festival is held every year on October 7th (pre-festival day), 8th (main festival day), and 9th (post-festival day). The highlight is the elaborate performances presented by odorichō, several of the 58 neighborhoods of central Nagasaki taking turns in a seven-year cycle. Distinctive performances such as the Dragon Dance and Kokkodesho have been designated as National Important Intangible Folk Cultural Properties.

Opulent cuisine reflecting the glory
of traditional Nagasaki culture
Shippoku cuisine and the Nagasaki Kenban

Shippoku is an opulent traditional cuisine that developed in Nagasaki, the center of international trade during the Edo period. Served on large platters and taken by each guest onto small individual plates, it blends Japanese cooking with influences from Portugal, China, Southeast Asia, the Netherlands and other foreign lands, and it can still be enjoyed today at traditional restaurants. Geisha belonging to Nagasaki Kenban add to the festive atmosphere, embodying the traditional culture of Japan. The Maruyama district, where they polish their arts, was hailed as one of Japan's three great pleasure quarters alongside Yoshiwara (Edo) and Shimabara (Kyoto).

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