About About "Hidden Christian Sites the Nagasaki Region"

About “Hidden Christian Sites the Nagasaki Region”

Overview

During the Age of Exploration, when Christianity was first introduced to Japan, missionary work was concentrated in the Nagasaki and Amakusa regions, located at the westernmost tip of the Japanese archipelago, the eastern tip of Asia.
The “Hidden Christian Sites the Nagasaki Region” is a group of heritage sites that tells of the lives of people called “Hidden Christians” who continued to follow Christianity while being involved with traditional Japanese religions such as Shintoism and Buddhism, and with general society in the absence of missionaries in Japan due to the Edo Shogunate’s Christianity prohibition policy.
This heritage, which consists of 12 properties, tells the story of the process of hiding people who continued to hold on to their Christian faith in the absence of missionaries in the country, their various attempts to practice and pass on their faith and maintain their community, and the turning point in their lives when they came into contact with missionaries again and came to the end of their hiding period.

Component Assets

The World Cultural Heritage”Hidden Christian Sites the Nagasaki Region” consists of 12 assets located in 6 cities and 2 towns (Nagasaki City, Sasebo City, Hirado City, Goto City, Minamishimabara City, Shinkamigoto Town, Ojika Town, and Amakusa City, Kumamoto Prefecture).

  1. Remains of Hara Castle(Minamishimabara City)
  2. Kasuga Viilage and Sacred Plases in Hirado(Nakaenoshima Island:Hirado City)
  3. Kasuga Viilage and Sacred Plases in Hirado(Kasuga Village and Mt.Yasumandake:Hirado City)
  4. Sakitsu Village in Amakusa(Amakusa City)
  5. Shitsu Village in Sotome(Nagasaki City)
  6. Ono Village in Sotome(Nagasaki City)
  7. Village on Kuroshima Island(Sasebo City)
  8. Remains of Village on Nozaki Island(Ojika Town)
  9. Village on Kashiragashima Island(Shinkamigoto Town)
  10. Village on Hisaka Island(Goto City)
  11. Egami Village on Naru Island(Egami Church ando its Surroundings:Goto City)
  12. Oura Cathedral(Nagasaki City)

For more information, see the Nagasaki Prefecture World Heritage Section website below.

Nagasaki Prefecture World Heritage Section website (external link)