Kashiragashima Church is a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

church in

Shin-Kamigotō is a town located in Minami-Matsuura District, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan,encompassing the islands of Nakadori, Wakamatsu and other surrounding islands.It was the headquarters of the Aokata Family, part of the Matsuura clan, who recorded the ...

Nagasaki , officially , is the capital and the largest Cities of Japan, city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. Founded by the Portuguese, the port of Portuguese_Nagasaki, Nagasaki became the sole Nanban trade, port used for tr ...

, Japan. The church was first constructed in 1887 as a wooden church but it was renovated and moved to its current location in 1918. It was inscribed as a

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

in 2018 along with the western side of Kashigarashima. It forms part of the ''

Hidden Christian Sites in the Nagasaki Region Hidden Christian Sites in the Nagasaki Region () is a group of twelve sites in Nagasaki Prefecture and Kumamoto Prefecture relating to the history of Christianity in Japan. The Nagasaki churches are unique in the sense that each tells a story about ...

'' World Heritage Site.

History

Kashigaharashima was an uninhabited island until the late

Edo-period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

when Hidden Christians started settling the island and forming communities. These christians were mostly immigrants from

Nakadōri Island is an island in the Gotō Islands, Japanese islands in the sea of Japan, off the western coast of Kyūshū. The islands are a part of Nagasaki Prefecture in Japan. History Evidence of human settlement in the on Nakadōri Island trace back to t ...

and Sotome who were evading persecution. After 1873 when the ban on Christianity was lifted construction of a church soon began. The island's first church was a wooden church that was built at the house of the local christian leader, Domingo Mori. Architect Tetsukawa Yosuke was tasked with creating a stone church for the island which he designed himself. Construction began in 1910 but was delayed due to lack of funding, many locals on the island chose to help quarry the stone to complete the church faster. Construction finished in 1919. Due to the church's unique characteristics it was inscribed as an Important Cultural Property in 2001. In 2003 the church's surroundings were also inscribed as an Important Cultural Property. In 2018 it was inscribed as a

along with the western side of Kashiragashima under the name "Villages on Kashiragashima Island", this component was inscribed as part of ''

,'' due to bearing "testimony to the efforts of the Hidden Christians to maintain their faith through migration. As part of the World Heritage management plan, Kashigaharashima Church built

digital signage Digital signage is a segment of electronic signage that uses Electronic visual display, digital display technologies to present multimedia content in both public and private environments. Content may include video, images, text, or interactive me ...

in Chinese, Japanese, English and Korean in order to make information about the church more easily available to international visitors.

Architecture

Kashiragashima Church is a stone church built in the Romanesque style. It was constructed out of sandstone quarried on Kashiragashima and its architect was Yosuke Tetsukawa, who was nicknamed "the father of church architecture" due to the many churches he designed around Japan. It was built using the technique of rustication and is the only stone church in

Nagasaki Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan, mainly located on the island of Kyūshū, although it also includes a number of islands off Kyūshū's northwest coast - including Tsushima and Iki. Nagasaki Prefecture has a population of 1,246,4 ...

. The church's exterior features

stained glass windows Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...

and its ceiling's feature floral patterns inspired by the Goto camellia.

References

{{reflist Roman Catholic churches completed in 1919 20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Japan Churches in Nagasaki Prefecture Important Cultural Properties of Japan Hidden Christian Sites in the Nagasaki Region