Hidden_Christian_Sites_in_the_Nagasaki_Region

Hidden Christian Sites in the Nagasaki Region

Hidden Christian Sites in the Nagasaki Region

UNESCO World Heritage Site

Hidden Christian Sites in the Nagasaki Region (Japanese: 長崎と天草地方の潜伏キリシタン関連遺産) 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 the revival of Christianity after a long period of official suppression.[1]

Quick Facts UNESCO World Heritage Site, Location ...

Proposed jointly in 2007 for inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List under criteria ii, iii, iv, v, and vi, the submission named at the time Churches and Christian Sites in Nagasaki on the Tentative List, was recognized on January 30, 2018, as a World Heritage Site.

The initial nomination included 26 sites; however, after reconsideration the Nagasaki Prefecture reduced the monuments to 13 sites.[2] Twelve sites were recognized. Concerns over the Hidden Christian Sites in the Nagasaki Region have been widely discussed in the academic literature.[3]

Christianity in Japan

Main articles: History of Roman Catholicism in Japan, Kirishitan, and Kakure Kirishitan

Christianity arrived in Japan in 1549 with the Jesuit missionary Francis Xavier. Fanning out from Nagasaki, the new faith won many converts, including a number of daimyōs. Toyotomi Hideyoshi then Tokugawa Ieyasu persecuted those professing to be Christian. After the Shimabara Rebellion of 1637–1638, the official suppression of Christian practices was combined with a policy of national seclusion that lasted over two centuries. With the advent of Western powers and reopening of Japan in the 1850s and the reforms of the Meiji Restoration, missionary activity was renewed and a number of Hidden Christians resurfaced. Ōura Cathedral of 1864 is the first of the churches built in subsequent years.[4]

On 30 June 2018, thanking UNESCO for the admission in the World Heritage List, the then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe publicly declared that the Hidden Christian Sites "convey the 'shape' of a faith that is unique to Japan and they are truly unparalleled worldwide as heritage of humankind."[5]

Monuments

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Previous Nominated Monuments

The list consists of sites previously nominated, but currently not in the list.

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See also

Notes

  1. [1]
    "Churches and Christian Sites in Nagasaki". UNESCO. Retrieved September 21, 2011.
  2. [2]
    "Churches and Christian Sites in Nagasaki". UNESCO.; "Outline of Churches and Christian Sites". Nagasaki Prefecture. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
  3. [3]
    Delakorda Kawashima, Tinka (2017). "Landscape in Hirado revealing the secrets of Hidden Christians' life-world: National and global policies in cultural heritage protection" (PDF). Anthropological Notebooks. 23 (3). Slovene Anthropological Society: 87–107. ISSN 1408-032X.
  4. [4]
    Finn, Dallas (1995). Meiji Revisited: The Sites of Victorian Japan. Weatherhill. pp. 12f. ISBN 0-8348-0288-0.
  5. [5]
    "Message by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the Inscription of "Hidden Christian Sites in Nagasaki and the Amakusa Region" on UNESCO's World Heritage List". June 30, 2018. Retrieved August 29, 2020.
  6. [6]
    "Hidden Christian Sites in the Nagasaki Region". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Retrieved 2021-12-24.
  7. [7]
    "Comprehensive Preservation and Management Plan - Hidden Christian Sites in the Nagasaki Region" (pdf). Unesco World Heritage Centre. 2017. p. 282. Retrieved 2021-11-20.
  8. [8]
    "Comprehensive Preservation and Management Plan - Hidden Christian Sites in the Nagasaki Region" (pdf). Unesco World Heritage Centre. 2017. p. 113. Retrieved 2022-06-22. At present, visitors cannot land on Nakaenoshima Island due to geographical restrictions, and they can only view the island from the opposite shore.
  9. [9]
    "旧羅典神学校 (Former Catholic Seminary) ID 3523". Database of National Cultural Properties. Retrieved 21 Sep 2011.
  10. [10]
    "青砂ヶ浦天主堂 (Aosagaura Church) ID 3417". Database of National Cultural Properties. Retrieved 21 Sep 2011.
  11. [11]
    "旧出津救助院 (Former Shitsu Aid Center) ID 3841". Database of National Cultural Properties. Retrieved 21 Sep 2011.
  12. [12]
    "旧出津救助院 (Former Shitsu Aid Center) ID 3842". Database of National Cultural Properties. Retrieved 21 Sep 2011.
  13. [13]
    "旧出津救助院 (Former Shitsu Aid Center) ID 3843". Database of National Cultural Properties. Retrieved 21 Sep 2011.
  14. [14]
    "吉利支丹墓碑 (Christian tombstone) ID 2763". Database of National Cultural Properties. Retrieved 21 Sep 2011.

References
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