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Pictures from Nagasaki
This is the Old Oura Church where after 250 years of persecution, hidden christians came to talk to Father Petitjean. This is the place where the Catholic Church first learned of the existance of Christians that had continued living in Nagasaki.
Statue of Mary at the Old Oura Church.
This is the front of the 26 Martyrs Meseum in Nagasaki. The memorial in front of the museum has a figure for each martyr.
Close-ups of the memorial.
The church behind next to the Museum.
Diego R. Yuuki, s.j. and Renzo De Luca, s.j. director of the museum both work here. Both men were generous with their time and knowledge and allowed us to see and photograph the artifacts in the museum.
The museum has many artifacts of historical significance having to do with Christianty in Japan, such as this metal.
This crab holding a cross is a representation of the story of the crab that brought St. Francis Xavier his cross after a shipwreck.
Takayama Ukon was one of the first Christian daimyo in Japan.
These medals are of Saints that worked in Japan in the Nagasaki region.
These coins or medals comemerate the four young Japanese christians that went to europe during the hight of Christianty's success in Japan in 1582.
This is a tsuba or the guard of a katana, the sword carried by samurai. When Christianity prospered in the region samurai who were christian would pay for christian symbols to be put into their tsubas. The following are some more examples.
This is a depiction of the martyrdom of a christian that occured during the persecutions.
This is an original reward notice telling people how much money they will recieve if depending on the importance of the christians that they turn in. It says that one can recieve 500 silver coins for a preist and 300 silver coins for a religious brother. It also states that a person will still recieve money if they themselves are christian and that if it comes out that they have hidden one of the people they are looking for they there family and even their whole clan will be punished. They is says everyone should obey.
This is a Shumon Aratame register. It has certification of membership in a Buddhist temple. It is one of the last. The names in the register are of public officers of Nagasaki. Everyone was forced to be a registered member of a Buddhist temple when christianity was outlawed.
These are Maria canon. Canons are typical buddhist icons but hidden and underground christians could use them to whorship Mary and still not be overtly christian.
This is the backside of a miror used by hidden christians on the Goto Islands.
When Europeans heard of the persecutions of christians in Japan these renderings were made.
They depict a litany of tourtures that happened at the hot springs.
One can see the people that didn't renounce their faith being thrown over cliffs and tourtured in hot springs.
This is another perspective of the statue memorializing martyrs.
This is the bone of St. Francis Xavier. The box contains his cloak.
Here is the back fo the wall of the 26 martyr memorial on the way out of the museum.
Here is a canon in nagasaki that can be seen from the 26 martyrs museum. One can see how the maria canon could be hidden so that whorshipers could pray to mary but keep it secret. The figures are very simliar.
Father Renzo De Luca, s.j. is the curator of the 26 martyrs museum. He spent time sharing his perspective on history in the region and was more than helpful in pointing us in good directions. We appreciate his time and effort.
Father Diego Yuuki shared some of his vast knowledge of Japanese christian history. He may be the oldest living christian in Japan. He also showed us some pictures of a hidden christan baptism from Ikitsuki.
These pictures show the men getting the water and preforming the ceremony for the young boy. Upon seeing our excitment in seeing these pictures Father Yuuki gave St. Olaf college two of the prints of the ceremony.
Inorder to disguise the baptism the ceremony would be set up to look like a birthday celebration incase anyone saw the ceremony happen. This allowed the christians to stay hidden.
This is a scan of one of the prints given to St. Olaf college.
This is the other print given to St. Olaf College.
This is a picutre of our group with Prof. Kentaro Miyazaki. Prof. Miyazaki was intrumental in the success of our research. Beyond his sharing his own research and knowledge he personally called and arranged for us to have guilds and interviews with people he has personally worked with. Prof. Miyazaki was invaluable to our study.
Copyright © 2006 Brendan Eagan