Today was a somber kind of day exploring some of Nagasaki’s main sights by tram; despite the seriousness of our destination, we tried hard not to giggle as this young man kept falling asleep and approaching Sue’s shoulder – we knew he’d be shocked if his head touched her.
Back to seriousness. Nagasaki has had an extraordinary history as a trading city and it was, for a long time, Japan’s only access to the outside world. Initially a small trading post, it was developed with a Jesuit mission by the Portuguese in 1570. When a number of the local daimyo (feudal lords) converted to Christianity, the shogun who feared that military intervention would follow ordered the crucifixion of 26 Christians (six foreign missionaries and twenty Japanese converts from all over the country) in the late sixteenth century and dragged them to Nagasaki to do the deed.
The group of 26 was canonised in 1862 and a church with sub-Gaudi towers built in the 1960s in memory of the martyrs:
Back in the sixteenth century, Christianity went underground once the martyrs were murdered and rewards offered for the capture of Christians. Each year until 1858 in Nagasaki, people were made to stamp on a holy image and swear they weren’t Christian:
We learnt that the hidden Christians worshipped secretly until the late nineteenth century when some returned to the Catholic Church. Others (Kakure Kirishitan) kept to the old practices combining Catholic with Shinto and Buddhist traditions though the adherents are now dying out. Often their Christian iconography was disguised in other images:
Tomorrow we’ll write about the Dutch and Chinese who replaced the Portuguese in Nagasaki, but today we continued the solemnity with a visit to the Peace Park, made in memory of the destruction of the atom bomb dropped on Nagasaki in 1945.
The park, built on the remnants of a prison which was destroyed when the bomb dropped, is an important stop on school party trips. Each group of schoolkids drops their bags in a tidy heap before having their photos taken in front of the ghastly peace statue:
A very moving performance then ensues involving proclamations, prayers, cranes and singing accompanied by portable speakers carried by teachers:
And waiting quietly behind the traffic cone is the next group to do their stuff:
Back to the present day and Halloween appears to be a ‘thing’ here too. We loved this shrine (maybe a bit like the hidden Christians combining various traditions in one):
Gosh, I had no idea about this persecution/hiding of Christians – makes sense though given the febrile politics of the shogun. The kids are great! Lots more enthusiasm and musicality than expected in such a context. But that peace statue … what on earth are the allusions?
The kids were indeed great – no singing from handouts, all memorised and dignified, oddly moving ( well, maybe not oddly). The peace statue, according to the blurb, is signifying danger from above ( arm pointing up), peace ( other arm), contemplation ( closed eyes) – it’s imposing but so ugly. The park has a number of statues from various Soviet republics, all even uglier I’m afraid.
Fantastic. About the serious heavy legacy and the lighter celebration, also joy in the contemporary
It is indeed a heavy legacy and some of the kids groups were clearly taking it very seriously- others not so much. All quite difficult to interpret. The municipal authorities in Japan – particularly of course Hiroshima and Nagasaki – continue to press the case globally for nuclear disarmament.
I didn’t know any of this history and found it very surprising.
Indeed! I too had never heard of the 26 martyrs and the suppression of Christianity until arriving in Nagasaki. BTW, which anonymous is this?
That monument to the martyrs was really impressive! As is, clearly, the orderliness of everything. Fear of divergence?
The tidiness and rule following is very noticeable in Japan and I suspect it’s a complex thing to understand. It certainly makes the place feel safe, courteous and welcoming but what it feels like to live within these constraints , I have no idea. And which anonymous am I talking to?!
How interesting that Japanese kids are so keenly aware of the war unlike British kids – a substantial minority of whom, when asked who Churchill was, say it was the dog from the insurance ads. Not surprising, given the nuclear bombs, I suppose. What is surprising is how hideous the statue is in a culture noted for its refinement of taste!
Yes, we puzzled about what these school group pledges to peace involved – a fair amount of nationalism of course but there must surely be some ambivalence about the west, particularly the US? The peace museum, which all the school parties went round, pulled no punches on the barbarity involved in using such a weapon. And British kids? Well, the Brit Foundation myth I’ve always thought is the blitz and Britain fighting alone – I’m sure Reform will ensure the school curriculum reflects these vales…
I guess the persecution/execution of Christians is another example of Japan’s resistance to Other!!
Yup, guess so – though probably not very consoling for the Christians affected….