Kaminoshima Church in Nagasaki

Virgin Mary standing on the cape of a Christian island

Takako Sakamoto Jan 13, 2015 - 1 min read

<p>The statue of the Virgin Mary standing on the cape. It was built in 1949 commemorating the 400th anniversary of Francis Xavier's first visit to Japan.</p>

<p>The statue of the Virgin Mary is standing on  rock jutting out into the sea. This rock is commonly called 'Donc Rock', and an Ebisu Shrine also stands on this rock.</p>

<p>When you come to Nagasaki by ship, the pure-white statue of the Virgin Mary watches over your safe voyage and will welcome you from the left side of the port.</p>

<p>'Donc' in 'Donc Rock' means frog in their dialect! This jutting out rock is said to resemble a frog.</p>

<p>This giant statue of the Virgin Mary is 4.6 meters tall! On the first Sunday in May each year, the festival of the Virgin Mary takes place.</p>

<p>Christian churches in Nagasaki have a sad history, and this Kaminoshima Church had its own sad fate as well.</p>

<p>The statue of the Virgin Mary of Lourdes watching over the port of Nagasaki with compassion</p>

<p>Father Duran built this brick church at his own expense</p>

<p>Kaminoshima Church seen from a ship in the port of Nagasaki</p>

I visited a white church standing in a place called Kaminoshima on December 27th in 2014.

Kaminoshima (God's Island), which was reclaimed after WWII, used to be an island you could only access by boats. For its inconvenient location, quite a few Hidden Christians (Kakure Kirishitan in Japanese) hid out on this island during the Edo Period when Christianity was forbidden. Some Japanese Christians were martyred here. One martyr was thrown into the sea from Takahoko Island which you can see in front. To me, the white and shining statue of the Virgin Mary standing at the cape seemed to be not only watching over our safe voyage but also was praying for the martyrs' spirits to rest in peace.

Takako Sakamoto @takako.sakamoto

I was born in and grew up in Tokushima prefecture, and have lived in many places since then: Nishinomiya, Kyoto, Nara, Mie, Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama, Chiba, Fukuoka and Fukui. I am currently living in Yokohama City. All the places I lived, all the places I visited, I have loved dearly. The histor...