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Saikai NPKujukushima, Nagasaki
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Used as a refuge for sick people and avoided by other settlers, Kashiragashima offered Hidden Christians what they needed most: isolation. In the 19th century, they moved there to preserve their community and faith.
Buddhist Maeda Gidayu moved to the island in 1858; in 1859, he invited Hidden Christian families from Tainoura to help settle it. They appeared to belong to a Buddhist temple while privately keeping their faith.
A private Maeda family grave in Fukuura places Buddhist pioneer Gidayu’s tomb beside his grandson’s Catholic-style grave. Their three-generation memorial is an unexpected record of faiths sharing the island community.
An 1877-era map marks Shirahama beach as a cemetery; a 1995 dig uncovered 45 late-Edo burials. Some were extended, a Christian-associated burial form; others are thought to be sick people sent to the island to recover.
Stone was both farm tool and pantry protection: Hidden Christians terraced Kashiragashima’s slopes for sweet potatoes, while stone slabs around houses helped shield underfloor potato stores from rain.
A 1852 Hirado storehouse plaque identifies its stone as “Kashirajima stone of the Goto domain.” Nearby Sakiura villages shared the trade: Kashiragashima and Akao quarried, Enonohama shaped, and Tomozumi sold the stone.
Built from 1910 to 1919, the church took nearly a decade; funding shortages interrupted work, and local believers joined masons on its sandstone walls. This rare stone church was a community effort.
The Hidden Christian leader Domingo Mori Matsujiro set up a temporary chapel in his home in 1867; it later served as a catechist-training center. Today’s church stands on that historic prayer site.
Kashiragashima Church is still an active Catholic church in Tainoura Parish, with Mass and religious observances continuing in the building completed in 1919.
From outside, cut sandstone gives the church a solid, weighty look; inside, colorful flower and diamond patterns brighten its single room. Locally, it is also known as the “Flower Chapel.”
The church covers just 131.6 square meters, yet no rows of columns crowd its single nave. Its raised, bracketed ceiling makes the interior feel higher and more open.
Look closely at the sandstone walls: many blocks carry chiseled kanji numerals. They are thought to record stone sizes; one “四九五” mark may mean 4 shaku, 9 sun, 5 bu—about 1.5 meters.
