Kofukuji Temple
After the Tokugawa Shogunate banned Christianity, non-Christian Chinese merchants
began making port at Nagasaki around 1600. Chinese people soon started living in Nagasaki
and etitioned the Nagasaki government to let them built a Chinese temple to pray for safe
navigation and console of the deceased. Permission was granted for the construction of
first Chinese temple.
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Kofukuji Temple was completed in 1620, and Chinese traders then planned to invite a high-ranking
priest from China as the temple’s chief abbot. The Kofukuji Temple’s present main hall was built in
1883 by Chinese experts who were invited to Japan mainly by residents in Nagasaki hailing from
Nanjin. It was designated as an Important Cultural Asset.
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Sofukuji Temple
The first Chinese style temple in Nagasaki. Shortly after the construction of Kofukuji Temple,
Chinese traders asked the Nagasaki governor for permission to built Chinese temples
according to their home provinces. It is recorded that this temple was built in 1629 by people
who came from Fuzhou in Fujian Province. It is designated as a National Treasure.
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The existing main hall ( called Daiyuhoden ) was first prefabricated in China, then transported by
Chinese ship and constructed in 1646. As the oldest existing structure to retain the Obaku style
of the end of the Ming Dynasty, the temple’s hall is highly evaluated.
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Mount Inasa
Mount Inasa is one of the best view spot in Nagasaki. A 333 meter high mountain in close
distance to JR Nagasaki Station. The summit can be reached by ropeway or car and offers
great views over the city. And also, the magnificent night views from Mount Inasa is chosen
the three Major Night View in Japan along with Kitakyushu-city and Sapporo,
and the three Major Night View in the World along with Hong Kong and Monaco.
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The three Major Night View in the World
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Nagasaki
Confucius Shrine
The world’s only Confucian shrine built outside China by Chinese hands. First built in 1893
by Chinese residents of Nagasaki with the support of the Ch’ing Dynasty government, the
shrine was designed to serve as a place of worship and learning for the Chinese community,
and housed a Confucian sanctuary and primary school.
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The buildings were severely damaged by the Atomic bomb explosion on August 9, 1945 and
were not restored and opened to the public until September 1967. The shrine was extensively
renovated in 1982. Standing outside the shrine are 72 statues representing the 72 followers
of Confucius.
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A building at the rear of the shrine houses the Museum of Chinese History and Palace Museum.
It features large illuminated photographs of the old Silk Road and models of early Chinese
inventions such as the world’s first seismograph. Displayed on the second floor are more than
80 treasure-class articles of varying antiquity on loan directly from the Chinese National Museum
and Palace Museum in Beijing.
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Suwa Shrine
The complex of building and gardens comprising Suwa Shrine nestles on a shaded stretch of
hillside overlooking the heart of Nagasaki-city. The shrine was founded in the wake of ban
of Christianity in the early 17th century, and during the Edo Period it soon grew into a spiritual
and cultural hub for the citizens of Nagasaki. During Meiji and Taisho Periods, it was not only
Nagasaki’s foremost Shinto shrine but also this city’s most popular destination for foreign tourist
who came seeking a glimpse into heart of Japan.
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Held from October 7 to 9 every year and is considered one of the three major festivals of
Japan, being designated as an Important Intangible Cultural Asset.
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Gunkan-jima island cruise
The cruise ship take you exploring Tachibana bay from Nagasaki port and landing on Hashima
island. The site has been registered on UNESCO World Heritages as Sites of Japan’s Meiji
Now Hashima is a ruins called “Gunkanjima”, so called after its resemblance to the
silhouette. Hashima Island is located 3 km southwest of Takashima, and it was the success of
Takashima that led Mitsubishi to purchase this island, both islands giving access to the same
undersea coal deposit.
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Hashima coal mining island is an artificial reclaimed island and the site of Japan’s first major
undersea coal exploitation pioneered by Mitsubishi – and host to one of the world’s most
extraordinary former mining communities
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St. Andrew’s Seminary at Dejima, in Nagasaki
After the ban on Christianity lifted in 1873, Burnside who was the British Church Missionary created
a cram school at his home to teach the English Bible. In 1877, the school was moved to the Dejima
English-Japanese School building at Dejima, and St. Andrew’s Seminary was opened.
It was then used as the Seminary until 1886.
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Sanno Shrine
Sanno Shrine is located approximately 800 meters away from the ground zero of Atomic bomb.
The Shrine was instantly obliterated by the explosion and the 4000 degrees Celsius heat wave
vaporized nearby trees.
The only thing that remained is the Torii gate standing on a single column, reminding us of the
tragedy that took place.
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The surviving trees of Sanno Shrine have become another living demonstration of destruction
and re-growth. Two large camphor trees were scorched, burned and stripped of all leaves by
the Atomic bomb’s shock wave; and yet, despite everything, the trees survived.
The surviving camphor trees are now a symbol of World Peace.
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Nyokodo, Dr. Nagai Takashi
Dr. Nagai Takashi (3 February 1908 – 1 May 1951) was a Catholic physician specializing in
radiology, an author, and a survivor of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki. His subsequent life
of prayer and service earned him the affectionate title “saint of Urakami”.
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Nyokodo, which is adjacent to the Takashi Nagai Memorial Hall, is Dr. Takashi Nagai’s hospital
room and study. This 2-tatami building was built as a new home for the doctor, with the generosity
of the people of Urakami and fellow Catholics who were left penniless by the atomic bombing.
The doctor named this building “Nyokodo,” meaning “Love your neighbor as yourself,” and spent
his later years here. Dr. Nagai fought the onslaught of leukemia and worked hard to write even
though he was bedridden. From this room of just two tatami mats, the doctor continued to harass
the people of Urakami, writing novels such as “The Chains of the Rosary,” “Leaving the Child,”
“The River of Life,” and “The Bells of Nagasaki.
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Massage for World Peace from Dr. Nagai
The person who pray for peace must not hide even needles, for a person who possesses
is not qualified to pray peace.
Saint Kolbe Memorial Museum, at Hongouchi Church
Father Maximilian Kolbe was born in Poland in 1894 and was a priest of the Conventual
Order of St. Francis.
He had been active in promoting the veneration of the Immaculate Virgin Mary.
He came to Japan in 1930 and began educating seminarians and publishing a monthly
magazine ” the veneration of the Immaculate Virgin Mary.”
After that, the number of Japanese people who understood God’s teachings increased,
and Hongouchi Church was established in 1931.
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After six years in Japan, he returned to Poland for health reasons.
And then, he volunteered to die in place of a man named Franciszek Gajowniczek in the
German death camp of Auschwitz, located in German-occupied Poland.
Saint Kolbe Memorial Museum was built to commemorate his canonization in 1986.