Hirado travel guide

Stands on a hill guarding Hirado Port and the Hirado Strait, which

used to be part of an important trade route between Japan and the

Asian mainland. The original fortress was built in 1599 by the

local Matsura Lord.

Set up in Hirado in 1609 as the base of operations of the Dutch East

India Company in Japan. The building seen today is a warehouse which

was originally constructed here in 1639 as part of the trading post, but

torn down just three years later after the Dutch had been relocated to

Dejima Island in the port of Nagasaki.

Located two kilometers off the coast of Hirado Island, Nakae no Shima is

a small, uninhabited island where religious leaders were executed during

the persecution of Christians. The island is considered sacred, and water

collected there is used for baptism.

This idyllic, remote village was refuge to a small community of Hidden

Christians who practiced here for centuries, far from the prying eyes of

the government. After the ban on Christianity was lifted, the local villagers

decided to continue practicing their own unique brand of the religion

rather than region the Catholic Church.

This church is a catholic church in Hirado, Nagasaki. Hirado is a place

where Francis Xavier visited 3 times in Japan to spread Christianity,

and even during the Kinkyo Ordinance of the Edo Period that prohibited

religions, Christianity was very widespread.

The church was designed by Tetsukawa Yosuke, a famous architect of

various churches in Nagasaki-prefecture, and built between December

1915 and October 1917. It is one of the latest brick churches in the

prefecture of Nagasaki. Tetsukawa Yosuke has called this one of his

best works.

The museum stores and displays the historical collection of the Matsura

family who ruled over the northern area of Nagasaki prefecture since the

13^th century. The museum is housed in the former private residence of

the Matsura family, the grand Tsurugamine Mansion, built in 1893. Hirado

has a long history of overseas exchange due to its geographical location.

After the discovery of the numerous hidden Christians in Ikitsuki Island in

1865, they began to work on recovering their Catholic faith although they

were not too successful at first. Then in 1878, a priest named Fr. Pelu came

to Hirado and baptized many people who are said to be the ancestors of

the churchgoers of Yamada Church today.

1 hours and 50 minutes by a vehicle from Nagasaki-city

50 minutes by a vehicle from Sasebo-city

2 hour and 15 minutes by a vehicle from Fukuoka-city