Tabira Church
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The church is a Christian Pilgrimage site and 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 beautiful building facing Hirado Strait offers
artists and photographers a motif typical of the Tabira district. The church has been designated
an important cultural asset by the Japanese government.
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The history of the Tabira district began with the work of two foreign missionaries. In 1886,
the French missionary Emile Raguet, in charge of Kuroshima Church at the time, purchased
one hectare (2.5 acres) of wilderness at his own expense and urged three families in need to
settle there. The same year, Marc-Marie de Rotz of Shitsu Church bought one hectare and
sent four families to cultivate the pristine land. Gradually the number of the settlers increased a
nd reached 80 families by the early Taisho era (1910s).
In 1914, the Japanese priest Nakata Tokichi arrived in the parish. To replace the humble prayer
house, he made tremendous efforts to raise funds for a formal church. Tetsukawa Yosuke designed
the brick building, and the parishioners cooperated in the construction project, gathering a large
number of seashells and burning them into lime powder. The site of the processing ground still
remains in front of the church. Construction was finally completed under Tetsukawa’s supervision
in 1918. The brick church was the architect’s last in a long series of ecclesiastical works.
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General information
| Address | 19 Kotedamen, Tabiracho, Hirado-city, Nagasaki-prefecture |
| Access |
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 |
| Open hours | 9:00 to 12:00 and 13:00 to 17:00 |
| Admission fee | No fee is required |
| Days closed | No closing day |
