November 5, 2008

• 11/5/2008 Nagasaki

  Hub was off to Tokyo on business today, so I took in this exhibition at a museum in Nagasaki, about two hours from Hakata (Fukuoka) Station..  Last time we were there there were a couple more things I wanted to see, like Urakami Tenshudo (Catholic Church destroyed in the atomic bomb and later rebuilt) and the path to the left of Oura Tenshudo, where Shusaku Endo said there was a small exhibition hall that I missed last time.  Some expressed the opinion that I should have been home watching America elect its first president of color, but this was really the only day that I could make visit the exhibition at the museum.

  I am back from a day of trekking to four places and taking my time at each one.  First stop on the way to Urakami Tenshudo Cathedral was ground zero of the atomic bomb that was dropped in WWII.  Very sobering.  There was a group of school children there on a field trip. They had gathered in an arc on the circle around where the bomb fell and sang a song for peace.  It was touching.  I did not have time to revisit the Peace Park or the Atomic Bomb Museum, unfortunately.

  Where to go next, to Oura Tenshudo Cathedral at the other end  of town, or the Historical Museum that is holding the exhibition I came to see.  Blue streetcar goes to Oura, red streetcar to the museum...  I left it to chance and the blue streetcar came first.  More pics of Oura are coming up, so be ready.  The sun was getting lower in the sky, so I thought I had best get on to the museum, which lets people in until 6:30.  The exhibition was all right, but not quite what I had expected, so I didn't get a catalogue of the items on display as I had planned.

  I had also wanted to get to Nishizaka, site of the martyrdom of 26 Christians, and probably many others.  I had been there years ago with sonny B when he was in 6th grade or so, but that was before digital cameras.  Hmmm... this all sounds kind or dismal.  I am trying to see through to another spiritual dimension, I suppose, and find some answer to why things happen the way they do.  But there are some things that have no human answer.

  バチカンの名宝とキリシタン文化　－ローマ･長崎　信仰の証

  特別企画展バチカンの名宝とキリシタン文化

  天文19年(1550)のザビエルの平戸来航、南蛮貿易時代の「小ローマ長崎」と呼ばれた繁栄、寛永14年(1637)の島原･天草の乱、禁教と潜伏を経て幕末･明治の信徒発見とキリスト教復活、といったキリスト教の歴史が深く刻まれた長崎で、平成20年11月24日、江戸時代初期に殉教した188人の日本人カトリック信者らを列福する式典がローマ教皇庁により日本で初めて長崎で行われます。この列福式にあわせ、キリスト教に関する史料･美術作品を通じてキリシタン文化と長崎との関係をたどる展覧会を開催します。
  

  この展覧会には、バチカンの名宝を守るバチカン美術館から、日本初公開となるフラ･アンジェリコの『聖母子像』ほか26点が、ローマのジェズ教会から『元和8年、長崎大殉教図』が、イエズス会文書館から大村純忠の『イエズス会への長崎･茂木の寄進状』が特別出品されます。また東京国立博物館蔵『踏み絵』や『マリア観音』、京都大学総合博物館蔵『マリア十五玄義図』、長興寺蔵『織田信長像』など国内の名品も数多く長崎に集まります。

  

  Below is Urakami Tenshudo Cathedral.  I had been there with sonny B several years ago and wanted to refresh my memory.  I got on the tram from Nagasaki Station, got off at the nearest stop and began walking map in hand.  As I was about to cross a small bridge on the way, I noticed a sign directing me to the right to the site of "Ground Zero," where the atomic bomb was dropped.  I did not remember seeing that before, so I decided to take a side trip.

  

  This is a remnant of the former Urakami Tenshudo Cathedral that was still standing after the bomb.  It was later relocated to the Ground Zero site.

  

  This was the original location of the building fragment.

  

  Preserved behind glass was some of the original Ground Zero.

  

  Children pray for peace and the souls of the dead.

  

  Ground Zero

  Well, that was sobering.  Next I arrived at the reconstructed Urakami Tenshudo Cathedral.

  Please let me first say that I am not endorsing everything that I saw here.  I am Protestant and have some differences with the Catholic version of Christianity, but I want to put that aside here and just document what I saw, which is nothing but moving.  I certainly have much to learn from those who were faithful to the death to the light that came to them.

  

  Nagasaki's Urakami Tenshudo Cathedral is not an easy building to write about.  In the early 1600's many Catholic priests came to Japan and were so successful that Nagasaki was referred to as the Rome of Japan.  The rulers of the country, however, had heard reports about how other countries were being colonized by Europe by means of "Christianity," and decided to outlaw it.  The persecution was very cruel.  There is a famous site near Nagasaki Station called Nishizaka which is the site of the martyrdom of 26 foreign and Japanese priests and believers.  They died on crosses, and their bodies were left on display for 80 days.  Other Christians were burned slowly at the stake, and their ashes were thrown into the ocean to prevent them from becoming holy relics.  There were many  who died for refusing to give up their faith.  Others practiced hidden in secrecy and kept their religion alive for 250 years.  This is a very difficult question - is it better to die for one's faith outwardly or continue it inwardly in secret and pass it down?  Religious freedom was finally restored in 1873, when the Japanese government finally bowed to international public opinion.

  It is ironic that the Urakami area had been a center of persecution.  Suspected Christians were brought here for interrogation and were forced to step on a fumie, an image of Christ or Mary, to indicate that they had indeed thrown away their faith.  Those who did not were tortured and martyred, sometimes along with their entire families.  Those who stepped on the fumie had to live with the guilt of the apostasy that they had committed.  It must have been a very difficult time in which to live, and I can only be thankful that I have never been put in such a situation.  Those who were martyred must have a special place in heaven, and I am sure that those who were not received forgiveness.  But only God knows.

  The site of the church was purchased in 1880, and a church was built on the site. Building of the cathedral began in 1895, and it would take 30 years to complete.  When finished, it is said to have been the largest church in the Orient at that time. 

  

  Here is a model of the original Urakami Tenshudo Cathedral.

  

  This is a photograph of the interior of the church.

  

  A stained glass window depicts the destruction wrought on the cathedral by the atomic bomb.  Of Urakami's 12,000 parishioners, 8,500 were killed when the bomb fell at 11:02 on August 9, 1945.  Urakami had again become a place where Christians died.  Their faith certainly did not die, and they rebuilt the cathedral.  Work was completed on the reinforced concrete building in 1959.  It was renovated again and resurfaced in brick in 1980. 

   

  Here are some statues at the approach to the Cathedral that survived the blast.  I personally don't care for the folded paper cranes hanging off Jesus's finger, but I suppose that I must respect the feelings of whoever put them there.

  

  

  

  Visitors write on stones their hopes for peace and that the catastrophe that took place here will never be repeated, and lay them around the base of the statues.

   

  

  The statues above and below originally stood at the left and right of the entrance to the original building, and  miraculously escaped relatively unharmed.  Mary lost some of her fingers and John lost some of his nose.  The statues were restored to the front of the building in alcoves.

   

  

  This door is located at the right side of the building and contains a small chapel.

  

  There was no one there who said that I could not take pictures, so I did.  Apparently after the bombing a scorched statue of Mary was found and the head of the statue has been placed at the front of the chapel.

  

  Below the bust is written "Peace."

  

  Poor thing...

   

  On the way out of the smaller side chapel, I notice a couple of doors and opened one to find the main sanctuary.  I found out after I took this that pictures are not allowed inside.  I did buy a booklet about Urakami Tenshudo that has pictures of the inside.  It is rather simple with wooden vaulted ceilings and a crucifix at the front.

  

  This was not taken inside, it was taken from outside through blue stained glass.

  I had two and possibly three more stops to make during my day in Nagasaki.  I had to go to the museum (open until 6:30), which was the actual reason for this trip, but I also wanted to go back and see Oura Tenshudo again.  Red tram to the museum and Blue train to Oura...  I decided to get on whichever arrived at the tram stop first, and blue it was.

  

  I played with the windows in this building some more.  Just love this place.  Kato630, don't tell anyone I did this!!

  

  From outside, so it's all right!!

  

  This was taken from outside, too, from the window of the adjacent Latin Seminary Building.

  

  This is one of my favorite pics of the day, taken from Kinen-zaka Slope on the opposite side of the church from the Latin Seminary.  It was kind of hard to find the entrance to the slope, but after a couple of inquiries I was there.

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