Nagasaki Prefecture

Lore & Background

Nagasaki Prefecture was created by merging of the western half of the former province of Hizen with the island provinces of Tsushima and Iki. Facing China and Korea, the region around Hirado was a traditional center for traders and pirates. During the 16th century, Catholic missionaries and traders from Portugal arrived and became active in Hirado and Nagasaki, which became a major center for foreign trade. After being given free rein in Oda Nobunaga's period, the missionaries were forced out little by little, until finally, in the Tokugawa era, Christianity was banned under the Sakoku national isolation policy: Japanese foreign trade was restricted to Chinese and Dutch traders based at Dejima in Nagasaki. However, Kirishitan (Japanese Christian) worship continued underground. These Kakure Kirishitan (hidden Christians) were tried at every step, forced to step on fumi-e ("trample pictures", images of the Virgin Mary and saints) to prove that they were non-Christian. With the banishment of all Catholic missionaries, traders from Catholic countries were also forced out of the country. Along with them, their children, half Japanese and half European, were forced to leave. The majority was sent to Jagatara (Jakarta) and are still remembered by the locals as the people who wrote the poignant letters which were smuggled across the sea to their homeland. Today, Nagasaki has prominent Catholic churches, and the Hidden Christian Sites in the Nagasaki Region, have been included on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Reader's Guide

Nagasaki Prefecture's significance lies in its unique role as Japan's sole window to the outside world during the Sakoku period, a policy of national isolation that lasted over two centuries. This made Nagasaki a crucible of cultural and economic exchange, particularly with Chinese and Dutch traders based at Dejima. During the Meiji Restoration, Nagasaki and Sasebo became major ports for foreign trade and later military bases and shipbuilding centers for the Imperial Japanese Navy and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries up to World War II. On August 9, 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki, destroying buildings within a 1.6-kilometer radius from the point of impact and killing roughly 39,000 people, including 27,778 Japanese munitions workers, 2,000 Korean forced workers, and 150 Japanese soldiers. The prefecture also suffers from heavy rain and landslide damage, with notable disasters in July 1957 (586 deaths, 136 missing, 3,860 injured) and July 1982 (299 fatalities from typhoon damage). Today, Nagasaki Prefecture is the most Christianized area in Japan, with 68,617 Catholics as of 2002, and its cultural legacy includes sites like Glover Garden, Hashima Island, and Ōura Church.

Did You Know?

• Nagasaki Prefecture was created by merging the western half of the former province of Hizen with the island provinces of Tsushima and Iki.
• During the Sakoku period, Japanese foreign trade was restricted to Chinese and Dutch traders based at Dejima in Nagasaki.
• On August 9, 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki, killing roughly 39,000 people, including 27,778 Japanese munitions workers, 2,000 Korean forced workers, and 150 Japanese soldiers.
• In July 1957, heavy rains, flooding, and landslides in the Isahaya area led to a death toll of 586, with 136 people missing and 3,860 injured.
• As of 2002, there are 68,617 Catholics in Nagasaki Prefecture, accounting for 4.52 percent of the population.

The Port at the Edge of the World

Nagasaki Prefecture occupies a singular position in Japanese history as the nation's sole gateway to the outside world during centuries of deliberate isolation. In the sixteenth century, Portuguese missionaries and merchants established themselves in Hirado and Nagasaki, transforming the region into a vibrant hub of cross-cultural exchange. For a time under Oda Nobunaga, these foreign visitors enjoyed considerable freedom. That era of openness ended abruptly under the Tokugawa shogunate, when the Sakoku policy sealed Japan's borders. Trade was narrowed to a single artificial island, Dejima, where only Chinese and Dutch merchants were permitted to operate. Christianity was outlawed entirely, and the faithful were driven underground as Kakure Kirishitan, compelled at every turn to trample fumi-e images of Mary and the saints to prove they had renounced their beliefs. When Catholic nations were finally expelled, their mixed-heritage children were shipped to Jagatara, today's Jakarta, leaving behind letters smuggled across the sea that still move local communities. What began as a trading port became a place where faith was preserved in secret for generations.

August 9, 1945

By the mid-twentieth century, Nagasaki and its neighbor Sasebo had evolved into critical nodes of military industry, serving as shipbuilding centers for the Imperial Japanese Navy and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. On the morning of August 9, 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Nagasaki. The blast obliterated every structure within a 1.6-kilometre radius of the impact point and inflicted severe damage across the wider urban area. The human toll was staggering: approximately 39,000 people lost their lives, among them 27,778 Japanese munitions workers, 2,000 Korean forced laborers, and 150 Japanese soldiers. Industrial capacity was devastated, with an estimated 68 to 80 percent of production destroyed to the point where full recovery would take months or even a year. The prefecture's wartime role as a manufacturing and naval hub made it a specific target, and the aftermath left a scar that reshaped the region's identity for generations to come.

An Archipelago of Peninsulas and Islands

Nagasaki Prefecture is defined as much by water as by land. Spanning 4,130 square kilometres and home to roughly 1.25 million residents, the prefecture sits in western Kyūshū but stretches far beyond the main island. Its mainland territory is composed of numerous peninsulas arranged around Ōmura Bay, while its island holdings extend into the Korea Strait—Tsushima and Iki lie relatively close to Busan and South Gyeongsang Province in South Korea—and into the East China Sea, where the Gotō archipelago drifts. The prefecture is bounded on the east by Saga Prefecture and otherwise ringed by Ariake Bay, the Tsushima Straits, and the open sea. This maritime character supports a dense network of ports, including a United States Navy installation at Sasebo. Despite its compact size, 18 percent of the land area is protected as natural parkland, encompassing the Saikai and Unzen-Amakusa National Parks, the Genkai and Iki-Tsushima Quasi-National Parks, and several prefectural parks along the Shimabara and Nishi Sonogi peninsulas.

Faith That Endured in Secret

No region in Japan carries a deeper imprint of Christianity than Nagasaki Prefecture. Roman Catholic missions took root here as early as the sixteenth century, and even after the Tokugawa authorities banned the faith and expelled all Western priests, the local community refused to let their devotion die. The Kakure Kirishitan—hidden Christians—practised their religion in secret for generations, enduring periodic trials and the requirement to trample sacred images. Their story is so central to the region's identity that it inspired Shusaku Endo's novel Silence, which draws on the oral traditions of both Kakure Kirishitan and Hanare Kirishitan communities. Today the prefecture remains the most Christianized in the country, with roughly 68,600 Catholics representing about 4.5 percent of the population. The Hidden Christian Sites in the Nagasaki Region earned UNESCO World Heritage status, and prominent Catholic churches such as Ōura Church and Urakami Cathedral stand as visible testaments to a faith that survived centuries of persecution.

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