The St. Francis Xavier Memorial Church sits on a hill overlooking the town and harbor of Hirado on Hirado Island in Nagasaki Prefecture.
Constructed originally in 1913 it was reconstructed on its present site in 1931.
Originally called simply Hirado Catholic Church it was renamed in 1971
It's open from 6 till 6 and there is no entry fee
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Hirado is where William Adams arrived on his wrecked ship in 1600. The resident Portuguese missionaries tried to get Adams and his fellow surviving Dutch and British shipmates executed as they had convinced the Japanese that Christians were united as Catholics and the appearance of Protestants would expose their lie. But Tokugawa Ieyasu was impressed with Adams and gave him more and more influence and wealth. Adams learned Japanese and took up Japanese customs and became known as Samurai William.
ReplyDeleteand then he got his own tv miniseries based on the Clavell book :)
ReplyDeleteFantastic church, I like visiting churches, my blog lists already 41 churches.
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