Fukken Hall Tenkodo Shrine

 

The main gate to Fukken Hall which was built originally in 1868, after the Tojin Yashiki was dismantled.

It was built as a meeting place for Chinese traders from Fujian Province and had a Tenkodo shrine built with it.

The main hall did not survive the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, but the main gate and Tenkodo Shrine did.

Like the other Tenkodo Shrine inside the old Tojin Yashiki compound, this one also enshrines Mazu, the goddess worshipped by Chinese sailors for safety at sea.

For more than forty years after the Dutch were confined to Dejima, the Chinese sailors and traders coming to Nagasaki pretty much were free to go where they wished. Even after the construction of the Tojin Yashiki compound in 1689 the Chinese had more freedom of movement outside the compound, often bought by bribing officials, to visit the various Chinese temples in the town and to conduct business. When the government clamped down in the 1820's rioting ensued.

The previous posts on the shrines of Tojin Yashiki are on the Kannondo Shrine, the Dojindo Shrine, and the other Tenkodo Shrine.