Tuesday February 18th 2014
It's overcast and dull as I leave my
hotel near the main railway station and head south on my one-day
exploration of Nagasaki. I've been here before, some years ago, and
today I will be revisiting some places but also exploring some of the
less visited sights. Rather than take the busy main thoroughfare
which is filled with the roar of 6 lanes of motor vehicles spewing
fumes into the air I go a couple of blocks towards the water and take
a narrow street that is almost just an alley but feels like a canyon.
Overhead a spaghetti-tangle of cables crisscross the sky like a web
of a giant spider.
My first stop is something called Dragon Promenadein the port area. It is a long, narrow, concrete warehouse running
perpendicular to the water. The roof is a multifaceted membrane
somewhat reminiscent of the geometry of stealth planes and boats and
at the far end sits a huge, orange sphere. Steps lead up to the
covered roof which is a public space and I believe sometimes events are
held here, but mostly it's deserted and seems a little run down. Can't
figure out the orange globe but supposedly the design of the building
is meant to reflect the dragon used in the Dragon Dance at
Nagasaki’s' Kunchi Festival. It is the kind of place I love to take
photos.
Almost next door is the new Ferry Building designed by ShinTakamatsu, an architect whose whimsical and geometric buildings are
somewhat passe but again make for the kind of photography I most
enjoy making.
Moored in front of the terminal is a ship I had not
seen before, the Kanko Maru. Its actually a replica of Japan's first
modern warship. Primarily a sailing ship she also had paddle wheels
powered by steam. She was built in Holland in 1852 and served briefly
with the Dutch navy before being given to the Shogun in 1855 whose
government had recently “opened” the country following The return
of Perrys Black Ships. This replica was built in the same shipyard as
the original following the original plans. Last I heard she had been
operating out of the theme park Huis Ten Bosch but maybe she is now
based here. A little further down along the waterfront, I come to thePrefectural Museum of Art. When I first came to Nagasaki it was not
yet fully built and hidden behind hoardings, but approaching along
the canal it is quite striking. It is two buildings with the canal
running between them and a connecting glass walkway between the two
parts. The area along the canal is a public promenade with
sculptures. Even though it is overcast the combination of glass walls
and the water of the canal offers me plenty of photo opportunities. I
forgo the opportunity to go in even though they just open as I am
there. Unless there is something specific I want to see in a museum
or gallery I will often save myself the entrance fee, coming as I do
from a country where entrance is free to most museums and galleries.
Not far away is Dejima, the island where the Dutch traders lived in
isolation. No longer surrounded by water but by city, it is somewhere
else that was still under construction when I last came here. I do
decide to fork over the entrance fee. It was interesting enough,
though being a new reconstruction the newness of everything was kind
of distracting. From here its just a short walk to Chinatown. I'm not
sure when the Chinese New Year was this year, but I seem to have just
missed the festival that celebrates it here in Nagasaki's Chinatown
as there are still some of the large, brightly colored floats sitting in front to the entrance to the shopping street of said
Chinatown. I walk quickly through as I am not interested in the
restaurants and gift shops that to my untrained eye look just the
same as at any of the dozens of Chinatowns around the world. What I
am interested in is the hillside behind Chinatown which is actually
where the Chinese Quarter was located during the Edo Period. It is a
pretty decrepit and run-down area now, and I'm not sure how many
Chinese now live here, but dotted around the area are some small
shrine-temples built by the Chinese residents back then. I'm
surprised to find them made out of brick, and while they are not
grand like the nearby well-known Chinese temples of Sofukuji and
Kofukuji, which were built later for the Chinese community here, it's
nice to see the statues and decorations which are most certainly
Chinese and not Japanese. Next, I head towards the line of temples
flanked by the aforementioned Sofukuji and Kofukuji.
After leaving the old Chinese
settlement I head to the long line of temples spread along the base
of the hills to the south of the valley. Known as Teramachi, it
starts with Sofukuji, one of the main tourist spots of Nagasaki, a
Chinese temple containing several National Treasures. I had been
there before, so this time I didn't pay the entry fee but contented
myself with some photos of the unusual Chinese-style gate. The heavy
rainfall predicted yesterday had still not arrived though it remained
dark and overcast. Heading northeast along Teramachi short distance
was the entrance to the next temple, Daikoji. The entryway leading to
an impressive gate was flanked by well-pruned and sculpted trees, but
poking my head inside the gate I saw nothing that made me want to
explore further. Next was Daionji, up a long flight of stairs. There
was not much to see except the bell tower which seems to have been
encased in walls of ochre. Kotaiji, the next temple, was huge and
really nice. Several plum trees, some sort of weeping plum I believe,
were blooming which added to the scene. There was a fine pair of
fierce Nio in their own gate and some more rather ornate statues of
what I believe were some of the Shintenno, the four heavenly kings,
also guardians. With lots of ancillary buildings, this is obviously a
very active temple. Next along the road was Chosoji which did not
look interesting so I passed by. Then it was Kofukuji. The oldest ofthe Chinese temples. There was a small entrance fee, and I had been
here once before, but JapanVisitor wanted a write-up of it so I went
in and had a good look around. Not as busy as Shofukuji, but
intriguing nonetheless. There are a few more temples along the road
but instead, I head north across the river and the busy main
thoroughfare towards the new Museum of History& Culture.
Just
before reaching the museum, my eye is attracted to a sign pointing
down a narrow alley where I find the Museum of Santa Domingo.
Comprising mostly of the excavations which reveal the foundation of
an early Portuguese church and settlement. Nagasaki was for a short
while a Portuguese colony, and this is all that remains. Surprising
and interesting, and best of all, free. I had heard good things about
the new history museum in Nagasaki. It looks like the stonework of a
castle, but unfortunately, today was a closed day.
I headed back
towards the station to complete my circular walk. A couple of hundred
meters from the museum there was an impressive-looking temple gate
and I went in to explore and was completely surprised. It is a big,old temple complex, though it is in a state of decay. There were a few
nice statues inside the structures, and behind the main hall a
wonderful wall built out of recycled roof tiles and demon tiles and
such. The place was very atmospheric, as abandoned places often are,
though it is not quite abandoned. There were no other visitors, which
helped the atmosphere for me. Excited by having “discovered”
something I headed off to the place I had found when studying Google
Maps before I made the trip here. Fukusaiji used to be the biggest of
the Chinese temples in Nagasaki. But it was completely destroyed by
the fires that followed the atomic explosion in 1945. The new,
concrete replacement is totally unique. The building is in the shape
of a giant turtle!!! Sticking out above the main entrance is a huge
turtle head made out of aluminum and standing on the top of the
shell/roof is a giant aluminum statue of Kannon. Though the building
is made out of concrete there is still a Chinese feel to it. The
biggest surprise though is that the temple is home to one of the
biggest Foucault Pendulum in the world. Suspended from a cable that
begins in the Kannon statue's head and passes through the building to
the basement below the pendulum shows the rotation of the earth. A
most unusual and unique building that is almost unknown to visitors
to Nagasaki, but certainly worth seeking out. I have almost completed
my loop walk by now and the threatened rain never did appear.
On my
way down the hill towards my hotel, I stopped at Nakamchi Catholic
Church. Built at the end of the 19th Century, all that was
left after the A-bomb were the walls and spire and it was rebuilt in
1951. On the outside, it seems to have been modeled on the nearby Oura
Cathedral. Inside is light and spacious with plenty of stained glass.
After having visited so many temples and shrines in Japan over the
years I now find churches quite atmospheric. Like Shofukuji and
Fukusaiji, there is no entrance fee and little visited.
Tomorrow I head back to the coast and
head down the Shimabara Peninsula and I should be back in Nagasaki in three days.
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