Churches Born From Secret Prayers

A church was built on the frontier, somewhere no one chose. Another was built close to a small inlet. A third was raised at the site of six graves.

Why here? Why this way? All of it was done to “protect the prayers.”

The Gotō Archipelago has existed in the waterway between Japan and the mainland since ancient times. Since the time of the Tang Dynasty in China, prayers of all sorts have been carved into the land. Then came the Sengoku Period–and with it, Christianity. However, the Tokugawa Shogunate outlawed it, punishing its adherents with extreme prejudice. Christians escaped deep within an island no one ever visited. They hid for over 250 years.

You’ll learn once you visit each one of Kamigotō’s churches. “Beauty” alone does not encompass the sense of something deeper slumbering beneath the surface. What could that thing be? You may come to notice it once your trip is done.

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