Twenty-six Martyrs of Japan, Nagasaki

We arrived at the Twenty-six Martyrs Museum and Monument (日本二十六聖人記念館) at 4:30 pm. It was built on Nishizaka Hill in June 1962 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the canonization of the Christians executed on the site on February 5, 1597.

The monument of the Twenty-six Martyrs, a mixture of native Japanese Christians and European priests had been arrested in Kyoto and Osaka on the order of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the national ruler, for preaching Christianity. They were imprisoned, then later marched through the snow to Nagasaki, so that their execution might serve as a deterrent to Nagasaki's large Christian population. Hung up on 26 crosses with chains and ropes, the Christians were lanced to death in front of a large crowd on Nishizaka Hill. St Paul Miki is said to have preached to the crowd from his cross.

The original main theme in both the museum and monument is "The Way to Nagasaki" – symbolizing not only the physical trek to Nagasaki but also the Christian spirit of the martyrs. The museum's collection includes important historical articles from both Japan and Europe (such as original letters from the Jesuit priest St Francis Xavier) as well as modern artistic works on the early Christian period in Japan. The displays are arranged chronologically into three periods: the early Christian propagation, the martyrdoms, and the persistence of Christianity underground during the persecution.

I was so saddened to see "fumie" or treading images. Local residents were forced to go through a ritual of stepping on bronze images of Christ or Mary to prove they weren't Christians. Also to be seen are statues of the Virgin Mary in the guise of Buddhist deities such as Miroku and Kwannon Bodhisattva to which the hidden Christians prayed.