Kashiragashima Church
Kashiragashima Church is a Catholic church in Shin-Kamigotō, Nagasaki, Japan. The church was first constructed in 1887 as a wooden church but it was renovated and moved to its current location in 1918. It was inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 2018 along with the western side of Kashigarashima. It forms part of the Hidden Christian Sites in the Nagasaki Region World Heritage Site. History Kashigaharashima was an uninhabited island until the late Edo-period when Hidden Christians started settling the island and forming communities. These christians were mostly immigrants from Nakadōri Island and Sotome who were evading persecution. After 1873 when the ban on Christianity was lifted construction of a church soon began. The island's first church was a wooden church that was built at the house of the local christian leader, Domingo Mori. Architect Tetsukawa Yosuke was tasked with creating a stone church for the island which he designed himself. Construction began in 1910 but was delayed due to lack of funding, many locals on the island chose to help quarry the stone to complete the church faster. Construction finished in 1919. Due to the church's unique characteristics it was inscribed as an Important Cultural Property in 2001.