Nagasaki
Historical Background

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For a city with a momentous recent history, Nagasaki's early existence was remarkably mundane. There was some limited contact with China in towns to the north, but Nagasaki itself was basically a secluded harbor village. Its people lived in historical obscurity until contact with European explorers in the mid-16th century.

Following the accidental landing of a Portuguese ship in 1542 at Kagoshima Prefecture, the zealous Christian missionary Francis Xavier arrived in another part of the territory in 1549. Xavier, left for China in 1551 (dying soon after departure), but his followers converted a number of daimyo (warlords), the most notable of whom was Omura Sumitada. His conversion was to prove profitable, as a deal was struck in which he would receive a proportion of the trade from Portuguese ships at a port that the two parties established in 1571. This port was Nagasaki.

It would not take long before the little harbor village bloomed into a diverse port city. Its cosmopolitan fame spread quickly, with people all over Japan craving things Portuguese, such as tobacco, bread, tempura, sponge-cake and clothing. The Portuguese also brought with them many goods of Chinese origin.

The port's prosperity was threatened, however, in 1587, when a new Japanese shogun, Hideyoshi Toyotomi, came to power. His anxiety over the extent of Christian influence in southern Japan caused him to order the expulsion of all missionaries. Nagasaki's administrative control, which had been given in part to Jesuits by Omura, returned to imperial control. Nevertheless, Portuguese traders were not ostracized, and the city's culture continued to thrive.

In 1596, the captain of a Spanish galleon crashed in Shikoku, only to have his ship impounded. He boasted that with the increased numbers of Christians, he could oust the shogun. To discourage such threats, Hideyoshi lost no time in marching the captain around the country in disgrace. Later, in Nagasaki City he would crucify 26 Christians--Franciscans and a few Japanese - as a further deterrent.

Under the rule of Tokugawa Ieyasu almost two decades later, conditions hardly improved. Christianity was banned in 1614, and all missionaries who did not going into hiding - as well as daimyo who would not renounce Jesus--were deported. An incredibly brutal persecution campaign followed, and thousands across Nagasaki and other parts of Japan were killed and tortured. The Christians, however, did put up some initial resistance. In 1637, in the Nagasaki enclave of Shimabara, vagabond Christians joined together to create Japan's most startling rebellion. The numbers quickly swelled to 40,000, capturing Hara Castle and humiliating local daimyo. In retaliation, the shogunate dispatched 120,000 soldiers to quash the uprising, thus ending Japan's brief "Christian Century." Christians still remained, of course, but all went into hiding, still the victims of occasional inquisitions. The Christian presence never died out and even increased dramatically in numbers after the war with temples such as Temple Row, and churches such as Oh'ura Catholic Church and Urakami Cathedral.

During this time, the Dutch had been quietly making inroads into Japan. Although the shogunate's policy called for ending foreign influence, the Dutch demonstrated that they were interested in trading alone. In fact, during the Shimabara rebellion, the Dutch were ordered to fire on the Christians in a test of loyalty. In 1641, their grudging (if not damning) loyalty won them Dejima, an artificial island in Nagasaki Bay, to which their activities would be confined. From this date until 1855, Japan's contact with the outside world was limited to Nagasaki.

The port continued to exist as an exotic place. Chinese influence, due to what traders brought, began to appear in festivals, foods and architecture. Then, in 1720, the ban on Dutch books was lifted, causing hundreds of scholars to flood into Nagasaki to study European science and art.

After United States Commodore Matthew Perry's landing in 1853, and the subsequent crumbling of the shogunate, Japan opened its doors again, and Nagasaki became a free port in 1859. Modernization began in earnest in 1868, and the city was swept along with the rest of the country.

With the Meiji Restoration, Nagasaki quickly began to assume some economic dominance, though its main industry-shipbuilding--would eventually make it a target in World War II. On August 9th, 1945, the American B-29 "Bock's Car," looking for the shipyards, spotted the Mitsubishi Arms Works, and dropped the second nuclear bomb in Japan. At 11am, 75,000 of Nagasaki's 240,000 residents were killed, followed by the death of at least as many from resulting sickness and injury.

The city, of course, rose again from the charred waste, albeit dramatically changed. Some of the rubble was left as testimony-like the damaged Torii gate, and the stone arch near the epicenter. New structures were also raised as memorials-such as the Atomic Bomb Museum. Most importantly, however, the port city, with its continued ship industry, stands today as a testament to peace.