Fukumi Church

Fukumi Catholic Church represents the homecoming and steadfastness of the local Christian community. The congregation traces its roots back to 1799, when families from Kurosaki in the Sotome region migrated here to escape growing pressure. Although they fled once more during the “Goto Kuzure” (the Great Persecution) of the late 1860s, they returned as soon as the ban was lifted to find their homes in ruins. Through immense effort, they reclaimed the land and built their first church in 1882. After that structure was lost to a powerful windstorm, the current brick edifice was completed in 1913.

The church is an architectural rarity, blending Western masonry with traditional Japanese aesthetic sensibilities. While the exterior is built of classic red brick, the interior departs from the usual Gothic rib-vaulting found in many Shinkamigoto churches. Instead, it features a flat, coffered ceiling which is exceptionally rare for a brick ecclesiastical building in the Nagasaki region.