Yamano Church

Yamano Catholic Church is a quiet, evocative sanctuary nestled in a tiny, tucked-away settlement in the northern Hirado region. Its story is one of deep movement and resilience. The community’s ancestors first fled the Sotome district in the early 1800s, stopping briefly in the Goto Islands before finally settling in the remote hills of Yamano to find safety for their faith.

The parish’s formal return to Catholicism was led by a local resident who traveled to Nagasaki in 1872 to be baptized and return as a spiritual leader. The current church, completed in 1924, is a humble wooden structure that holds a hidden architectural gem inside: a bat-winged vault (coved ceiling). This design, crafted by local carpenters, gives the small interior an unexpectedly elegant and soaring atmosphere, symbolizing the “flight” of the spirit within the silence of the forest.