Nagasaki (長崎市, Nagasaki-shi) - The capital
and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture in Japan. It was
formerly part of Nishisonogi District.
It was a center of European influence in the sixteenth
century. Nagasaki became a major Imperial Japanese Navy base
during the First Sino-Japanese War and Russo-Japanese War.
During World War II, the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki made Nagasaki the second city in the world to be
subject to nuclear warfare.
Geography
Nagasaki and Nishisonogi Peninsulas are located within the
city limits. The city is surrounded by the cities of Isahaya
and Saikai, and the towns of Togitsu and Nagayo in
Nishisonogi District.
Nagasaki lies at the head of a long bay which forms the best
natural harbor on the island of Kyūshū. The main commercial
and residential area of the city lies on a small plain near
the end of the bay. Two rivers divided by a mountain spur
form the two main valleys in which the city lies. The
heavily built-up area of the city is confined by the terrain
to less than 4 square miles.
History
Medieval era
Founded before 1500, Nagasaki was originally secluded by
harbors. It enjoyed little historical significance until
contact with European explorers in 1542, when a Portuguese
ship landed nearby, somewhere in Kagoshima prefecture. The
Spanish Jesuit missionary St. Francis Xavier arrived in
another part of the territory in 1549, but left for China in
1551 and died soon afterwards. His followers who remained
behind converted a number of daimyo (feudal lords). The most
notable among them was Omura Sumitada, who derived great
profit from his conversion through an accompanying deal to
receive a portion of the trade from Portuguese ships at a
port they established in Nagasaki in 1571 with his
assistance.
The little harbor village quickly grew into a diverse port
city, and Portuguese products imported through Nagasaki
(such as tobacco, bread, textiles and a Portuguese
sponge-cake called castellas) were assimilated into popular
Japanese culture. Tempura, while not Portuguese in origin,
takes its name from the Portuguese word, 'Tempero,' another
example of the enduring effects of this cultural exchange.
The Portuguese also brought with them many goods from China.
Due to the instability during the Warring States period,
Sumitada and Jesuit leader Alexandro Valignano conceived a
plan to pass administrative control over to the Society of
Jesus rather than see the Catholic city taken over by a
non-Catholic daimyo who was not quickly ascending to in
Kyūshū. Thus, for a brief period after 1580, the city of
Nagasaki was a Jesuit colony, under their administrative and
military control. It became a refuge for Christians escaping
maltreatment in other regions of Japan. In 1587, however,
Toyotomi Hideyoshi's campaign to unify the country arrived
in Kyūshū. Concerned with the large Christian influence in
southern Japan, as well as the active and somewhat arrogant
role the Jesuits were playing in the Japanese political
arena, Hideyoshi ordered the expulsion of all missionaries,
and placed the city under his direct control. However, the
expulsion order went largely unenforced, and the fact
remained that most of Nagasaki's population remained openly
practicing Catholics.
In 1596, the Spanish ship San Felipe was wrecked off the
coast of Shikoku, and Hideyoshi learned from its pilot (so
says the Jesuit account) that the Spanish Franciscans were
the vanguard of an Iberian invasion of Japan. In response,
Hideyoshi ordered the crucifixions of twenty-six Catholics
in Nagasaki on February 5 of that year (the Martyrs of
Japan). Portuguese traders were not ostracized, however, and
so the city continued to thrive.
In 1602, Augustinian missionaries also arrived in Japan, and
when Tokugawa Ieyasu took power in 1603, Catholicism was
still grudgingly tolerated. Many Catholic daimyo had been
critical allies at the Battle of Sekigahara, and the
Tokugawa position was not strong enough to move against
them. Once Osaka Castle had been taken and Toyotomi
Hideyoshi's offspring killed, though, the Tokugawa dominance
was assured. In addition, the Dutch and English presence
allowed trade without religious strings attached. Thus, the
hammer fell in 1614, with Catholicism officially banned and
all missionaries ordered to leave. Most Catholic daimyo
apostatized, and forced their subjects to do so, although a
few would not renounce the religion and left the country as
well. A brutal campaign of persecution followed, with
thousands across Kyūshū and other parts of Japan killed,
tortured, or forced to renounce their religion.
Catholicism's last gasp as an open religion, and the last
major military action in Japan until the Meiji Restoration,
was the Shimabara rebellion of 1637. While there is no
evidence that Europeans directly incited the rebellion,
Shimabara had been a Christian han for several decades, and
the rebels adopted many Portuguese motifs and Christian
icons. Consequently, in Tokugawa society the word "Shimabara"
solidified the connection between Christianity and
disloyalty, constantly used again and again in Tokugawa
propaganda.
The Shimabara rebellion also convinced many policy-makers
that foreign influences were more trouble than they were
worth. The Portuguese, who had been previously living on a
specially-constructed island-prison in Nagasaki harbor
called Deshima, were expelled from the archipelago
altogether, and the Dutch were moved from their base at
Hirado into the trading island. In 1720 the ban on Dutch
books was lifted, causing hundreds of scholars to flood into
Nagasaki to study European science and art. Consequently,
Nagasaki became a major center of rangaku, or "Dutch
Learning". During the Edo period, the Tokugawa shogunate
governed the city, appointing a hatamoto, the Nagasaki bugyō,
as its chief administrator.
Consensus among historians was once that Nagasaki was
Japan's only window on the world during its time as a closed
country in the Tokugawa era. However, nowadays it is
generally accepted that this was not the case, since Japan
interacted and traded with the Ryukyus, Korea and Russia
through Satsuma, Tsushima and the north of Honshū
respectively. Nevertheless, Nagasaki was depicted in
contemporary art and literature as a cosmopolitan port
brimming with exotic curiosities from the Western World.
In 1808, the Royal Navy frigate HMS Phaeton entered Nagasaki
Harbor in search of Dutch trading ships. The local
magistrate was unable to resist the British demand for food,
fuel, and water, later committing seppuku as a result. Laws
were passed in the wake of this incident strengthening
coastal defenses, threatening death to intruding foreigners,
and prompting the training of English and Russian
translators.
The Tōjinyashiki or Chinese Factory in Nagasaki was also an
important conduit for Chinese goods and information for the
Japanese market. Various colorful Chinese merchants and
artists sailed between the Chinese mainland and Nagasaki.
Some actually combined the roles of merchant and artist such
as 18th century Yi Hai.
Modern era
U.S. Commodore Matthew Perry landed in 1853. The Shogunate
crumbled shortly afterward, and Japan opened its doors once
again to foreign trade and diplomatic relations. Nagasaki
became a free port in 1859 and modernization began in
earnest in 1868.
With the Meiji Restoration, Nagasaki quickly began to assume
some economic dominance. Its main industry was
ship-building. This very industry would eventually make it a
target in World War II, since many warships used by the
Japanese Navy during the war were built in its factories and
docks.
Main article: Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
On 9 August 1945, Nagasaki was the target of the world's
second atomic bomb attack at 11:02 a.m., when the north of
the city was destroyed and an estimated 40,000 people were
killed. According to statistics given at the Nagasaki Peace
Park, the dead totalled 73,884, injured 74,909 and diseased
several hundred thousand.
The city was rebuilt after the war, albeit dramatically
changed. New temples were built, as well as new churches due
to an increase in the presence of Christianity. Nagasaki is
the seat of a Roman Catholic Archdiocese led by Archbishop
Joseph Mitsuaki Takami. Some of the rubble was left as a
memorial, such as a one-legged torii gate and an arch near
ground zero. New structures were also raised as memorials,
such as the Atomic Bomb Museum. Nagasaki remains first and
foremost a port city, supporting a rich shipping industry
and setting a strong example of perseverance and peace.
Information source: “Nagasaki, Nagasaki.” wikipedia.org. Article
date: 4 Mar. 2008. Retrieved: Wikipedia. 4 Mar. 2008 <Nagasaki, Nagasaki>. |
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