As church bells ring and grey-robed nuns hurry to Mass in this Japanese port city, a dark chapter in Christianity's past is being revisited with the beatification of 188 martyrs persecuted for their faith.The Catholic Church hopes the special ceremony for the Christians killed in the 17th century will generate more interest in the history of a religion that has so far failed to take root in a country dominated by Buddhism and Shinto.
"We have a history of religious persecution that has no similar example in Japan nor in the world," said Father Isao John Hashimoto of Nagasaki's Catholic Centre, which is organising the event on November 24.
"We would like this to be an opportunity for Japan, including the government, to dig deep into our past and learn about this part of history. Japan has a tendency to erase histories that make it look bad," he said.
As many as 30,000 Christians are believed to have been martyred since the religion was banned by the government shortly after it was introduced to Japan by the Portuguese Jesuit priest Francis Xavier in 1549.
Many hid their faith, fleeing to outlying islands where the "hidden Christians" secretly preserved their religion during the 250-year ban, which was scrapped in 1873 after US gunships forced open the country, ushering in the Meiji Restoration, along with its guarantees of religious freedoms.
Christians devised ingenious ways to keep their faith alive, carving statues of the Virgin Mary disguised as Buddha or with a cross engraved in the back, as well as copper mirrors that, under a certain angle, revealed a cross.
Whole families were tortured to death, including children as young as 12 months old. Among the martyrs was the Jesuit priest Peter Kibe.
Crucifixion and beheading were common, and persecutors devised ways of hanging martyrs upside down in pits until they bled to death through cuts made behind their ears.
Others were boiled alive in the "springs of hell" of Unzen volcano in Nagasaki Prefecture, now a popular hot springs resort.
No government officials have been invited to the beatification -- a public act of blessing martyrs who suffered persecution for their faith -- not even Prime Minister Taro Aso, Japan's first Christian leader.
Although the history of Christian persecution is not entirely unknown in Japan -- helped by Shusaku Endo's prize-winning novel "Silence" -- public awareness remains relatively low, historians said.
Today there are an estimated one to two million Christians in Japan, including about half a million Catholics.
Akiko Inuzuka feels the troubled relationship between Christianity and Japan running through her blood.
She was surprised to discover her lineage counts persecuted Christians as well as a former believer who crossed enemy lines.
"I was shocked, in a good way, like a cultural shock. If I'm a descendant, I'm sure there are many others who have a connection with Christianity but who are completely unaware," she said.
Inuzuka is not alone. Local officials have noticed a sudden flowering of interest in the history, and are trying to turn it into a boon for their local economy, which is increasingly dependent on tourism for revenue.
Nagasaki last year submitted a list of Catholic churches and sites to be considered for UNESCO's World Heritage status.
The local government began a flurry of projects this year to build tourism based on the history of Nagasaki as "Japan's Rome."
"Interest is growing not so much among Catholics but more among others who like history and want to know more," said local tourist official Toshikazu Yokoura.
"We are hoping this will become a boon for the economy."
The Catholic Church took more than a quarter of a century to have its beatification request approved by the Vatican.
Pope Benedict XVI issued the decree last year and Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins will represent him at the ceremony in Nagasaki.
In a symbolic gesture of peace, the ceremony will take place beneath the spot where a US atomic bomb was dropped on August 9, 1945, killing 80,000 people.
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(Source: AFP)