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is the capital and the largest
city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...
of
Nagasaki Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Nagasaki Prefecture has a population of 1,314,078 (1 June 2020) and has a geographic area of 4,130 Square kilometre, km2 (1,594 sq mi). Nagasaki Prefecture borders ...
on the island of
Kyushu is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surroun ...
in
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
. It became the sole port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The
Hidden Christian Sites in the Nagasaki Region Hidden Christian Sites in the Nagasaki Region ( ja, 長崎と天草地方の潜伏キリシタン関連遺産) is a group of twelve sites in Nagasaki Prefecture and Kumamoto Prefecture relating to the history of Christianity in Japan. The Nagasaki ...
have been recognized and included in the
UNESCO World Heritage List A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
. Part of Nagasaki was home to a major
Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrender ...
base during the
First Sino-Japanese War The First Sino-Japanese War (25 July 1894 – 17 April 1895) was a conflict between China and Japan primarily over influence in Korea. After more than six months of unbroken successes by Japanese land and naval forces and the loss of the po ...
and
Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...
. Near the end of
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, the American
atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki The United States detonated two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August 1945, respectively. The two bombings killed between 129,000 and 226,000 people, most of whom were civilians, and remain the onl ...
made Nagasaki the second and, to date, last city in the world to experience a
nuclear attack Nuclear warfare, also known as atomic warfare, is a theoretical military conflict or prepared political strategy that deploys nuclear weaponry. Nuclear weapons are weapons of mass destruction; in contrast to conventional warfare, nuclear wa ...
(at 11:02 am, August 9, 1945 'Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)'). , the city has an estimated population of 407,624 and a population density of 1,004 people per km2. The total area is .


History


Nagasaki as a Jesuit port of call

The first contact with
Portuguese explorers Portuguese maritime exploration resulted in the numerous territories and maritime routes recorded by the Portuguese as a result of their intensive maritime journeys during the 15th and 16th centuries. Portuguese sailors were at the vanguard of Eu ...
occurred in 1543. An early visitor was
Fernão Mendes Pinto Fernão Mendes Pinto (; c.1509 – 8 July 1583) was a Portuguese explorer and writer. His voyages are recorded in ''Pilgrimage'' ( pt, Peregrinação) (1614), his autobiographical memoir. The historical accuracy of the work is debatable due to ...
, who came from Sagres on a Portuguese ship which landed nearby in
Tanegashima is one of the Ōsumi Islands belonging to Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. The island, 444.99 km2 in area, is the second largest of the Ōsumi Islands, and has a population of 33,000 people. Access to the island is by ferry, or by air to New ...
. Soon after, Portuguese ships started sailing to Japan as regular trade freighters, thus increasing the contact and trade relations between Japan and the rest of the world, and particularly with
mainland China "Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territories within Greater China. ...
, with whom Japan had previously severed its commercial and political ties, mainly due to a number of incidents involving
wokou ''Wokou'' (; Japanese: ''Wakō''; Korean: 왜구 ''Waegu''), which literally translates to "Japanese pirates" or "dwarf pirates", were pirates who raided the coastlines of China and Korea from the 13th century to the 16th century.South China Sea The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by the shores of South China (hence the name), in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan and northwestern Phil ...
, with the Portuguese now serving as intermediaries between the two
East Asia East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea and ...
n neighbors. Despite the mutual advantages derived from these trading contacts, which would soon be acknowledged by all parties involved, the lack of a proper seaport in
Kyūshū is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surround ...
for the purpose of harboring foreign ships posed a major problem for both merchants and the Kyushu ''
daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji era, Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and n ...
s'' (feudal lords) who expected to collect great advantages from the trade with the Portuguese. In the meantime,
Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...
Jesuit missionary , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders = ...
St. Francis Xavier arrived in
Kagoshima , abbreviated to , is the capital city of Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. Located at the southwestern tip of the island of Kyushu, Kagoshima is the largest city in the prefecture by some margin. It has been nicknamed the "Naples of the Eastern wor ...
, South Kyūshū, in 1549. After a somewhat fruitful two-year sojourn in Japan, he left for China in 1552 but died soon afterwards.Diego Pacheco. "Xavier and Tanegashima." ''Monumenta Nipponica'', Vol. 29, No. 4 (Winter, 1974), pp. 477–480 His followers who remained behind converted a number of ''daimyōs''. The most notable among them was
Ōmura Sumitada Ōmura Sumitada (大村 純忠, 1533 – June 23, 1587) was a Japanese ''daimyō'' lord of the Sengoku period. He achieved fame throughout the country for being the first of the daimyo to convert to Christianity following the arrival of the ...
. In 1569, Ōmura granted a permit for the establishment of a port with the purpose of harboring Portuguese ships in Nagasaki, which was finally set up in 1571, under the supervision of the Jesuit missionary Gaspar Vilela and
Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...
Captain-Major Tristão Vaz de Veiga, with Ōmura's personal 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 is a typical Japanese dish usually consisting of seafood, meat and vegetables that have been battered and deep fried. The dish was introduced by the Portuguese in Nagasaki through fritter-cooking techniques in the 16th century. The word ''tem ...
derived from a popular Portuguese recipe originally known as ''
peixinhos da horta ( or ) is a traditional dish in Portuguese cuisine. The name of the dish is literally translated as "Little fishes from the garden", as it resembles small pieces of colorful fish. It was introduced to Japan by Portuguese sailors Antonio da Mota ...
'', and takes its name from the Portuguese word, 'tempero,' seasoning, and refers to the tempora quadragesima, forty days of Lent during which eating meat was forbidden, another example of the enduring effects of this cultural exchange. The Portuguese also brought with them many goods from other Asian countries such as China. The value of Portuguese exports from Nagasaki during the 16th century were estimated to ascend to over 1,000,000 ''cruzados'', reaching as many as 3,000,000 in 1637. Due to the instability during the
Sengoku period The was a period in History of Japan, Japanese history of near-constant civil war and social upheaval from 1467 to 1615. The Sengoku period was initiated by the Ōnin War in 1467 which collapsed the Feudalism, feudal system of Japan under the ...
, Sumitada and Jesuit leader
Alexandro Valignano Alessandro Valignano, S.J., sometimes Valignani (Chinese: 范禮安 ''Fàn Lǐ’ān''; February 1539 – January 20, 1606), was an Italian Jesuit priest and missionary born in Chieti, part of the Kingdom of Naples, who helped supervise the i ...
conceived a plan to pass administrative control over to the
Society of Jesus , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...
rather than see the Catholic city taken over by a non-Catholic ''daimyō''. 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.Diego Paccheco, Monumenta Nipponica, 1970 In 1587, however,
Toyotomi Hideyoshi , otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: Military Innovations that Changed the Cour ...
's campaign to unify the country arrived in Kyūshū. Concerned with the large Christian influence in Kyūshū, Hideyoshi ordered the expulsion of all
missionaries A missionary is a member of a religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...
, 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
Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
. In 1596, the Spanish ship '' San Felipe'' was wrecked off the coast of
Shikoku is the smallest of the four main islands of Japan. It is long and between wide. It has a population of 3.8 million (, 3.1%). It is south of Honshu and northeast of Kyushu. Shikoku's ancient names include ''Iyo-no-futana-shima'' (), '' ...
, and Hideyoshi learned from its pilot that the Spanish
Franciscans , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...
were the vanguard of an Iberian invasion of Japan. In response, Hideyoshi ordered the
crucifixion Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the victim is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross or beam and left to hang until eventual death from exhaustion and asphyxiation. It was used as a punishment by the Persians, Carthagin ...
s of twenty-six Catholics in Nagasaki on February 5 of the next year (i.e. the "
Twenty-six Martyrs of Japan The were a group of Catholics who were executed by crucifixion on February 5, 1597, in Nagasaki, Japan. Their martyrdom is especially significant in the history of the Catholic Church in Japan. A promising beginning to Catholic missions in Japa ...
"). Portuguese traders were not ostracized, however, and so the city continued to thrive. In 1602,
Augustinian Augustinian may refer to: *Augustinians, members of religious orders following the Rule of St Augustine *Augustinianism, the teachings of Augustine of Hippo and his intellectual heirs *Someone who follows Augustine of Hippo * Canons Regular of Sain ...
missionaries also arrived in Japan, and when
Tokugawa Ieyasu was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan, which ruled Japan from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was one of the three "Great Unifiers" of Japan, along with his former lord Oda Nobunaga and fellow ...
took power in 1603, Catholicism was still tolerated. Many Catholic ''
daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji era, Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and n ...
s'' had been critical allies at the
Battle of Sekigahara The Battle of Sekigahara (Shinjitai: ; Kyūjitai: , Hepburn romanization: ''Sekigahara no Tatakai'') was a decisive battle on October 21, 1600 (Keichō 5, 15th day of the 9th month) in what is now Gifu prefecture, Japan, at the end of ...
, and the Tokugawa position was not strong enough to move against them. Once
Osaka Castle is a Japanese castle in Chūō-ku, Osaka, Japan. The castle is one of Japan's most famous landmarks and it played a major role in the unification of Japan during the sixteenth century of the Azuchi-Momoyama period. Layout The main tower ...
had been taken and
Toyotomi Hideyoshi , otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: Military Innovations that Changed the Cour ...
's offspring killed, though, the Tokugawa dominance was assured. In addition, the Dutch and English presence allowed trade without religious strings attached. Thus, in 1614,
Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
was officially banned and all missionaries ordered to leave. Most Catholic daimyo
apostatized Apostasy (; grc-gre, ἀποστασία , 'a defection or revolt') is the formal religious disaffiliation, disaffiliation from, abandonment of, or renunciation of a religion by a person. It can also be defined within the broader context of emb ...
, and forced their subjects to do so, although a few would not renounce the religion and left the country for
Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...
,
Luzon Luzon (; ) is the largest and most populous island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the Philippines archipelago, it is the economic and political center of the nation, being home to the country's capital city, Manila, as ...
and
Japantown is a common name for Japanese communities in cities and towns outside Japan. Alternatively, a Japantown may be called J-town, Little Tokyo or , the first two being common names for Japantown, San Francisco, Japantown, San Jose and Little To ...
s in Southeast Asia. A brutal campaign of persecution followed, with thousands of converts across Kyūshū and other parts of Japan killed, tortured, or forced to renounce their religion. Many Japanese and foreign Christians were executed by public
crucifixion Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the victim is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross or beam and left to hang until eventual death from exhaustion and asphyxiation. It was used as a punishment by the Persians, Carthagin ...
and
burning at the stake Death by burning (also known as immolation) is an execution and murder method involving combustion or exposure to extreme heat. It has a long history as a form of public capital punishment, and many societies have employed it as a punishment f ...
in Nagasaki. They became known as the
Martyrs of Japan The were Christian missionaries and followers who were persecuted and executed, mostly during the Tokugawa shogunate period in the 17th century. More than 400 martyrs of Japan have been recognized with beatification by the Catholic Church, and 42 ...
and were later venerated by several
Popes The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...
. Catholicism's last gasp as an open religion and the last major military action in Japan until the
Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...
was the
Shimabara Rebellion The , also known as the or , was an uprising that occurred in the Shimabara Domain of the Tokugawa Shogunate in Japan from 17 December 1637 to 15 April 1638. Matsukura Katsuie, the ''daimyō'' of the Shimabara Domain, enforced unpopular polic ...
of 1637. While there is no evidence that Europeans directly incited the rebellion,
Shimabara Domain The was a Japanese domain of the Edo period. It is associated with Hizen Province in modern-day Saga Prefecture.DF__...,_who_were_''Kirishitan">DF_6-7_of_80/nowiki>">DF__...,_who_were_''Kirishitan_daimyō.html" ;"title="Kirishitan.html" ;"title ...
had been a Christian ''
han Han may refer to: Ethnic groups * Han Chinese, or Han People (): the name for the largest ethnic group in China, which also constitutes the world's largest ethnic group. ** Han Taiwanese (): the name for the ethnic group of the Taiwanese p ...
'' for several decades, and the rebels adopted many Portuguese motifs and Christian
icon An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Catholic churches. They are not simply artworks; "an icon is a sacred image used in religious devotion". The most ...
s. 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, leading to the national isolation policy. The Portuguese, who had been previously living on a specially constructed island-prison in Nagasaki harbour called
Dejima , in the 17th century also called Tsukishima ( 築島, "built island"), was an artificial island off Nagasaki, Japan that served as a trading post for the Portuguese (1570–1639) and subsequently the Dutch (1641–1854). For 220 years, it ...
, were expelled from the archipelago altogether, and the Dutch were moved from their base at
Hirado is a city located in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. The part historically named Hirado is located on Hirado Island. With recent mergers, the city's boundaries have expanded, and Hirado now occupies parts of the main island of Kyushu. The component ...
into the trading island. File:Macau Trade Routes.png,
Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...
''(green)'' and
Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...
''(yellow)'' trade routes to
Macao Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...
and Nagasaki File:Nanban-Screens-by-Kano-Naizen-c1600.png,
Nanban trade or the , was a period in the history of Japan from the arrival of Europeans in 1543 to the first '' Sakoku'' Seclusion Edicts of isolationism in 1614. Nanban (南蛮 Lit. "Southern barbarian") is a Japanese word which had been used to desig ...
. The screen shows foreigners arriving at a shore of Japan. Kano Naizen "Nanbanjin Inauguration" (right), circa. 1600


Seclusion era

The Great Fire of Nagasaki destroyed much of the city in 1663, including the
Mazu Mazu or Matsu is a Chinese sea goddess also known by several other names and titles. She is the deified form of the legendary figure Lin Mo or Lin Moniang, a Fujianese shamaness whose life span is traditionally dated from 960 to 987. Re ...
shrine at the Kofuku Temple patronized by the Chinese sailors and merchants visiting the port. 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 what was called ''
rangaku ''Rangaku'' (Kyūjitai: /Shinjitai: , literally "Dutch learning", and by extension "Western learning") is a body of knowledge developed by Japan through its contacts with the Dutch enclave of Dejima, which allowed Japan to keep abreast of Wester ...
'', or "Dutch Learning". During the
Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...
, the
Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...
governed the city, appointing a ''
hatamoto A was a high ranking samurai in the direct service of the Tokugawa shogunate of feudal Japan. While all three of the shogunates in Japanese history had official retainers, in the two preceding ones, they were referred to as ''gokenin.'' However ...
'', the ''
Nagasaki bugyō were officials of the Tokugawa shogunate in Edo period Japan. Appointments to this prominent office were usually '' fudai'' ''daimyōs'', but this was amongst the senior administrative posts open to those who were not ''daimyōs''.Beasley, Wi ...
'', as its chief administrator. During this period, Nagasaki was designated a "shogunal city". The number of such cities rose from three to eleven under Tokugawa administration. 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
Ryūkyū Kingdom The Ryukyu Kingdom, Middle Chinese: , , Classical Chinese: (), Historical English language, English names: ''Lew Chew'', ''Lewchew'', ''Luchu'', and ''Loochoo'', Historical French name: ''Liou-tchou'', Historical Dutch name: ''Lioe-kioe'' wa ...
,
Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...
and Russia through
Satsuma Satsuma may refer to: * Satsuma (fruit), a citrus fruit * ''Satsuma'' (gastropod), a genus of land snails Places Japan * Satsuma, Kagoshima, a Japanese town * Satsuma District, Kagoshima, a district in Kagoshima Prefecture * Satsuma Domain, a sou ...
, Tsushima and Matsumae respectively. Nevertheless, Nagasaki was depicted in contemporary art and literature as a cosmopolitan port brimming with exotic curiosities from the Western World.Cambridge Encyclopedia of Japan,
Richard Bowring Richard John Bowring (born 6 February 1947) is an English academic serving as Professor of Japanese Studies at the University of Cambridge and an Honorary Fellow of Downing College. In 2013, Bowring was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun 3rd Cla ...
and Haruko Laurie
In 1808, during the
Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...
, the
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
frigate HMS ''Phaeton'' entered Nagasaki Harbor in search of Dutch trading ships. The local magistrate was unable to resist the crew’s demand for food, fuel, and water, later committing ''
seppuku , sometimes referred to as hara-kiri (, , a native Japanese kun reading), is a form of Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment. It was originally reserved for samurai in their code of honour but was also practised by other Japanese people ...
'' 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'' (唐人屋敷) or Chinese Factory in Nagasaki was also an important conduit for Chinese goods and information for the Japanese market. Various 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 Yi Hai (, or Yi Fujiu (伊桴鳩), I Fukyū in Japanese) was a Chinese painter and merchant who frequented the Japanese trading port of Nagasaki. His sobriquet was ''Fujiu''. He is said to have been a captain of a junk trading ship that plied ...
. It is believed that as much as one-third of the population of Nagasaki at this time may have been Chinese. The Chinese traders at Nagasaki were confined to a walled compound ( Tōjin yashiki) which was located in the same vicinity as Dejima island; and the activities of the Chinese, though less strictly controlled than the Dutch, were closely monitored by the
Nagasaki bugyō were officials of the Tokugawa shogunate in Edo period Japan. Appointments to this prominent office were usually '' fudai'' ''daimyōs'', but this was amongst the senior administrative posts open to those who were not ''daimyōs''.Beasley, Wi ...
. File:Tojin-yashiki.jpg, The Chinese traders at Nagasaki were confined to a walled compound (Tōjin yashiki), circa 1688 File:Nagasaki illustration2.jpeg, Plan of Nagasaki, Hizen province, 1778 File:View of Nagasaki Bay by Antoon Bauduin c1865.png, View of Nagasaki Bay, c1865


Meiji Japan

With the
Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...
, Japan opened its doors once again to foreign trade and diplomatic relations. Nagasaki became a
treaty port Treaty ports (; ja, 条約港) were the port cities in China and Japan that were opened to foreign trade mainly by the unequal treaties forced upon them by Western powers, as well as cities in Korea opened up similarly by the Japanese Empire. ...
in 1859 and modernization began in earnest in 1868. Nagasaki was officially proclaimed a city on April 1, 1889. With Christianity legalized and the
Kakure Kirishitan ''Kakure kirishitan'' () is a modern term for a member of the Catholic Church in Japan that went underground at the start of the Edo period in the early 17th century due to Christianity's repression by the Tokugawa shogunate. History Origin ...
coming out of hiding, Nagasaki regained its earlier role as a center for Roman Catholicism in Japan. During the
Meiji period The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...
, Nagasaki became a center of
heavy industry Heavy industry is an industry that involves one or more characteristics such as large and heavy products; large and heavy equipment and facilities (such as heavy equipment, large machine tools, huge buildings and large-scale infrastructure); o ...
. Its main industry was
ship-building Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to befor ...
, with the dockyards under control of
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is a Japanese multinational engineering, electrical equipment and electronics corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. MHI is one of the core companies of the Mitsubishi Group and its automobile division is the predecessor of Mitsubishi Mo ...
becoming one of the prime contractors for the
Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrender ...
, and with Nagasaki harbor used as an anchorage under the control of nearby
Sasebo Naval District was the third of five main administrative districts of the pre-war Imperial Japanese Navy. Its territory included the western and southern coastline of Kyūshū, the Ryukyu Islands, Taiwan and Korea, as well as patrols in the East China Sea and t ...
. During
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, at the time of the nuclear attack, Nagasaki was an important industrial city, containing both plants of the Mitsubishi Steel and Arms Works, the Akunoura Engine Works, Mitsubishi Arms Plant, Mitsubishi Electric Shipyards, Mitsubishi Steel and Arms Works, Mitsubishi-Urakami Ordnance Works, several other small factories, and most of the ports storage and trans-shipment facilities, which employed about 90% of the city's labor force, and accounted for 90% of the city's industry. These connections with the Japanese
war effort In politics and military planning, a war effort is a coordinated mobilization of society's resources—both industrial and human—towards the support of a military force. Depending on the militarization of the culture, the relative size ...
made Nagasaki a major target for
strategic bombing Strategic bombing is a military strategy used in total war with the goal of defeating the enemy by destroying its morale, its economic ability to produce and transport materiel to the theatres of military operations, or both. It is a systematica ...
by the
Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
during the war. File:UCHIDA_KUICHI_Nagasaki.png, View of Nagasaki in 1870s File:View of Dejima in Nagasaki Bay Folding Screen by Kawahara Keiga c1836.jpg, View of
Dejima , in the 17th century also called Tsukishima ( 築島, "built island"), was an artificial island off Nagasaki, Japan that served as a trading post for the Portuguese (1570–1639) and subsequently the Dutch (1641–1854). For 220 years, it ...
in Nagasaki Bay by Kawahara Keigo c1836


Atomic bombing of Nagasaki during World War II

For 12 months prior to the nuclear attack, Nagasaki had experienced five small-scale air attacks by an aggregate of 136 U.S. planes which dropped a total of 270 tons of
high explosive An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An exp ...
, 53 tons of incendiary, and 20 tons of fragmentation bombs. Of these, a raid of August 1, 1945, was most effective, with a few of the bombs hitting the shipyards and dock areas in the southwest portion of the city, several hitting the Mitsubishi Steel and Arms Works, and six bombs landing at the Nagasaki Medical School and Hospital, with three direct hits on buildings there. While the damage from these few bombs was relatively small, it created considerable concern in Nagasaki and a number of people, principally school children, were evacuated to rural areas for safety, thus reducing the population in the city at the time of the atomic attack. On the day of the nuclear strike (August 9, 1945) the population in Nagasaki was estimated to be 263,000, which consisted of 240,000 Japanese residents, 10,000 Korean residents, 2,500 conscripted Korean workers, 9,000 Japanese soldiers, 600 conscripted Chinese workers, and 400 Allied
POWs A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war ...
. That day, the
Boeing B-29 Superfortress The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is an American four-engined propeller-driven heavy bomber, designed by Boeing and flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. Named in allusion to its predecessor, the B-17 Fl ...
''
Bockscar ''Bockscar'', sometimes called Bock's Car, is the name of the United States Army Air Forces B-29 bomber that dropped a Fat Man nuclear weapon over the Japanese city of Nagasaki during World War II in the secondand most recent nuclear attack in ...
'', commanded by
Major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...
Charles Sweeney Charles William Sweeney (December 27, 1919 – July 16, 2004) was an officer in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II and the pilot who flew '' Bockscar'' carrying the Fat Man atomic bomb to the Japanese city of Nagasaki on Augu ...
, departed from
Tinian Tinian ( or ; old Japanese name: 天仁安島, ''Tenian-shima'') is one of the three principal islands of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Together with uninhabited neighboring Aguiguan, it forms Tinian Municipality, one of th ...
's North Field just before dawn, this time carrying a plutonium bomb, code named "
Fat Man "Fat Man" (also known as Mark III) is the codename for the type of nuclear bomb the United States detonated over the Japanese city of Nagasaki on 9 August 1945. It was the second of the only two nuclear weapons ever used in warfare, the fir ...
". The primary target for the bomb was
Kokura is an ancient castle town and the center of Kitakyushu, Japan, guarding the Straits of Shimonoseki between Honshu and Kyushu with its suburb Moji. Kokura is also the name of the penultimate station on the southbound San'yō Shinkansen lin ...
, with the secondary target being Nagasaki, if the primary target was too cloudy to make a visual sighting. When the plane reached Kokura at 9:44 a.m. (10:44 am. Tinian Time), the city was obscured by clouds and smoke, as the nearby city of Yahata had been
firebombed Firebombing is a bombing technique designed to damage a target, generally an urban area, through the use of fire, caused by incendiary devices, rather than from the blast effect of large bombs. In popular usage, any act in which an incendiary ...
on the previous day – the steel plant in Yahata also had their workforce intentionally set fire to containers of
coal tar Coal tar is a thick dark liquid which is a by-product of the production of coke and coal gas from coal. It is a type of creosote. It has both medical and industrial uses. Medicinally it is a topical medication applied to skin to treat psoriasi ...
, to produce target-obscuring black smoke. Unable to make a bombing attack on visual due to the clouds and smoke and with limited fuel, the plane left the city at 10:30 a.m. for the secondary target. After 20 minutes, the plane arrived at 10:50 a.m. over Nagasaki, but the city was also concealed by clouds. Desperately short of fuel and after making a couple of bombing runs without obtaining any visual target, the crew was forced to use radar to drop the bomb. At the last minute, the opening of the clouds allowed them to make visual contact with a racetrack in Nagasaki, and they dropped the bomb on the city's Urakami Valley midway between the Mitsubishi Steel and Arms Works in the south, and the Mitsubishi-Urakami Ordnance Works in the north. 53 seconds after its release, the bomb exploded at 11:02 a.m. at an approximate altitude of 1,800 feet. Less than a second after the detonation, the north of the city was destroyed and 35,000 people were killed. Among the deaths were 6,200 out of the 7,500 employees of the Mitsubishi Munitions plant, and 24,000 others (including 2,000 Koreans) who worked in other war plants and factories in the city, as well as 150 Japanese soldiers. The industrial damage in Nagasaki was high, leaving 68–80% of the non-dock industrial production destroyed. It was the second and, to date, the last use of a
nuclear weapon A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions ( thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bom ...
in
combat Combat ( French for ''fight'') is a purposeful violent conflict meant to physically harm or kill the opposition. Combat may be armed (using weapons) or unarmed ( not using weapons). Combat is sometimes resorted to as a method of self-defense, or ...
, and also the second detonation of a plutonium bomb. The first combat use of a nuclear weapon was the "
Little Boy "Little Boy" was the type of atomic bomb dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima on 6 August 1945 during World War II, making it the first nuclear weapon used in warfare. The bomb was dropped by the Boeing B-29 Superfortress ''Enola Gay'' p ...
" bomb, which was dropped on the Japanese city of
Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui h ...
on August 6, 1945. The first plutonium bomb was tested in
central New Mexico Central New Mexico is the central region of the U.S. state of New Mexico. In the center of this region is Albuquerque, New Mexico, the largest city in the state. Communities The top seven largest cities in Central New Mexico are: # Albuquerque ...
, United States, on July 16, 1945. The Fat Man bomb was somewhat more powerful than the one dropped over Hiroshima, but because of Nagasaki's more uneven terrain, there was less damage. File:Nagasakibomb.jpg, Mushroom cloud from the atomic explosion over Nagasaki at 11:02 am, August 9, 1945 File:Sanno_torii_boxed_in_red.jpg, ''
Torii A is a traditional Japanese gate most commonly found at the entrance of or within a Shinto shrine, where it symbolically marks the transition from the mundane to the sacred. The presence of a ''torii'' at the entrance is usually the simplest ...
'', Nagasaki, Japan. One-legged torii in the background, October 1945


Contemporary era

The city was rebuilt after the war, albeit dramatically changed. The pace of reconstruction was slow. The first simple emergency dwellings were not provided until 1946. The focus of redevelopment was the replacement of war industries with foreign trade, shipbuilding and fishing. This was formally declared when the Nagasaki International Culture City Reconstruction Law was passed in May 1949. New temples were built, as well as new churches, owing to an increase in the presence of Christianity. Some of the rubble was left as a memorial, such as a one-legged ''
torii A is a traditional Japanese gate most commonly found at the entrance of or within a Shinto shrine, where it symbolically marks the transition from the mundane to the sacred. The presence of a ''torii'' at the entrance is usually the simplest ...
'' at Sannō Shrine and an arch near
ground zero In relation to nuclear explosions and other large bombs, ground zero (also called surface zero) is the point on the Earth's surface closest to a detonation. In the case of an explosion above the ground, ''ground zero'' is the point on the ground ...
. New structures were also raised as memorials, such as the Atomic Bomb Museum. Nagasaki remains primarily a port city, supporting a rich
shipbuilding Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to befor ...
industry. On January 4, 2005, the towns of Iōjima, Kōyagi, Nomozaki, Sanwa, Sotome and Takashima (all from Nishisonogi District) were officially merged into Nagasaki along with the town of Kinkai the following year. File:ModernDayNagasaki.jpg, Modern Nagasaki, Oura Cathedral on a slope, 2005. File:Nagasaki City View from Glover Garden, Nagasaki 2014.jpg, Nagasaki view from Glover Garden, 2014


Geography

Nagasaki and
Nishisonogi Peninsula 250px, Nishisonogi Peninsula (top) and Nagasaki Peninsula (bottom) (Landsat image) The Nishisonogi Peninsula (西彼杵半島 ''Nishi-sonogi hantō'') is a peninsula in northwest Kyūshū, Japan. It is the north-northwesterly fork of a larger peni ...
s are located within the city limits. The city is surrounded by the cities of
Isahaya is a city located in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. The city was founded on September 1, 1940. As of November 1, 2022, the city has an estimated population of 132,385 and a population density of 389 persons per km². The total area is . On March 1 ...
and Saikai, and the towns of
Togitsu is a town located in Nishisonogi District, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. As of March 31, 2017, the town has an estimated population of 30,084 and a density of 1,500 persons per km². The total area is 20.73 km². Neighbouring the town of ...
and
Nagayo is a List of towns in Japan, town located in Nishisonogi District, Nagasaki, Nishisonogi District, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. Geography Nagayo is located within the southern part of Nagasaki prefecture and resides at the south of Ōmura Bay. ...
in Nishisonogi District. Nagasaki lies at the head of a long bay that 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 .


Climate

Nagasaki has the typical
humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...
of Kyūshū and Honshū, characterized by mild winters and long, hot, and humid summers. Apart from
Kanazawa is the capital city of Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 466,029 in 203,271 households, and a population density of 990 persons per km2. The total area of the city was . Overview Cityscape File:もてな ...
and
Shizuoka Shizuoka can refer to: * Shizuoka Prefecture, a Japanese prefecture * Shizuoka (city), the capital city of Shizuoka Prefecture * Shizuoka Airport * Shizuoka Domain, the name from 1868 to 1871 for Sunpu Domain, a predecessor of Shizuoka Prefecture ...
it is the wettest sizeable city in Japan. In the summer, the combination of persistent heat and high humidity results in unpleasant conditions, with
wet-bulb temperature The wet-bulb temperature (WBT) is the temperature read by a thermometer covered in water-soaked (water at ambient temperature) cloth (a wet-bulb thermometer) over which air is passed. At 100% relative humidity, the wet-bulb temperature is equal ...
s sometimes reaching . In the winter, however, Nagasaki is drier and sunnier than Gotō to the west, and temperatures are slightly milder than further inland in Kyūshū. Since records began in 1878, the wettest month has been July 1982, with including in a single day, whilst the driest month has been September 1967, with . Precipitation occurs year-round, though winter is the driest season; rainfall peaks sharply in June and July. August is the warmest month of the year. On January 24, 2016, a snowfall of was recorded.


Education


Universities

* Kwassui Women's University *
Nagasaki Institute of Applied Science is a private Japanese university located in the city of Nagasaki, Nagasaki Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Nagasaki Prefecture has a population of 1,314,078 (1 June 2020) and has a geographic area of 4, ...
*
Nagasaki Junshin Catholic University is a private university Private universities and private colleges are institutions of higher education, not operated, owned, or institutionally funded by governments. They may (and often do) receive from governments tax breaks, public stude ...
*
Nagasaki University is a national university of Japan. Its nickname is ''Chōdai'' (). The main campus is located in Bunkyo-machi, Nagasaki City, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. History Nagasaki University was established in 1949 by incorporating several nation ...
*
Nagasaki University of Foreign Studies is located in the northern part of Nagasaki, Japan. It offers four-year degrees in English and in French, Korean, British and American English, German, and Japanese for foreign students. Participation in the degree-seeking programs is open to ...
*
Nagasaki Wesleyan University is a private university in Isahaya, Nagasaki, Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, ...


Junior colleges

* Nagasaki Junior College *
Nagasaki Junshin Junior College is a private Junior College in Japan that headquartered Nagasaki Prefecture Nagasaki City is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. It became the sole port used for trade with the ...
* Nagasaki Gyokusei Junior College, formerly (closed 2012) *
Nagasaki Women's Junior College is a private university, private women's college, women's junior college in Nagasaki, Japan, established in 1966. The predecessor of the school was founded in 1896. External links Official website
Japanese junior colleges Educational ins ...


Economy

* Shipbuilding *
Mitsubishi The is a group of autonomous Japanese multinational companies in a variety of industries. Founded by Yatarō Iwasaki in 1870, the Mitsubishi Group historically descended from the Mitsubishi zaibatsu, a unified company which existed from 1870 ...
* Machinery and heavy industry


Transportation

The nearest airport is
Nagasaki Airport is an international airport located west of the railway station in the city of Ōmura and north northeast of the Nagasaki railway station in the city of Nagasaki, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. The airport terminal and runway 14/32 are on a ...
in the nearby city of Ōmura. The
Kyushu Railway Company The , also referred to as , is one of the seven constituent companies of Japan Railways Group (JR Group). It operates intercity rail services within Kyushu, Japan and the JR Kyushu Jet Ferry Beetle hydrofoil service across the Tsushima Strait ...
(JR Kyushu) provides rail transportation on the
Nagasaki Main Line The , or simply Nagasaki Line, is a railway line owned by the Kyushu Railway Company (JR Kyushu) connecting Tosu Station in Saga Prefecture to Nagasaki Station in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. There is a separate branch of this line from Kikitsu S ...
, whose terminal is at
Nagasaki Station is a railway station in Nagasaki, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan, operated by the Kyushu Railway Company (JR Kyushu). It is the terminus of the Nishi Kyushu Shinkansen and the Nagasaki Main Line. The station is connected by the ''Kamome'' Shinka ...
. In addition, the
Nagasaki Electric Tramway The is a private tram system in Nagasaki, Japan. Since March 20, 2008, its lines accept Nagasaki Smart Card, a smart card ticketing system. The company was founded on August 2, 1914, while the tram line was opened on November 16, 1915. It on ...
operates five routes in the city. The
Nagasaki Expressway is one of the Expressways of Japan from Tosu to Nagasaki. It runs through the prefecture of Saga, and the southern half of the Nagasaki prefecture. The total length is 120.4 km. History * November 16, 1973, Tosu Interchange and Junctio ...
serves vehicular traffic with interchanges at Nagasaki and Susukizuka. In addition, six
national highways National Highways, formerly the Highways Agency and later Highways England, is a State-owned enterprise, government-owned company charged with operating, maintaining and improving Roads in England, motorways and major A roads in England. It al ...
crisscross the city:
Route 34 The following highways are numbered 34: for a list of roads numbered N34 : see list of N34 roads. International * AH34, Asian Highway 34 * European route E34 Australia * Cox Peninsula Road (Northern Territory) * (Sydney) * Maroondah Highway (Vi ...
, 202, 206, 251,
324 __NOTOC__ Year 324 ( CCCXXIV) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Crispus and Constantinus (or, less frequently, year 10 ...
, and
499 __NOTOC__ Year 499 (Roman numerals, CDXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Iohannes without colleague (or, less frequ ...
.


Demographics

On August 9, 1945, the population was estimated to be 263,000. As of March 1, 2017, the city had population of 505,723 and a population density of 1,000 persons per km2.


Sports

Nagasaki is represented in the
J. League The , officially is Japan's professional football league including the first division J1 League, second division J2 League and third division J3 League of the Japanese association football league system. J1 League is one of the most succe ...
of football with its local club,
V-Varen Nagasaki is a Japanese J2 League football club based in Nagasaki. The club was established in 1985 as Ariake SC till they merged with Kunimi FC in 2004 and adopted the present name in 2005. The club gained promotion into the J. League Division 2 in ...
.


Main sites

* Basilica of the Twenty-Six Holy Martyrs of Japan * Confucius Shrine, Nagasaki *Dejima Museum of History *Former residence of Shuhan Takashima *Former site of Latin Seminario *Former site of the British Consulate in Nagasaki *Former site of
Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited (), commonly known as HSBC (), was the parent entity of the multinational HSBC banking group until 1991, and is now its Hong Kong-based Asia-Pacific subsidiary. The largest bank in Hong ...
Nagasaki Branch *
Glover Garden Glover House known as ''Ipponmatsu'' (Single Pine Tree) from a drawing of 1863. The tree was chopped down in the early 20th century. is a park in Nagasaki, Japan, built for Thomas Blake Glover, a Scottish merchant who contributed to the mod ...
**Former Glover Residence **Former Alt Residence **Former Ringer Residence **Former Walker Residence *
Fukusai-ji is an Ōbaku Zen temple in Nagasaki, Nagasaki, Japan. Its honorary '' sangō'' prefix is . History The first temple built in Nagasaki was Kofukuji, built in 1623 by traders from the northern provinces of China, such as Jiangsu and Zhejian ...
* Gunkanjima *Higashi-Yamate Juniban Mansion *Kazagashira Park * Kofukuji *
Megane Bridge or Spectacles Bridge, over the Nakashima River (中島川) was built in Nagasaki in 1634 by the Chinese monk Mokusunyoujo who was in the second generation of Chinese monks living at Kofukuji Temple. It is said to be the oldest stone arch bri ...
*
Mount Inasa is a hill to the west of Nagasaki which rises to a height of . The Nagasaki Ropeway allows visitors to travel to the top from Nagasaki. A short walk from the cable car station are several buildings that house transmitters for TV and radio stati ...
*
Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum The is in the city of Nagasaki, Japan. The museum is a remembrance to the atomic bombing of Nagasaki by the United States of America 9 August 1945 at 11:02:35 am. Next to the museum is the Nagasaki National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bom ...
(Located next to the Peace Park) *
Nagasaki Museum of History and Culture The in Nagasaki, Japan is one of the few museums in Japan devoted to the theme of "overseas exchange". The museum holds 48,000 items in its collection, including historical documents and arts and crafts, that tell the story of Nagasaki as the s ...
* Nagasaki National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims *
Nagasaki Peace Park Nagasaki Peace Park is a park located in Nagasaki, Japan, commemorating the atomic bombing of the city on August 9, 1945 during World War II. It is next to the Atomic Bomb Museum and near the Peace Memorial Hall. History Established in 1955, an ...
**Atomic Bomb Hypocenter (Located near the Peace Park) *Nagasaki
Peace Pagoda A Peace Pagoda is a Buddhist stupa; a monument to inspire peace, designed to provide a focus for people of all races and creeds, and to help unite them in their search for world peace. Most, though not all, peace pagodas built since World War II ...
*Nagasaki Penguin Aquarium *
Nagasaki Chinatown Nagasaki Shinchi Chinatown (Japanese: 長崎新地中華街, Simplified Chinese: 长崎新地中华街) is an area located in Nagasaki, Nagasaki, Japan. Today this area is a shopping strip covering many blocks. Most of the Chinese members of N ...
*Nagasaki Science Museum *
Nagasaki Subtropical Botanical Garden Nagasaki subtropical botanical garden (長崎 亜熱帯植物園 Nagasaki prefecture subtropical botanical garden Anettai Shokubutsuen) It is a botanical garden that was in Wakimisakimachi 833, Nagasaki, Nagasaki, Japan. Nagisaki Town, a subtropical ...
* Nyoko-do Hermitage *
Oranda-zaka Oranda-zaka (オランダ坂), also known as the Dutch Slope or Hollander Slope, is a Groups of Traditional Buildings, scenic sloping street in the Higashiyamate area of Nagasaki City, Nagasaki Prefecture, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. Its name is ...
* Sannō Shrine – One-legged stone ''
torii A is a traditional Japanese gate most commonly found at the entrance of or within a Shinto shrine, where it symbolically marks the transition from the mundane to the sacred. The presence of a ''torii'' at the entrance is usually the simplest ...
'', sometimes called an arch or gateway *
Sakamoto International Cemetery The is located in Sakamoto in the Urakami area of the city of Nagasaki, Japan. The cemetery for foreigners was established following the 1888 closure of an earlier burial ground near the international quarter of the city. It is administered by ...
* Shōfuku-ji *
Siebold Memorial Museum was opened in Nagasaki city in 1989 in honour of Philipp Franz von Siebold's great contributions to the development of modern science in Japan. The building is modeled on his former house in Leiden and is located next to the site of his original c ...
* Sōfuku-ji – Daiyūhōden and Daiippomon are national treasures of Japan. * Suwa Shrine * Syusaku Endo Literature Museum *Tateyama Park *
Twenty-Six Martyrs Museum and Monument The Twenty-Six Martyrs Museum and Monument were built on Nishizaka Hill in Nagasaki, Japan in June 1962 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the canonization by the Roman Catholic Church of the Christians executed on the site on February 5, ...
*Nagasaki Prefectural Art Museum *
Urakami Cathedral The Immaculate Conception Cathedral (無原罪の聖母司教座聖堂) also St. Mary's Cathedral, often known as Urakami Cathedral ( ja, 浦上天主堂, translit=Urakami Tenshudō) after its location Urakami, is a Roman Catholic cathedral located ...
*Miyo-Ken, a temple where the white snake is worshipped


Cityscape


Events

The
Prince Takamatsu Cup Nishinippon Round-Kyūshū Ekiden A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...
, the world's longest
relay race A relay race is a racing competition where members of a team take turns completing parts of Race track, racecourse or performing a certain action. Relay races take the form of professional races and amateur games. Relay races are common in runni ...
, begins in Nagasaki each November. Kunchi, the most famous festival in Nagasaki, is held from October 7–9. The Nagasaki
Lantern Festival The Lantern Festival ( zh, t=元宵節, s=元宵节, first=t, hp=Yuánxiāo jié), also called Shangyuan Festival ( zh, t=上元節, s=上元节, first=t, hp=Shàngyuán jié), is a Chinese traditional festival celebrated on the fifteenth d ...
, celebrating the
Chinese New Year Chinese New Year is the festival that celebrates the beginning of a New Year, new year on the traditional lunisolar calendar, lunisolar and solar Chinese calendar. In Sinophone, Chinese and other East Asian cultures, the festival is commonly r ...
, is celebrated from February 18 to March 4.


Cuisine

*
Castella is a kind of ''wagashi'' (a Japanese traditional confectionery) originally developed in Japan based on the "Nanban confectionery" (confectionery imported from abroad to Japan during the Azuchi–Momoyama period). The batter is poured into larg ...
*
Champon , also known as ''Chanpon'', is a noodle dish that is a regional cuisine of Nagasaki, Japan. There are different versions in Japan, Korea and China. The dish was inspired by Chinese cuisine. ''Champon'' is made by frying pork, seafood and v ...
*
Sara udon Sara udon in Nagasaki.jpg, Served with thick noodles in Nagasaki 餃子の王将 皿うどん (4580922222).jpg, ''sara-udon''( Gyoza no Ohsho) リンガーハット (51281316427).jpg, Ringer Hut , literally "plate noodles" is a dish native to N ...
*Mogi Biwa * Chinese confections *Urakami Soboro *Shippoku Cuisine *Toruko rice (''Turkish rice'') *
Karasumi Karasumi is a food product made by salting mullet roe pouch and drying it in sunlight. A theory suggests that it got its name from its resemblance to the blocks of ''sumi'' (inkstick) imported from China (''Kara'') for use in Japanese calligraph ...
*Nagasaki
Kakuni is a Japanese braised pork dish which literally means "square simmered". Kakuni is a popular regional cuisine (meibutsu) of Kyushu, particularly Nagasaki. This particular dish is most likely originated from the famous Chinese dish Dongpo Por ...


Notable people

*
Kazuo Ishiguro Sir Kazuo Ishiguro ( ; born 8 November 1954) is a British novelist, screenwriter, musician, and short-story writer. Ishiguro was born in Nagasaki, Japan, and moved to Britain in 1960 with his parents when he was five. He is one of the most cr ...
* Mitsurou Kubo *
Ariana Miyamoto is a Japanese model and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss Universe Japan 2015. She represented Japan at the Miss Universe 2015 pageant and placed in the top 10. She was the first '' hāfu'' (mixed) woman to be Miss Japan. Early l ...
*
Takashi Nagai was a Japanese Catholic physician specializing in radiology, an author, and a survivor of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki. His subsequent life of prayer and service earned him the affectionate title " saint of Urakami". Early years Takashi (m ...
*
Atsushi Onita is a Japanese actor, politician, and semi-retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his work in Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW) and is credited with introducing Japan to the deathmatch style of professional wrestling. He founded ...
*
Neru Nagahama is a Japanese television personality, television presenter, and actress. She is a former member of the girl groups Keyakizaka46 and Hiragana Keyakizaka46 and current chairperson of the Tokyo Idol Festival. Nagahama joined Keyakizaka46 in 2015 a ...
*
Maya Yoshida is a Japanese professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Bundesliga club Schalke 04 and captains the Japan national team. Club career Nagoya Grampus Born in Nagasaki, Japan, Yoshida began playing football at Nanling FC in his secon ...
*
Tsutomu Yamaguchi (16 March 19164 January 2010) was a Japanese marine engineer and a survivor of both the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings during World War II. Although at least 70 people are known to have been affected by both bombings, he is the only per ...
*


Twin towns

The city of Nagasaki maintains
sister cities A sister city or a twin town relationship is a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties. While there are early examples of inter ...
or friendship relations with other cities worldwide. *
Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui h ...
, Japan *
St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
, United States (1972) *
Saint Paul Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...
, United States (1955) *
Dupnitsa Dupnitsa, or Dupnica ( bg, Дупница (previously ), ), is a town in Western Bulgaria. It is at the foot of the highest mountains in the Balkan Peninsula – the Rila Mountains, and about south of the capital Sofia. Dupnitsa is the second la ...
, Bulgaria * Santos, Brazil (1972) *
Fuzhou Fuzhou (; , Fuzhounese: Hokchew, ''Hók-ciŭ''), alternately romanized as Foochow, is the capital and one of the largest cities in Fujian province, China. Along with the many counties of Ningde, those of Fuzhou are considered to constitute t ...
, China, (1980) *
Middelburg Middelburg may refer to: Places and jurisdictions Europe * Middelburg, Zeeland, the capital city of the province of Zeeland, southwestern Netherlands ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Middelburg, a former Catholic diocese with its see in the Zeeland ...
, Netherlands (1978) *
Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...
, Portugal (1978) *
Vaux-sur-Aure Vaux-sur-Aure (, literally ''Vaux on Aure'') is a commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region in northwestern France. The Barons de Gratot (Argouges) resided at the Château de Gratot in Vaux-sur-Aure. According to the French Wik ...
, France (2005)


See also

*
Cultural treatments of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki This is a list of cultural products made about the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It includes literature, film, music and other art forms. Literature * The book '' Hiroshima mon amour'', by Marguerite Duras, and the related film, w ...
*
Foreign cemeteries in Japan are chiefly located in Tokyo and at the former treaty ports of Kobe, Hakodate, Nagasaki, and Yokohama. They contain the mortal remains of long-term Japan residents or other foreigners who died in Japan, and are separate from any of the military c ...
*
Hashima Island , commonly called , is a tiny abandoned island off Nagasaki, lying about from the centre of the city. It is one of 505 uninhabited islands in Nagasaki Prefecture. The island's most notable features are its abandoned concrete buildings, undistu ...
(Gunkanjima) *
Junior College of Commerce Nagasaki University is a junior college in Nagasaki, Japan, and is part of the Nagasaki University network. The institute was founded in 1951 and abolished in 2000. Educational institutions established in 1951 Japanese junior colleges Educational institution ...
(1951-2000)


References


Bibliography

*


External links

* *
Is Nagasaki still radioactive?
– No. Includes explanation.
Nagasaki after atomic bombing
– interactive aerial map

Comprehensive information on the history, and political and social implications of the US atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Nagasaki Prefectural Tourism FederationNagasaki Product Promotion Association
produced by Nagasaki International Association * {{Authority control Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Cities in Nagasaki Prefecture Port settlements in Japan Populated coastal places in Japan World War II sites in Japan Populated places established in the 16th century Destroyed cities