is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

located in Mii District,

Fukuoka Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Fukuoka Prefecture has a population of 5,109,323 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,986 Square kilometre, km2 (1,925 sq mi). Fukuoka Prefecture borders S ...

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 ...

. As of April 30, 2017, it has an estimated

population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using a ...

of 15,567 and a

density Density (volumetric mass density or specific mass) is the substance's mass per unit of volume. The symbol most often used for density is ''ρ'' (the lower case Greek letter rho), although the Latin letter ''D'' can also be used. Mathematical ...

of 680 persons per km². The total area is 22.83 km². Tachiarai is divided into three neighborhoods: Ozeki, Hongō and Kikuchi. Much of the land is used for growing

rice Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima ''Oryza glaberrima'', commonly known as African rice, is one of the two domesticated rice species. It was first domesticated and grown i ...

and other

crops A crop is a plant that can be grown and harvested extensively for profit or subsistence. When the plants of the same kind are cultivated at one place on a large scale, it is called a crop. Most crops are cultivated in agriculture or hydroponics ...

History

Tachiarai was home to an

Imperial Japanese Army Air Force The Imperial Japanese Army Air Service (IJAAS) or Imperial Japanese Army Air Force (IJAAF; ja, 大日本帝國陸軍航空部隊, Dainippon Teikoku Rikugun Kōkūbutai, lit=Greater Japan Empire Army Air Corps) was the aviation force of the Im ...

Base, established in 1919 and the Tachiarai Army Flight School, established in 1940, before American bombers

destroyed Destroyed may refer to: * ''Destroyed'' (Sloppy Seconds album), a 1989 album by Sloppy Seconds * ''Destroyed'' (Moby album), a 2011 album by Moby See also * Destruction (disambiguation) Destruction may refer to: Concepts * Destruktion, a ...

them in 1945. Tachiarai houses a

Defense Intelligence Headquarters The is a military intelligence and signal intelligence agency of the Japanese government, under the jurisdiction of the Japanese Ministry of Defense. It is currently one of the biggest Japanese intelligence agencies,signals intelligence Signals intelligence (SIGINT) is intelligence-gathering by interception of ''signals'', whether communications between people (communications intelligence—abbreviated to COMINT) or from electronic signals not directly used in communication ( ...

facility, which is used to monitor communications from transiting satellites, as part of a program codenamed MALLARD.

Kakure Kirishitan community

Tachiarai was home to a community of Japanese hidden Christians (''Kakure Kirishitans'') who were present in the area since the 16th century, centered in the village of Imamura. They were one of the very few ''Kakure Kirishitan'' communities in

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 ...

outside present-day

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 ...

. The community was quite successful in remaining hidden, avoiding being targeted by any crackdowns 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 ...

(1603-1867), when Christianity was either partially or completely banned. As other ''Kakure Kirishitan'' communities, the so-called "Imamura Christians" had unique practices and beliefs, such as the cult of a saint-like figure called "Joan Mataemon" whose historicity remains unascertained.伊藤慎二, 考古学からみた筑後今村キリシタン, 西南学院大学国際文化論集 29(2), 71-97, 2015-03中川憲次, カトリック愛苦会修道会の歴史的研究(1)草創期, Fukuoka Jogakuin University bulletin Human relations (9), 47-53, 2008-03 In 1867, the community was "discovered" by Christians from

Urakami Urakami was an area in the northern part of the city of Nagasaki, Japan. History In 1614, by the orders of shōgun leader Tokugawa Ieyasu, Christianity was banned in Japan in order to suppress European influence and to prevent the undermining of ...

, triggering a process of conversion to

Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

. This attracted attention from the local authorities as

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

was still banned in Japan, resulting in a large number of arrests, although all Christians were released by 1868. By 1912, there were 2,712 Catholics in Tachiarai, but those began to emigrate en-masse to

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

and later to other

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

n countries.佐藤早苗, 奇跡の村 : 隠れキリシタンの里, 河出書房新社, 2002 In contrast to its centuries of hiding in Japan, Tachiarai's Catholic diaspora was highly active in Brazil, having participated in the foundation of the Colégio São Francisco Xavier in

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

, which for decades was the most renowned educational institution for Brazilian nikkeis, and of churches in the cities of

Registro Registro is a city near the Atlantic coast of São Paulo, Brazil. The population is 56,393 (2020 est.) in an area of 722 km². The elevation is 25 m. Registro in Portuguese means register, and this name was given to the city because it was th ...

and

Promissão Promissão is a municipality in the state of São Paulo, Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 mill ...

.Nikkey Shimbun
日本移植民の原点探る＝レジストロ地方入植百周年　◇戦前編◇　（７２）＝最古の日系カトリック教会＝不思議な政治的設立経緯
13 Nov 2013, visited on 19 July 2021 The present-day

Brick Gothic Brick Gothic (german: Backsteingotik, pl, Gotyk ceglany, nl, Baksteengotiek) is a specific style of Gothic architecture common in Northeast and Central Europe especially in the regions in and around the Baltic Sea, which do not have resourc ...

Imamura Church was constructed with materials donated from Germany and inaugurated in 1913. In 2006, it was declared as a Tangible Cultural Heritage of

Fukuoka prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Fukuoka Prefecture has a population of 5,109,323 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,986 Square kilometre, km2 (1,925 sq mi). Fukuoka Prefecture borders S ...

, and in 2015, an

Important Cultural Property of Japan An The term is often shortened into just is an item officially classified as Tangible Cultural Property by the Japanese government's Agency for Cultural Affairs (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology) and judged to be o ...

Attractions

Education

The Tachiarai Board of Education is located near Ozeki train station, and is titled "''Dream Center''". There is one junior high school and four elementary schools in Tachiarai. There are also a number of nursery schools, and one private English school.

References

External links

*
Tachiarai official website
{{Authority control Towns in Fukuoka Prefecture