Hirado is an island in the northwestern part of Nagasaki Prefecture. The island has benefited from dynamic international trade over the past centuries being one of the Japanese points closest to the Asian continent. In particular, it served as a trading post for the Dutch East Indies Company at the beginning of the Edo period until the company’s operations were transferred to Dejima in the port of Nagasaki. The first Western traders were accompanied by Christian missionaries, and religion took root in Hirado and throughout Nagasaki prefecture. However, as the influence of religion grew, Tokugawa Shogunate responded by expelling missionaries and prohibiting Christianity for more than two centuries. Some Christians in Hirado continued to practice their religion in secret until the ban on Christianity was lifted in the Meiji era.
Castle of Hirado
Hirado Castle (Hiradojō) stands on a hill keeping the port of Hirado and the Hirado Strait, which was once part of an important trade route between Japan and continental Asia. The original fortress was built in 1599 by the local lord Matsura, however it destroyed the structure after fighting the Tokugawa on the side of the losers of the battle of Sekigahara as a sign of loyalty to the victor. The Matsura clan continued to rule Hirado for the next two and a half centuries.
A new castle (also known as Kameoka Castle) was built on the site a hundred years later in 1718 as part of the coastal defences erected during the self-imposed isolation of Japan during the Edo period. This structure lasted more than 150 years, but finally fell into ruins and was dismantled during the Meiji period. Today, the Kitakoguchi-mon door and the Tanuki Yagura watchtower are the only original elements still standing. The present five-storey dungeon of the castle is a concrete reconstruction built in the 1960s with four of the destroyed watch towers of the castle.
Various artifacts of the Matsura clan and objects of the Japanese feudal period are exposed inside the castle buildings. They include drawings, engravings, documents, armor and weapons, including a single sword that would have been worn by a general during an invasion of Korea at the beginning of Japan’s history. Other exhibitions present articles related to foreign trade and Christianity.
The 50 metre high dungeon of the castle hosts an observation platform on its top floor that offers panoramic views of the center of Hirado. The rest of the castle park has been transformed into a public park with two shrines and some hiking trails.
Hirado Museum
The Matsura Historical Museum (Matsura Shiryō Hakubutsukan) is located on a hill overlooking the port of Hirado in the former preserved residence of the Matsura clan, which ruled on Hirado from the 11th to the 19th century.
The residence is located on the same grounds since the Kamakura period (1192 – 1333) and served not only as a residential space but also as administrative offices of the estate until the management was transferred to the Castle of Hirado. The residence has been rebuilt several times over the centuries, and the current buildings date back to 1893. They were donated to the prefecture in 1955 with a large collection of family objects. The building complex now houses these objects, including weapons and armor from large samurai, impressive fusuma doors, complex design lacquer boxes and other household items and treasures. In addition, various documents, maps, globes, ship drawings and diagrams and other elements related to clan relations with international traders are displayed in the rooms and corridors of the wooden building.
Dutch Post Office
The Dutch trading post (Hirado Oranda Shōkan) was established in Hirado in 1609 as the base of operations of the Dutch East India Company in Japan. The building seen today is a warehouse that was originally built here in 1639 as part of the trading post, but demolished only three years later after the Dutch were transferred to the island of Dejima in the port of Nagasaki.
The warehouse was rebuilt in 2011. It was built as close as possible to the original design and features the original Dutch architecture of the installation consisting of interlocked stone blocks supported by large wooden beams. The structure is styled with a roof of Japanese-style tiles, just like the original.
Inside the warehouse is a museum that traces the history of Japanese-Dutch relations and explains how international trade took place at the time. It presents information on Dutch traders, the types of goods they exchanged and the cultural impact of their arrival. The museum exhibits a variety of paintings, models, Western-style armor, lacquers and other goods imported into the country.
Christian sites in Hirado
Christianity entered Japan in the mid 1500s and found a considerable number of followers around the current prefecture of Nagasaki, the main port of entry for the West into Japan, including Hirado. When religion was banned at the beginning of the Edo period and Christians were forced to abandon their religion, some believers, known as “hidden Christians”, continued to practice their religion in secret for more than two centuries. Better accepted thanTsuwanoSome have been in remote villages on the island of Hirado.
In the late 1800s, the ban on Christianity was lifted and many hidden Christians joined the Catholic Church and built new churches with the help of foreign priests. Some have refrained from joining them because their religious practices have evolved greatly over the centuries, to such an extent that they were no longer compatible with Catholicism.
Located in the far northwest of Kyushu Island, Hirado Island is often squandered by Japanese and foreign tourists. Yet a few days on the island reveal its beauty and its many natural and historical riches.
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