![]() ![]() These festivals serve the joint purpose of honoring the kami, providing a sense of community for shrine worshipers, and providing exposure and income for the shrine itself. Suwa Shrine is also the host to many annual festivals. The Shrine is also the main destination in Nagasaki for events such as Shichi-Go-San and the coming-of-age festival. Like most Shinto shrines, every year thousands of people visit Suwa Shrine to pray for peace and prosperity. This reconstruction was controversial, as some felt that modern conveniences had no place at a traditional shrine. In 1984, a large-scale reconstruction repaired and modernized the shrine, installing such conveniences as air conditioners and glass windows. In addition, priests from Suwa Shrine took an active role in the rebuilding of Nagasaki, including consecrating the land and purifying structures that still stood. This was considered to be significant by the survivors of the bombing, showing the power of the native Japanese kami as opposed to the imported Christian god. It is thought to have survived intact due to its strategic location in the central part of Mount Tamazono-san's southern flank, although in the aftermath of the bomb local residents were quick to note that while the famous Urakami Cathedral and surrounding Catholic neighborhoods were obliterated, the Shinto shrine still stood. Suwa Shrine survived the atomic bombing of Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. These performances continued until 1856, when a major fire at the shrine destroyed most of the expensive Noh masks and props.įrom 1871 through 1946, Suwa was officially designated one of the Kokuhei Chūsha ( 国幣中社), meaning that it stood in the mid-range of ranked, nationally significant shrines. In addition to the grand festival, beginning in 1638 major performances of Noh were also held at Suwa shrine, at the direct command of the Shōgun. īecause Nagasaki was the only place in Japan with an open port, it was considered essential to impress the Dutch and Chinese traders with Japanese culture. Anyone who failed to do so was arrested, tortured and possibly executed if they did not renounce their Christian faith. Both of these events were created in the attempt to discover any remaining Christians, who would not be able to participate in the festival or register at the shrine. In addition to this, in another attempt to further increase local participation in shrine events, a great autumn festival was held at the shrine. In 1634, an edict was issued requiring all people to register at the shrine and be counted. In spite of this, as well as the sumo match that followed, very few people came to watch. In order to attract attention and encourage attendance at the new shrine, a dramatic yutate-sai ritual, where a priest demonstrates his communion with the kami by plunging his hands into boiling water unharmed, was performed. His religious zeal and skill at organizing, combined with authority granted by the leading Yoshida Shinto council, led to the completion of the main structure of Suwa Shrine. The temporary structure was frequently attacked by resisting Christians, until 1624 when Aoki Kensei came to Nagasaki. It was thought that establishing a major point of Shinto worship would be important to these efforts, giving the local population a central point of worship and a sense of community. The government had begun forcing Christians to reconvert to the Japanese religions of Buddhism and Shinto. The Tokugawa Shogunate had taken power and reversed its friendly policy towards Christianity. At that time, Nagasaki was home to the largest Christian population in Japan, and had destroyed many of the former Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples. The official date of construction for Suwa Shrine is 1614, the same year as Tokugawa Ieyasu's Edict against Christianity, although there was little more than a small structure to mark the position of the future shrine at this time. ![]()
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