NAGASAKI HISTORY

Nagasaki History - Including the Medieval era history of Nagasaki and the modern Nagasaki history including the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.

Nagasaki History - Medieval era

Founded before 1500, Nagasaki was originally a secluded harbour village. It enjoyed little historical significance until contact with European explorers in 1542, when a Portuguese ship accidentally landed nearby, somewhere in Kagoshima prefecture. The zealous Jesuit missionary Francis Xavier arrived in another part of the territory in 1549, but left for China in 1551 and died soon afterwards. His followers who remained behind converted a number of daimyo (feudal lords). The most notable among them was Omura Sumitada, who derived great profit from his conversion through an accompanying deal to receive a portion of the trade from Portuguese ships at a port they established in Nagasaki in 1571 with his assistance.

Under the national isolation policy of the Tokugawa shogunate, Nagasaki harbour was the only harbour to which entry of foreign ships was permitted. Even today, Nagasaki shows the influence of many cultures such as Dutch, Portuguese, and Chinese.

The little harbor village quickly grew into a diverse port city, and Portuguese products imported through Nagasaki (such as tobacco, bread, tempura, textiles, and a Portuguese sponge-cake called castellas) were assimilated into popular Japanese culture. The Portuguese also brought with them many goods from China.

In 1587, Nagasaki's prosperity was threatened when Toyotomi Hideyoshi came to power. Concerned with the large Christian influence in southern Japan, he ordered the expulsion of all missionaries. Omura had given the Jesuits partial administrative control of Nagasaki, and the city now returned to Imperial control. Japanese and foreign Christians were persecuted, with Hideyoshi crucifying 26 Christians in Nagasaki in 1596 to deter any attempt to usurp his power. Portuguese traders were not ostracized, however, and so the city continued to thrive.

When Tokugawa Ieyasu took power almost twenty years later, conditions did not improve much. Christianity was banned outright in 1614 and all missionaries were deported, as well as daimyo who would not renounce the religion. A brutal campaign of persecution followed, with thousands across Kyushu and other parts of Japan killed or tortured. The Christians did put up some initial resistance, with the Nagasaki Shimabara enclave of destitute Christians and local peasants rising in rebellion in 1637. Ultimately numbering 40,000, they captured Shimabara Castle and humiliated the local daimyo. The shogun dispatched 120,000 soldiers to quash the uprising, thus ending Japan's brief 'Christian Century.' Christians still remained, of course, but all went into hiding, still the victims of occasional inquisitions.

The Dutch had been quietly making inroads into Japan during this time, despite the shogunate's official policy of ending foreign influence within the country. The Dutch demonstrated that they were interested in trading alone, and demonstrated their commitment during the Shimabara Rebellion by firing on those Christians in support of the shogun. In 1641 they were granted Dejima, an artificial island in Nagasaki Bay, as a base of operations. From this date until 1855, Japan's contact with the outside world was limited to Nagasaki. In 1720 the ban on Dutch books was lifted, causing hundreds of scholars to flood into Nagasaki to study European science and art.

During the Edo period, the Tokugawa shogunate governed the city, appointing a hatamoto, the Nagasaki bugyō, as its chief administrator.

Nagasaki History - Modern era

US Commodore Matthew Perry landed in 1853. The Shogunate crumbled shortly afterward, and Japan opened its doors once again to foreign trade and diplomatic relations. Nagasaki became a free port in 1859 and modernization began in earnest in 1868. With the Meiji Restoration, Nagasaki quickly began to assume some economic dominance. Its main industry was ship-building. This very industry would eventually make it a target in World War II, since many warships used by the Japanese Navy during the war were built in its factories and docks.

Atomic bombing of Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. The picture was taken from one of the B-29 Superfortresses used in the attack.

On 9 August 1945, the primary target for the second atomic bomb attack was the nearby city of Kokura, but the bomber pilot found it to be covered in cloud. The industrial areas outside Nagasaki were the secondary target and so, despite a far more powerful bomb, the devastation visited upon Nagasaki was less severe than that experienced by Hiroshima. The bomb exploded directly above the suburb of Urakami, the site of Urakami Cathedral, then the largest cathedral in East Asia.

The city was rebuilt after the war, albeit dramatically changed. New temples were built, and new churches as well, since the Christian presence never died out and even increased dramatically after the war. Some of the rubble was left as a memorial, such as a one-legged torii gate and a stone arch near ground zero. New structures were also raised as memorials, such as the Atomic Bomb Museum. Nagasaki remains first and foremost a port city, supporting a rich shipping industry and setting a strong example of perseverance and peace.

(Article based on Wikipedia article and used under the GNU Free Documentation License)