Nihonkirisuto Kyodan Kyushu Christ Kyokaikan

Sakitsu Church stands in a small fishing village in Amakusa, Kumamoto Prefecture, built on the site where generations of hidden Christians practiced their faith in secret during Japan's Edo-period ban. Local believers would pray to abalone shells, seeing the Virgin Mary in the natural patterns on the inner surface. When local enforcers offered rewards for identifying Christians, neighbors in this small community refused to turn each other in. After the ban was lifted in the 19th century, the community built a Catholic church directly beside a Shinto shrine. Sakitsu Village is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, part of the Hidden Christian Sites of the Nagasaki Region.