Yokoseura Park

For a brief period in the 1560s, Yokoseura was the most important port for Portuguese trade in Japan. After violence in Hirado in 1561 left 14 traders dead, the Portuguese moved here with the permission of local daimyo Omura Sumitada, who became Japan's first Christian daimyo when he was baptized here in 1563. A church was built, merchants flooded in, and the port thrived until anti-Christian retainers burned it to the ground months later. The Portuguese trade then moved to Nagasaki, the port that grew into the city it is today. A small park now marks the site of what was once the foothold that changed the course of trade in Japan.