Urakami

[1] During this time period, the Oura Cathedral played the important role as spiritual support for Christians in Urakami.

The existence of Christians within the Urakami area resulted the Japanese government to launch a crackdown in order to implement the ban.

However, soon after Tokugawa Shogunate ended and in February 1868 the new Meiji government appointed Sawa Nobuyoshi in charge of public order in Kyūshū.

Families were split up, and in total 3,414 Christian men, women, and children were sent into exile to all over Japan: 500 to Kanazawa, 160 to Tsuwano, 150 to Satsuma, 117 to Tsuru Shima, Okayama, etc.

On August 9, 1945, near the end of World War II, Urakami became the site for ground zero when the atomic bomb exploded at about a height of 500 metres (1,600 ft).