Dreaming of freedom across the sea,
as the sun sets in the direction from
which Christianity came to Japakutin.
Endo Shusaku (1923-1996) was one of Japan’s foremost novelists and a winner of the famed Akutagawa Prize.
This museum is the perfect place to encounter the spirit of this writer who left us so many works themed on Christianity and the Japanese people. Located on a high point facing the western sea, it commands a beautiful view of the setting sun.
The combination of onjaku rock from Sotome and the Portuguese terracotta stone pavement is an exceptional sight blending eastern and western architectural styles
KnowledgeA personal conflict with Christianity
Endo’s novel Silence is set in Nagasaki in the early Edo period (in the 17th century) when Christians were heavily persecuted. His foremost work with over 3 million copies in print, it was adapted as a film by Martin Scorsese in 2016. Like many of his other books, it deals with the topic of Christianity in Japan. Baptized at age 12, he based it on his own experiences of struggling with the sense of distance between being Japanese and being Catholic.
The museum houses a reproduction of Endo’s study where he did his writing, and a collection of 30,000 works by or about him, including handwritten manuscripts. From the adjoining Contemplative Space Enchanté you can view through the windows the Goto Islands, to which Christians refusing to give up their religion escaped. Visiting in the evening allows you to catch the sun as it sets in the direction of Portugal, from whence missionaries came to spread the gospel to Japan.
Reflecting on Sotome’s past in the form of literature reminds us of the importance of preserving the history and culture of this area, and frames in our memories our visit to Nagasaki.
The handwritten draft shows traces of many rewrites.
In the Contemplative Space Enchanté Endo’s handwritten manuscripts, covered with multiple revisions, gently face the sea, islands, and setting sun, untouched by heat or cold.
Though hailing from outside Nagasaki Prefecture, Ms. Hayashida felt from her first visit to the museum that it was a place retaining even now connections with historical villages, buildings, ways of life, and religion. She hopes visitors will catch a glimpse of Endo Shusaku’s keen sense of the weakness of human beings.
Cosmos flowers, beloved by Endo Shusaku, blossom here in the fall
Visiting Nagasaki at the age of 41, Endo caught sight of a footprint left on part of the frame of a copper fumie, a plate with a crucifix attached to be trodden on to show that one was not a Christian. What sort of people might have left these black footprints? He wondered what sort of person he himself was; would he have trodden on the fumie if he had lived in those times when Christianity was banned? These ideas grew into the plot of Silence.
He wrote the novel while visiting Nagasaki multiple times for research. He revered Sotome as a “place left to me by God,” and so it was chosen from many locations around Japan as the best site for this museum that reflects on literature and humanity. When Endo died at the age of 73 in 1996, Silence was one of the two works that were placed in his coffin.
Endo Shusaku Literary Museum and Contemplative Space Enchanté
Address: 77 Higashishitsu-machi, Nagasaki City, Nagasaki Prefecture
Open 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (closed December 29 to January 3)
Parking is available
