Ōe Church (大江教会) 大江教会
A church from 1933 built with the faithful by Father Garnier, in Amakusa for 50 years.
Christianity reached Amakusa in 1566 and was banned in 1614; the ban fell in 1873 and in Ōe the faithful, with Michida Kakichi and others, built a church that became the centre of the island's Christian revival: the tourist association calls it the first in Amakusa after the end of the ban. The present building dates from 1933 (Shōwa 8), built by the French missionary Louis F. Garnier with the local faithful. Garnier stayed in Amakusa for 50 years and died aged 82 without returning to France. The church is not among the twelve components of the UNESCO site of the Hidden Christians of Nagasaki and Amakusa, of which only Sakitsu (about 4 km away) is on the island: it is a place of worship still in use.
Kumamoto
