Oura Cathedral

The Basilica of the Twenty-Six Holy Martyrs of Japan, also Oura Church (Oura Tenshudo) is a Catholic minor basilica and co-cathedral in Nagasaki, Japan.

Built soon after the end of the Japanese government's Seclusion Policy in 1853, it is also known as the Church of the 26 Japanese Martyrs.

For many years it was the only Western-style building declared a national treasure, and is said to be the oldest Christian church in Japan.

Oura Cathedral Facade.
In 1863, two French priests from the Société des Missions Étrangères, Fathers Louis Furet and Bernard Petitjean, landed in Nagasaki with the intention of building a church honoring the Twenty-Six Martyrs of Japan who were crucified in 1597 by order of Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

The church was finished in 1864. Constructed by the master carpenter of the Glover Residence, Koyama Hidenoshin, it was originally a small wooden church with three aisles and three octagonal towers.
The present structure is a much larger Gothic basilica that dates from around 1879.

Bronze relief in the courtyard.
On March 17, 1865, shortly after the completion of the original cathedral, Father Petitjean saw a group of people standing in front of the cathedral. They indicated to the priest that they wanted him to open the doors. As the priest knelt at the altar, an old woman from the group approached him and said "The heart (faith) of all of us is the same as yours. Where is the statue of Holy Mary?" Petitjean discovered that these people were from the nearby village of Urakami and were Kakure Kirishitans, descendants of early Japanese Christians who went into hiding after the Shimabara Rebellion in the 1630s.

A white marble statue of the Virgin Mary was imported from France and erected in the church to commemorate this event.
The bronze relief in the courtyard below the church shows the memorable scene of the discovery.