Nagasaki
Atlas / Nagasaki
The hill where Japan's first martyrs died in 1597, now one of the country's great places of pilgrimage.
Nagasaki: the city of martyrs and the DiscoveryIn the footsteps of the 26 Martyrs
On 5 February 1597, on the orders of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, twenty-six Christians were crucified on Nishizaka Hill. They were Japanese laymen and catechists, among them the Jesuit Paul Miki and boys as young as twelve, together with Franciscan friars from Spain, Mexico and India. They had been marched here from Kyoto in winter.
Pope Pius IX canonized them in 1862. In 1962, the centenary, the bronze relief monument and the museum beside it were completed. Pope John Paul II prayed here in 1981 and Pope Francis in 2019.
