Egami is a small Catholic church on Naru Island in the Goto archipelago, off western Kyushu, and its story is one of the most remarkable in the history of Japanese Christianity. After missionaries arrived in the sixteenth century, the shogunate banned the faith and for about two and a half centuries persecuted believers. Some communities went underground, hiding their rosaries and their prayers in the guise of Buddhist or Shinto customs, and became known as the Hidden Christians. In the Goto islands, families who had fled from Nagasaki in the late eighteenth century cleared poor land and kept their faith quietly, and when the ban was lifted in the 1870s they came into the open.
The present Egami church, a small wooden building with a painted interior, was built in 1918 by the carpenter Tetsukawa Yosuke, who gave it the look of a Gothic nave with Japanese craftsmanship. It stands among camellias and ferns near the water. The church is part of the Hidden Christian sites in the Nagasaki region, recognised by UNESCO in 2018.
You cannot simply ride to Naru. Fukue, the main island of the Gotos, is reached by ferry or plane from Nagasaki or Fukuoka, and from Fukue you take a smaller boat across to Naru. Once there the roads are narrow, hilly and winding, with tight bends through forest and sudden views of the sea. Surfaces are generally fine but rough in places, and rain and sea mist make them slippery. Distances are small, but the ferry timetables rule everything, so plan around them. Fuel stations are limited and located mostly in Fukue, about eighteen kilometres away, so fill up there.
The islands are famous for camellia oil, udon noodles called Goto udon, and fresh fish. Visitors are asked to respect the church as a place of worship, to dress modestly and keep quiet, and to check opening times and any requirements for visiting. The best seasons are spring and autumn, with clear light and calm seas, while winter storms and summer typhoons can disrupt travel.