Gravestones of Minami Kushiyama
These three gravestones were originally found in a local field in 1924, arranged dolmen-style (with the large flat stone supported on upright stones) in someone’s back garden. They were moved to their current location in 1979 in the same arrangement. Despite the way they are presented, they are in fact three separate gravestones. The large stone on the top is made of olivine basalt. There are inscriptions on both flanks—with the date Keicho 11 (1606, the earliest date carved on any surviving Christian grave in Japan) and an illegible name on one side and “September 3” on the other. An inscription is also carved on its front, with the baptismal name “Rian” in two kanji and one hiragana characters.
The two supporting stones, both of which are made of dacite, also have inscriptions. One has the date Keicho 11 (1606), and a largely illegible name that seems to start with the letters “Ro-ya-.” The other is carved with the date June 27, Keicho 17 (1612).
About Christian Gravestones in Japan
Of the 192 confirmed Christian gravestones from the early days of Christianity in Japan, 146 are found in Nagasaki Prefecture, all dating from the early seventeenth century. (The oldest Christian gravestone in the country, dating from 1581, is in Shijonawate, near Osaka.) Most of the Christian gravestones in the Nagasaki region are horizontal—either flat or gabled slabs, or semicircular or rectangular pillar shapes—reflecting European gravestone designs of the time. While Buddhist gravestones are inscribed with a posthumous name (kaimyo) of the deceased consisting of multiple kanji characters, Christian gravestones often feature a Western baptismal name. They may be decorated with a floral cross (cross fleury), a double-barred cross (patriarchal cross), or the trigram IHS, an abbreviation of the name of Jesus. Since stone grave markers were an expensive luxury, it is safe to assume that they belonged to the wealthy and powerful. After Christianity was prohibited, some of the horizontal gravestones were upended and converted into Buddhist monuments, hollowed out to make stone vessels for handwashing (chozubachi), incorporated into dry stone walls, or simply swallowed up by the ground. Few of the Christian gravestones in Nagasaki remain in their original locations, though they are often found nearby.
