A Day on Naru Island of Goto

Just north of Hisaka Island, bobs the green emerald that is Naru. About the same size as the island to its south, Naru Island has a population in the thousands, rather than the hundreds that call Hisaka home. Naru Island’s history has been defined by its fishery, as well as its role in providing sanctuary for kakure Christians fleeing Tokugawa persecution. The island’s churches, built by missionaries that returned after Japan’s isolation ended, have become a site of pilgrimage for the faithful and those curious about the history of the apostates that hid out on the island for centuries.

There is an option to take a ferry out of Nagasaki (with a stopover in Fukue) and a trickier to arrange daily trip from Hakata, but the best option is the ferry out of Fukue with three round trips a day from Fukue Port. Unlike Hisaka, things are a bit less rustic on Naru Island, with a number of restaurants and places to stay. A day trip to Naru Island is a fine choice but, if you’ve got time to spare, it’s not a bad idea to plan to spend the night.

Transport on the island is simpler to arrange than it is on Hisaka, and the scenic spots are easy to reach. Naru Senjojiki is a scenic spot on the eastern shore of Naru Island, which is usually deserted, even in the summer months, and completely abandoned in colder months. The rocky beach calls to mind less a scenic Japanese isle than the Hebrides (somehow reminiscent of both the New Hebrides of the South Pacific and also the Inner and Outer Hebrides of Scotland). When the tide goes out, a rocky road to the small islet is uncovered.

Narushima Island

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The Shirotake Observatory at the top of the highest point on the island lays out below the viewer a landscape from a Super Nintendo RPG map screen, green islands dotted haphazard across the sea. On a clear day, the view extends as far south as Fukue Island, as far north as Wakamatsu Island, and all the way out into the East China Sea. Coming to the islands without taking in a view from one of the observatories would be a shame.

Shirotake Observatory

View from the Shirotake Observatory

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Another option to take in the wonders of the Goto archipelago is to climb to the top of Odagora Observatory. The observatory, on a western peninsula, looks out on Hisaka Island to the south and Okushi Bay to the north. Less of a trek than Shirotake, the observatory at Odagora is also a short distance from some of the more interesting Catholic and kakure sites on the island, including Egami Church.

The blueberries-and-cream color scheme of the Egami Church seems out of place on Naru. The church, built in 1918, was constructed as part of an effort to bring kakure back into the fold of mainline Catholicism. Although the church is still maintained by the largesse of the Catholic Archdiocese of Nagasaki and the labor of a few remaining faithful in the village of Egami, the site has become, like many other churches in the Goto Islands, a place that feels haunted.

Egami Church

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The churches of the Goto Islands have become something of a historical curiosity in recent years, a slightly sad story, considering the demographic decline of the islands. One product of the Christian community on the Goto archipelago is the work of Kasamatsu Hirotomo, a Goto local, much of whose work is housed at Kasamatsu Hirotomo Memorial Hall. A short distance from the ferry port, the museum provides a local lens on the more vibrant life that the island led in the past.