OVERVIEW

The Former Gorin Church building has an interesting history. Hamawaki Church, built in 1881, was the second oldest wooden church in Nagasaki Prefecture, after Oura Cathedral. In 1931, a new, larger church was to be built at Hamawaki, and the old church was dismantled and then reconstructed as a church for the Gorin district. The church, which has been designated as an Important Cultural Property of Japan, is a rare combination of Japanese- and Western-style construction, with the outer appearance of a traditional Japanese house.