Nagasaki — East meets West

As you walk along the slopes of Nagasaki, the forms of prayer shift and transform.

Passing through the scarlet gates of Ryugyu, you enter Sofukuji, where the atmosphere of Ming-era China lingers. Chinese immigrants who crossed the sea recreated Fujian here. Climbing higher, you reach the Confucian Temple, built with the support of the Qing dynasty. It is the only temple outside China constructed by the Chinese diaspora itself.

Beyond the hill rises the Statue of Peace. The right hand, carved by Seibo Kitamura, points to the sky; the left extends horizontally. A warning against threat, a prayer for eternal peace. 

Nagasaki cannot be confined to a single religion or a single history. This is a city that never rejected what arrived from the sea, but welcomed it and made it its own.
That is why prayers here are always in the plural.

The wind drifting through the harbor still quietly mingles these voices today.