OVERVIEW

Unzen Hot Spring: One and half-hour’s drive from Nagasaki City will take you to Unzen. As it was the country’s first resort targeted at foreign guests, you can also find Western- and Japanese-style hotels here. Now it is one of Japan’s most famous hot spring resorts.

Unzen Jigoku (“Unzen Hell”): Hot water and gases spout out of the earth. White steam and a smell of sulfur accompany you as you walk through this hotspot of volcanic activity. The songs of the wild birds bring another aspect to the scene: in this place, nature shows both its fierceness and beauty in a fascinating spectacle. It was also a site where Christians were martyred.

A document records that Matsukura Shigemasa, posted to the Shimabara domain, tortured Christians at so-called ‘hells’ in the mountains of Unzen. During the period between 1627 and 1632, Christians were tortured to death in the boiling waters of the hot springs. At a place called Oito Jigoku (‘Oito Hell’) stand two monuments to the victims, although the exact sites of the martyrdom are uncertain.