Tojin Yashiki Shrines, Nagasaki长崎唐人屋敷土神堂・天后堂・观音堂

Type

Overseas Daoist Temples

Location

Japan · Nagasaki Prefecture · Nagasaki City · Kannai-machi: Dojin-do at 16-17, Kannon-do at 5-14, Tenpi-do at 18-5

First built

Earth God Hall: 1691 (Genroku 4)/Tianhou Hall: 1736 (Genbun 1)/Guanyin Hall: 1737 (Genbun 2) · All three surviving shrines were rebuilt after later fires; they were designated, together with the front gate of the Fujian Assembly Hall, as a Nagasaki City Designated Historic Site on 15 October 1974

Heritage status

Nagasaki City Designated Historic Site (1974)

Overview

The Tojin Yashiki was the settlement for Qing-dynasty Chinese merchants in Nagasaki during the period of national seclusion (sakoku) from 1689 onward; its group of shrines is the only surviving cluster of Daoist and folk-religion buildings from a Chinatown in Japan. The Dojin-do (Earth God Shrine) was authorized by the shogunate to be built in stone in 1691, the earliest of the three shrines, dedicated to the Earth God, reflecting the trade-guild deity devotion of Hokkien and Cantonese merchants; the Tenpi-do (Mazu Shrine), according to the Nagasaki meisho zue (Illustrated Guide to Nagasaki's Famous Sites), was first built by Nanjing merchants in 1736, dedicated to Mazu; the Kannon-do was built in 1737, dedicated to the Bodhisattva Guanyin, and is Buddhist in character. When Chinese trading ships (tōsen) entered or left port, rites called "bosatsu-age" and "bosatsu-nori" were performed, in which the image of Mazu carried aboard ship was welcomed ashore or seen off — the central ceremony of the Nagasaki tōsen trade, and direct evidence of how devotion to Mazu spread along with maritime commerce. The surviving buildings of all three shrines were rebuilt after later fires; on 15 October 1974 they were designated, together with the front gate of the Fujian Assembly Hall, as a Nagasaki City Designated Historic Site.

Highlights

• The only surviving cluster of Daoist buildings from a Chinatown in Japan
• The Dojin-do (1691) is the earliest of the three
• The 'bosatsu-age' rite performed for Chinese trading ships
• Designated a Nagasaki City Historic Site (1974)