Sacred Places, Pilgrimage, and Tourism - Geography of Religion in Japan: Religious Space, Landscape, and Behavior - page 163

projects, mainly in Nagasaki, from the late 1910s to the 1930s. His work was infl u-
enced by foreign missionaries such as Father Pelu, Father de Rotz and Father
Fraineau, and blended Eastern and Western architectural styles. Mr Tetsukawa
helped design and build Aosagaura and Kashiragashima churches in Shinkamigoto
and the Tabira church in Hirado, which are government-designated important cul-
tural properties, and many other churches that are candidate World Heritage sites.
Third, the local fudo also created a valuable cultural landscape. The World Heritage
Association values the environments in which the churches stand as a cultural land-
scape where humans were in harmony with nature. The association emphasizes that
the decline in rural occupations including agriculture, and decreasing population
because of the falling birthrate and aging population and rural exodus, make mainte-
nance of the cultural landscapes extremely diffi cult, especially in island villages such
as the Goto Islands and Hirado, and on Nishi-Sonogi Peninsula in Nagasaki. The
association emphasizes the inestimable value of the landscapes, including the envi-
ronment surrounding the churches and the diffi culty of conserving them.
These three points show that the World Heritage Association is emphasizing that
the Nagasaki Church Group is a symbol of the local history rooted in the local fudo
and the history of Christianity, and is unique to Japan. Registration as a World
Heritage site would acknowledge the aesthetic and artistic value of the church group
as a historical symbol, and help conservation and exhibition efforts. Registration
requires public acknowledgment that the Nagasaki Church Group is a precious cul-
tural property, and a consensus should be gained. The World Heritage Association
promotes the registration of churches and church-related facilities as cultural prop-
erties. By November 2009, one national treasure, eight government-designated
important cultural properties, and seven prefecturally-designated tangible cultural
properties were registered, and three government-designated and three prefecturally-
designated objects were registered after 2001 when the World Heritage Association
was established. The move to designate the churches of Nagasaki as cultural proper-
ties has increased rapidly.
However, the World Heritage Association does not regard the Nagasaki Church
Group to be a cultural property that is merely a relic of the past. As Kimura ( 2007a )
points out, the association aims to value and maintain the Nagasaki Church Group
in its true condition as a living church. Some of the churches have been damaged or
have deteriorated from natural disasters, such as typhoons, or because maintenance
is diffi cult as fewer Christians are available in a declining population. Although
urgent countermeasures are necessary, useful measures are currently inadequate,
because the municipalities involved are in poor fi nancial condition, and government
separates religion from politics. The association states “It is necessary to position
the church group as a precious cultural heritage site while maintaining its function
and sacredness as a religious facility of the living church” and “the idea of positive
use of cultural properties in a variety of applications in order to conserve them is
important, but easy diversion and use into a form where its true function would be
impaired could lead to the destruction of its cultural value and atmosphere, and
therefore the utmost care should be exercised.”