Seymour Centre and Tessenkai, Japan present a modern Noh play
THE HOLY MOTHER OF NAGASAKI
By Tomio Tada
In commemoration of 80 years since the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.
Nagasaki, city of the port on the southern island of Kyūshū, is a thriving Christian state with a long history of Hidden Christians who had suffered from the persecution, expulsion, and martyrdom. When the atomic bomb was dropped on the 9th August 1945, three days after Hiroshima, Nagasaki was devastated, and roughly 74,000 people perished. Yet, under the rubble of the Urakami Cathedral the head of a wooden statue of the Virgin Mary was miraculously saved.
Based on this story the Noh play begins with a pilgrim from Tsuwano, an exiled place of martyrdom, visiting Nagasaki. He was amazed with a glorious cathedral rebuilt by the hands of Christians, a brick by brick. From the priest he learnt a story of what had happened at the night on the bombed day, whereby an injured woman unknown to anyone cared attentively the injured and the sufferers. Next morning she was found nowhere, but a white lily was left.
Image credit: 銕仙会 TESSENKAI