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12 — BOOKS
Further Reading
Books for getting to know Nagasaki's history and people more deeply — novels set in the years of prohibition, records of the atomic bombing, the story of a Dejima physician and his daughter, and the young revolutionaries of the late Edo period. For before your trip, and after it.
Prayer and faith
Silence (Chinmoku)
A novel depicting the anguish of a Portuguese priest who secretly enters Nagasaki during the ban on Christianity. The villages of Sotome and the lives of the Hidden Christians form its backdrop. It was also made into a film by Martin Scorsese.
Onna no Issho (A Woman's Life), Part One: Kiku's Story
A novel set in Nagasaki from the late Edo to the Meiji period, portraying the life of a woman who never stops loving a young believer from Urakami. It brings the era of the Fourth Urakami Persecution into view.
9 August 1945
The Bells of Nagasaki (Nagasaki no Kane)
The record of a doctor who cared for the injured despite being exposed to the bomb himself. Published soon after the war, it inspired a song and a film of the same name.
Matsuri no Ba (The Site of Rituals)
A novel based on the author's own experience of the bombing at the factory where she had been mobilised as a student. It won the Akutagawa Prize in 1975.
Dejima and Dutch learning
Fon Shiiboruto no Musume (Von Siebold's Daughter)
A long novel portraying the life of Kusumoto Ine, Siebold's daughter, who trained in Western medicine and became a doctor (the Dutch Learning room).
The late Edo period and the people of Nagasaki
Ryoma ga Yuku
A long novel on the life of Sakamoto Ryoma. Nagasaki in the days of the Kameyama Shachu and the Kaientai is one of the story's key settings (the Bakumatsu room).
Nagasaki Burabura-bushi
The story of a Maruyama geisha and a local historian who walk the city in search of old songs buried in Nagasaki's past. It won the Naoki Prize in 2000, and lets you savour the history of Nagasaki's streets and songs.
* Publishers and editions listed are representative. Availability may change if titles go out of print or new editions are released.