What to know
Hirado (平戸) is an island in northwestern Nagasaki Prefecture. Though off the beaten path today, it was a bustling hub of international trade in centuries past, thanks to its proximity to the Asian mainland. During the early Edo Period, it hosted the Dutch East India Company's trading post until operations moved to Dejima in Nagasaki.
Early Western traders brought Christian missionaries, and the religion gained some followers in Hirado and across Nagasaki Prefecture. As its influence grew, the Tokugawa Shogunate expelled missionaries and banned Christianity for over two centuries. Some Hirado Christians continued to practice in secret until the ban was lifted in the Meiji Period.
