25-06-2025
Video believed to be oldest of Nagasaki's bombed cathedral found
NHK has learned that a newly-discovered video showing Nagasaki's Urakami Cathedral before its destruction by an atomic bomb is believed to be the oldest footage of the church.
Urakami Cathedral was completed in 1925 after 30 years of construction. Destroyed in the 1945 atomic bombing, the current structure was rebuilt in the postwar years.
NHK says a black and white video of the church lasting around 30 seconds has been found in the broadcaster's archives.
The video was shot on a home movie camera by kabuki actor Nakamura Shikaku, who was known to be a keen amateur cameraman. The video was donated to NHK in 1976.
NHK examined the footage with Matsuda Sei, who heads the photo material research division at the Nagasaki Foundation for the Promotion of Peace.
They said the side walls of the structure look whitish. Based on several postcards showing Urakami Cathedral before its destruction, they determined that the video was shot before 1934, when the walls were repainted in a brick-red color.
They also looked into records of Nakamura's kabuki performances. They found that the actor toured the prefecture in March of 1930. This coincides with a note attached to the video which says it was filmed around 1930.
Matsuda said that the oldest video of the cathedral is thought to have been taken around 1932, indicating that this newly-found video is the oldest confirmed to date.
Matsuda noted that it is often difficult to confirm when a private video was taken. He added that the discovery of previously unseen footage holds significant value, as many documents have been lost over the years.
