An island from which the voice of prayer has been extinguished

One problem across the whole of the Goto islands is depopulation. Many of the churches on Goto are located in particularly remote locations, meaning that their predicament is especially serious. In the case of Egami village, there is now only a single Christian household remaining.

The church which used to be the main centre for Naru island’s Christians was called Kazurajima church. This was located on a small island called Kazura just off the coast of Naru. Egami church was originally one of this church’s peripatetic church, and Mass would alternate between the church on Kazura and the one in Egami. In 1973, however, group migration from Kazura occurred, and the voice of prayer was extinguished from the island. Kazura’s Christians went to live on Naru and built Naru church.

Today, once per month, local Christians still go out of their way to gather at Egami church for Mass. For Christians, a church is a house of prayer. Thanks to those who still go to Egami to attend Mass, the church retains its original meaning.

The prayer of a 92-year-old

In the icy cold and silent darkness, while the dawn stars are still shining. 2 or 3 wheelbarrows stand at the entrance to Naru church. An elderly woman of 92-years-old with her head wrapped in a black headscarf heads towards the church pushing a wheelbarrow. This lady is originally from Kazura island, where the first church to be built in Naru/ its vicinity following the lifting of the ban on Christianity was located. All of Kazura island’s inhabitants were Christian, and they would sometimes travel to Egami church to attend Mass.

Since she was a young child, this lady has said grace before and after meals and prayed many times a day. She was raised in this kind of household. Although she is now in her nineties, she still goes to Naru church and says her morning and evening prayers there without fail. In the evenings, she takes a rosary and gathers in the church with six other women who live nearby. In the morning, she prays that during that day everyone will remain in good health, and in the evening she gives thanks that all have spent the day in safety.

When she finishes her prayers she stands beside the pew where she has been sitting and bows very deeply towards the altar. As she leaves the church she makes the sign of the cross and bows once more. She spends each day like this, living out her Christian faith with humility.

A heart of prayer

If the weather is good, the 92-year-old lady goes and weeds the church’s flower bed, where for another year she has planted seeds. “If your house becomes dirty, you clean it, don’t you?”. She values the church like it is something of her own, an attitude she learnt from her parents.

“It’s a shame that young people cannot come to church, but they have their work which is also important. Every day I pray that someday, people will come to church”.

身を切る寒さと静寂の闇の中、明けの星はまだ輝きを放っている。奈留なる教会堂の玄関先には２、３台の手押し車が並ぶ。92歳の老女は頭から黒色のストールを巻き、手押し車を押しながら教会堂に向かう。彼女は奈留島最初の教会があった葛島かずらじまの出身だ。かつて葛島の住民すべてが信徒だった。江上天主堂のミサにも出かけていた。

彼女は幼いころから、食事の前後はもちろん、一日に何度も祈りを捧げる、そんな家庭で育った。90歳を超えた今でも教会に通い、朝夕の祈りは欠かさない。夕方にはロザリオを持ち、近くに住む６人の女性たちとともに教会に集う。朝には一日皆が元気に過ごせるように祈り、夕方には皆が無事に過ごせたことに感謝する。

祈りが終わると、長椅子の脇に立ち、深々と祭壇に一礼した。教会を出るときにも十字を切って頭こうべを垂れる。毎日を同じように過ごし、慎ましやかに信仰と向き合っている。

彼女は天気が良ければ、出かけて教会の花壇の草取りをする。今年も、自宅の庭で栄えた花の種を植えた。たくましく芽を出し、春を前に開花が待ち遠しそうだ。

「自分の家が汚れていたら、きれいにするでしょ？」。彼女は、自分のことのように教会を大切にしている。その精神は、幼いころから親の後ろ姿を見続けることによって育まれた。

「若い人たちが教会に来てくれないのは残念ですが、仕事があるけん、それも大事。いつか教会に人が集まりますようにと毎日祈っています」。彼女は島の若い人たちや子どもたちの心に植えられた“種”も、いつか芽を出して花開くと信じている。島から祈りが消えぬように、と。