On several occasions, Beato went to Nagasaki and photographed sites in the city and its environs, including the island of Papenberg (Beato spelled it “Pappenberg”). The caption found opposite this photograph in some of his albums explained the historic significance of the view.
To squelch foreign influence in the early seventeenth century, the Tokugawa Shogunate expelled all foreigners, including the large group of Spanish and Portuguese settlers in Nagasaki. As part of this ethnic cleansing, they rounded up, tortured, and killed Christians, both Europeans and Japanese converts. Some of the atrocities supposedly occurred in Nagasaki Harbor on the island of Pappenberg, “Papal Hill” (Takaboko Island), where Christians were thrown from the cliffs to their death.
Pappenberg, about 1867–68. Albumen silver print.