Kashiragashima Church, Catholic church in Shin-Kamigoto, Japan

Kashiragashima Church is a single-nave stone church built in Romanesque style, with a flat ceiling raised by a double-bracket hammer-beam structure rather than arches or vaults. Its interior features a ship-bottom ceiling and reliefs of camellia flowers, with blue as the dominant color. The church, together with its rectory, gateposts, stone walls and steps, was designated an Important Cultural Property.

Hidden Christians from Nakadōri Island and Sotome settled uninhabited Kashiragashima in the late Edo period to evade persecution. After the ban on Christianity was lifted in 1873, a wooden church was built in 1887 at the house of leader Domingo Mori. Architect Yosuke Tetsukawa designed the present stone church; construction began in 1910, stalled for lack of funds, and was finished in 1919 with stone quarried by islanders.

The church is a filial chapel of the Catholic Tainoura Church, without a resident priest, so Mass is held on visits by clergy. Its patron is Saint Joseph. The interior ceiling is shaped like a ship's hull, with reliefs of camellia flowers modelled on those of the Goto Islands, set against a blue ground. Digital signage in Japanese, English, Chinese and Korean explains the church to visitors.

The church is reached by road from Arikawa Port on Nakadōri Island, about 20 minutes by car. Since the West Japan Railway bus route was discontinued at the end of March 2026, no public transport serves the church. The former shuttle bus from Kamigotō Airport has also been abolished.

The ceiling is not a vault but a stepped double-corbel hammer-beam structure, and its reliefs imitate the camellia flowers of the Goto Islands. The church has no resident priest; it is served as a mission station of Kashiragashima's Taira-no-ura church. Since the West Japan Railway bus route ended in March 2026, no public transport reaches the church.