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This "sacred cup of shell " is exhibited at the entrance of the Amakusa History Museum, and is the symbol of this museum.
The late Mr. Hiroshi Nishikido, the director of the museum introduced this material in the magazine "Amakusa literature" No.3 (1978 issue) as follows;
-- It was on 4th January 1977 that I got the shell and I would never forget it.
I went to my old friend Mr. I living in Hondo for the greeting of the new year and then, he raised showed me the shell soon after he breached it.
-- He said he received it which was put on an alcove of an old house just before being dismantled in the village between Oe and Takahama. He brushed and washed the dirty shell but it didn't become clean and was still sticky, so he put it into the breaching solution and he found the black cross on the shell.
The black cross that didn't go away even after one-week breaching.
Probably, the shell was used for a hided Christian ceremony in Amakusa.
Once upon a time, the missionary who has crossed the sea brought the sacred cup which revived through hundreds of years, there might be no other one in the world.
Cultural properties committee in Reihoku
Hiroshi Nishikido (R.I.P.)
（Height 250mm Width 190mm / Click to see bigger picture）
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