Since the Eiroku era (around 1558), Christianity, which has been propagated together with the iron-making method, spread throughout the area, including Okago, Oinogawara, and Magome, during the Eiroku and Keicho eras, and many believers became involved in iron-making and hoe-making. was engaged in.
After the repression in Sendai, they built caves and continued their faith under the teachings of Father Francisco Barayas (Japanese name: Magoemon). This Ogarasawa Christian Cave is one of them, and is thought to have been built during the time of Father Barayasu Magoemon for the purpose of holding mass for believers in this region.
In 1639, Father Barayasu Magoemon was captured in Sendai and executed in Edo, and after that mass was no longer held in this cave.Afterwards, as the believers moved, it became an empty cave, and remained unknown for 350 years until today.
This cave, which was discovered in August 1970, was built 1,500 meters deep into the mountain to the west of Okago Church, using an east-facing slope and excavating a horizontal aqueous rock layer.
Near the entrance, it is a rock cave with a height of 1.3m, a base of 1m, and a depth of 10m. Although it is 350 years old, the two steps that are thought to be the inner altar were also dug into the rock wall. It is a valuable archaeological site, with a 3cm long nail-shaped metal object still intact in its original form inside a 3cm diameter hole that is thought to have been used for a lamp.