KANAZAWA, Ishikawa Pref. -- When construction workers first dug human bones out of a ridge on Mount Utatsu in Ishikawa Prefecture in October, they had no idea what they had unearthed.

Kuniko Kigoshi, a member of Catholic Kanazawa Church, believes the bones are the remains of "Kakure Kirishitan," or underground Christians, who were brought to Kanazawa from Nagasaki's Urakami district in the early Meiji Era (1868-1912).

Catholic missionaries from Portugal landed in the Urakami district in the late 16th century and had a great deal of success there.