Xavier Park

Xavier Park is a park in Kushiya-chō Nishi 1-chōme, Sakai Ward, Sakai City, Osaka Prefecture, facing Hanataguchi Station on the Hankai Tramway. The park was created on the former site of the residence of the wealthy merchant Hibiya Ryōkei, who is said to have warmly hosted the Jesuit missionary Francis Xavier when he came to Sakai in 1550. Covering an area of about 15,000 square meters, it was named “Xavier Park” when the “Monument to St. Francis Xavier’s Virtuous Deeds” was erected to commemorate 400 years since Xavier’s arrival. Designed to evoke medieval Sakai as a city open to the sea, the park features stones about 30 cm wide marking the estimated former coastline, stepped revetments, and playground equipment reminiscent of Nanban ships. The park also contains the sculpture “Point of Contact Between East and West,” created by sculptor Jorge Vieira and exhibited at the Portugal Pavilion of Expo ’70 in Osaka, as well as monuments honoring Tachibana-ya Matasaburō, who manufactured and sold firearms in Sakai, and a poetry monument for “Haru (Spring),” a representative work by Sakai-born poet Anzai Fuyuo.