Oita Trappist Monastery Visitor Guide and Practical Details

History and foundation

Oita Trappist Monastery (大分トラピスト修道院) was established on 11 July 1980, the feast of St Benedict, when seven members dispatched from the Trappist abbey of Our Lady of the Lighthouse in Kamiiso, Hokkaido (then Kamiiso Town, now Hokuto City) opened a men’s community in Hiji, Hayami District, Oita Prefecture. It is the second Trappist men’s monastery founded in Japan. The site has a longer connection to early Japanese Christianity: Hiji Town is recorded as a place visited by Francis Xavier, who boarded a Portuguese ship from the local port and proceeded to Funai (present-day Oita City) to meet the daimyo Otomo Sorin. That historical association is part of the monastery’s local context.

Canonical name and community today

The monastery’s canonical title is the Cistercian Order of Strict Observance — Monastery of Our Lady of the Annunciation. It belongs to the Trappist family within the Catholic Church. As of January 2018 the community numbered eleven members: ten solemnly professed members (including two priests) and one trainee. The community’s scale reflects the contemplative, enclosed character of Trappist life.

Formation, vows and the habit

Entry into the monastery follows a formal, multi-stage process. Candidates must be baptized male Catholics for at least three years before applying. After several trial stays, formal admission may be granted. The sequence described in the community is roughly: a postulancy of about six months; a clothing ceremony; then a novitiate of at least two years before the first temporary vows; and, following three or more years of temporary (time-limited) vows, a monk may profess solemn vows for life. In Trappist practice, members typically remain in the monastery where they entered for their lifetime, so each house keeps formation rooms.

The traditional habit follows twelfth-century forms: a white tunic with a black scapular and a leather belt. An outer garment is put on for morning and evening prayer. For the Cistercians the distinctive white outer garment (given on the day of solemn profession) marks a monk’s consecration and the unity of the order; temporarily professed members and trainees wear a different cape, and novices have a white scapular. Until the mid-1960s lay brothers wore an entirely brown habit; that brown habit is no longer in use. Before the reforms of the 1960s the order distinguished choir monks and lay brothers; after 1965 most lay brothers were incorporated into the choir, and, with exceptions, the historical lay-brother system has effectively ceased and no new lay brothers are admitted.

Daily life: prayer, silence and work

A Trappist day at the monastery begins very early: the community’s day is said to start at 3:30 a.m. The community celebrates Mass and prays seven times each day, interwoven with periods of manual work and lectio divina — scriptural reading centred on prayerful reflection. The three pillars of Trappist life are prayer, labour and lectio divina.

Silence remains a defining feature. While less strict than in the decades before the Second Vatican Council, silence is still observed during meals and work, and external outings and contacts are kept to what is strictly necessary so that the quiet of a prayerful life is preserved.

Work, products and public spaces

For sustenance the community supports itself chiefly through work conducted within the monastery. On-site activities include the manufacture and sale of Trappist cookies and hosts for liturgical use. The monks also cultivate vegetable gardens and orchards for household consumption, and they manage roughly 60 hectares of the monastery’s woodland and uncultivated land. Routine tasks such as cooking, laundry and cleaning are carried out by the monks themselves; the monastery does not employ outside staff. The community does not normally undertake external pastoral, welfare, medical or educational apostolates; its primary mission is to pray, out of sight, for the welfare of people and for world peace.

To explain monastic life to visitors, the monastery maintains an exhibition room describing its way of life and a direct cookie shop; both are open to the general public. The exhibition contains notable relics: a relic described as the skin of the right arm of Francis Xavier was donated by the Jesuit headquarters in Rome in October 2008, and the bones of Peter Kibe and 187 martyrs (beatified in November 2008) are placed beside it. The monastery is also known as the terminus of the ‘Orasho Pilgrimage Road.’

Access and practical approach

The monastery is located in Hiji, Hayami District, Oita Prefecture. Rail access points mentioned for motorists are JR Kyushu’s Beppu Station on the Nippō Main Line and Yufuin Station on the Kyūdai Main Line; from either station the monastery is about a thirty-minute drive. By car the route uses the Oita Expressway and the Usa–Beppu Road; from the Hiji Bypass Hayami Interchange (Hayami IC) one follows Route 500 toward the African Safari area for approximately ten minutes. The exhibition room and the cookie direct-sales shop provide the primary points of contact between visitors and the monastery.

FAQ

When was the monastery founded?

It was opened on 11 July 1980 by seven members dispatched from the Trappist abbey in Kamiiso, Hokkaido (now Hokuto City).

What products fund the monastery?

The monks manufacture and sell Trappist cookies and hosts (liturgical bread).

How large is the monastery's land and who performs the work?

The monks manage about 60 hectares of woodland and uncultivated land and perform all tasks themselves; there are no external employees.

Which stations are closest by train?

JR Kyushu's Beppu Station (Nippō Main Line) and Yufuin Station (Kyūdai Main Line) are each about a 30-minute drive from the monastery.