NIIGATA, APOSTOLIC PREFECTURE of. - In the north-western part of the island of Hondo (central Japan). It comprises three civil provinces: N., Akita, Yamagata; it was erected on 13 Aug. 1912, with territory detached from the archdiocese of Tokio and the dioceses of Hakodate and Osaka. It has an area of 33,568 sq. km., with 5,070,000 inhabitants. Catholics number 2,613, with 2,110 catechumens; Protestants number 5,000.
The great mass of the population consists of Buddhists and Shintoists. Between 1620 and 1626 the Jesuits were the first evangelizers. In 1633 the Dominicans arrived there, among whom Fr. Luca dello Spirito Santo should be remembered, while the Franciscans founded one of their stations at Sakata. Persecution destroyed the missionary work, and only in 1870 did the fathers of the Society for Foreign Missions of Paris establish new stations. In 1907 the missionaries of the Society of the Divine Word arrived in N.; the mission was entrusted to them from 13 Aug. 1912 until 14 Jan. 1941, when the Japanese secular clergy succeeded them.
There are 15 foreign priests and 5 Japanese; 57 nuns, of whom 49 are natives and 8 foreigners; 3 major and 3 minor seminarians; 39 catechists; 92 teachers; 8 physicians; 23 nurses; 17 quasi-parishes; 17 primary and 18 secondary stations; 21 sacred buildings; 3 hospitals; 2 orphanages; a home for the aged; a foundling home; a middle school and a higher school; 3 vocational schools.