 Ōmura is a castle town, and was the capital of Ōmura Domain, ruled by the local Ōmura clan for over 900 years in pre-Meiji Japan.It was the site of considerable foreign trade and missionary activity during the late Muromachi period, and the Catholic saint Marina de Omura hails from this city.Due to its proximity to the trading settlement at Dejima in Nagasaki, was one of the first areas of Japan to re-open to foreign contact after the end of the national seclusion policy after the Meiji Restoration.