United Church of Christ in Japan Annaka Church (Niijima Jo Memorial Hall)

About United Church of Christ in Japan Annaka Church (Niijima Jo Memorial Hall)

United Church of Christ in Japan Annaka Church (Niijima Jo Memorial Hall) (日本基督教団安中教会教会堂（新島襄記念会堂）) is a church of Oya stone in Annaka City, Gunma Prefecture, completed in 1919 and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2004. It was built to mark 30 years since the death of Niijima Jō, founder of Doshisha, and its formal name is the Niijima Jō Memorial Hall.

Annaka Church began on the night of March 31, 1878, when 30 local seekers were baptized by Niijima in the Benransha, the private library of the merchant Yuasa Jirō. The church describes itself as the first congregation Niijima founded after returning from America, the first church in Gunma, and the first church in Japan established by Japanese Christians themselves. It built the Usui Hall in 1883; after Niijima died in 1890, the congregation raised the present building in his memory, with Yuasa and the pastor Kashiwagi Gien canvassing for funds in Tokyo, Nagoya and the Kansai cities.

Annaka City records that work began in August 1918 and was completed in August 1919. The architect was Furuhashi Ryūtarō.

Why the Church Is Registered

United Church of Christ in Japan Annaka Church (Niijima Jo Memorial Hall) was registered on November 8, 2004, as number 10-0119, under the criterion of buildings that serve as a model of design.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs records it as stone, single-storey with a 2-storey section, copper-roofed, with a building area of 171 square meters and a bell tower. It describes a Romanesque church of Oya stone facing east, with a square bell tower at the southeast corner and buttresses along the walls.

The interior has a single aisle, yet the boarded ceiling is raised into a vault at the center so that the room reads as nave and side aisles. Composite columns of marble flank the apse. Annaka City's account praises the way the architect left out rows of columns between nave and aisles to open up the room, and carried the vault through to the altar without a dividing arch. The marble comes from Ibaraki Prefecture.

As a building of Oya stone, it predates Frank Lloyd Wright's Imperial Hotel, finished in 1923, by 5 years. Both the city and the church point to this as part of the building's importance in Japanese architectural history.

What to Look For

Outside, look at the east front and the bell tower at the southeast corner. The Oya stone has a soft grey-green tone, and buttresses divide the walls at regular intervals. The exterior reads as closer to Gothic, in contrast with the Romanesque vault inside. The roof, originally natural slate, is now copper.

If you get inside, look up first. A boarded barrel vault runs without a break to the altar, where 2 marble columns receive it.

The stained glass above the altar, with white lilies set around a cross, is the work of Ogawa Sanchi.

Visiting Annaka Church

United Church of Christ in Japan Annaka Church (Niijima Jo Memorial Hall) is still used for worship. Sunday service runs from 10:30 a.m. to 11:40 a.m., and the church says first-time visitors are welcome with no reservation needed.

To see the interior on other days, a booking is required; visitors are advised to contact the church at least 3 weeks before the date they hope to come. Annaka Futaba Kindergarten shares the grounds, and the gate may be shut during weekday hours, in which case the building can be seen from outside the gate. Photograph from the street and ask before shooting indoors.

The church is in the old town about 20 minutes on foot north of Annaka Station on the JR Shinetsu Line.