Former Morioka Catholic Church

A Romanesque Timber Church of 1912

The Former Morioka Catholic Church (旧盛岡天主堂) is a timber Catholic church of 1912 in Kuriyagawa, Morioka City, Iwate Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) on December 3, 2024 (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The Agency records a single-storey timber building roofed in sheet iron and partly in slate, with a building area of 226 square metres; it was altered in the early Showa era, extended in 1967 and moved in 1978; registration number 03-0126.

A Church on a School Campus

The Former Morioka Catholic Church stands within the grounds of the high school attached to Morioka University (Agency for Cultural Affairs). It has a gabled sheet-iron roof with a slate-roofed belfry over the front.

The plan has three aisles, with the entrance at the front and a semicircular apse for the altar at the back (Agency for Cultural Affairs). Columns with carved capitals carry arches along the nave under a vaulted ceiling.

Why It Was Registered

The Agency describes it as a timber Catholic church of delicate design based on the Romanesque, and registered it as a model of design.

What to Look For

Inside, look for the columns with carved capitals, the arches and vault of the nave, and the semicircular apse (Agency for Cultural Affairs). Outside, note the slate-roofed belfry over the front.

Visiting

It is owned by the Morioka University Educational Corporation and stands on the grounds of its high school (Agency for Cultural Affairs). No official information on visits was found.