Nara Christ Church (Nippon Sei Ko Kai)

A Church Built Like a Temple Hall

The Nara Christ Church (Nippon Sei Ko Kai) (日本聖公会奈良基督教会) is a church in Japanese style of 1930 in Noboriojicho, Nara City, Nara Prefecture, and was designated an Important Cultural Property on July 8, 2015 (Agency for Cultural Affairs). The designation covers 2 buildings, the church and the Shinai Kindergarten building.

The Agency records the church as a three-aisled timber building roofed mainly in tile, 343.61 square metres, with a covered passage on the west, and the kindergarten as a timber building of 259.88 square metres; designation number 2631.

A Church Designed to Suit Nara Park

Nara Christ Church (Nippon Sei Ko Kai) stands just west of the Kōfukuji precinct (Agency for Cultural Affairs). Its story begins in 1885, when Anglican missionaries in Osaka sent an evangelist to Nara; the present site was bought in 1909. Because the land borders Nara Park, the church was planned entirely in Japanese style to protect the scenery.

It was designed and built by Ōki Kichitarō (1887 to 1971), a carpenter-architect who had worked on the repair of old temples and shrines in Nara (Agency for Cultural Affairs). Work started in 1928; the kindergarten building was finished in December 1929 and the church was dedicated on April 29, 1930. The kindergarten was first planned as a parish hall.

The church stands at the centre of the site, with the kindergarten to the west, joined by a covered passage (Agency for Cultural Affairs). It is 27.6 metres long and 11.8 metres across the nave and aisles, and follows the basilica plan: a sanctuary at the north end, a raised nave with clerestory windows, and side aisles divided off by rows of columns.

Why It Is an Important Cultural Property

The Agency praises the way it draws on elements of old Japanese buildings, with well-judged proportions and fine detail throughout. As a model of early Showa modern Japanese-style architecture, in which skills learned from temple restoration were turned to a church, it was designated an Important Cultural Property on July 8, 2015.

What to Look For

The gently sloping tiled roof is hipped and gabled at the south end; at the north a second ridge crosses it, and a cross rises at the crossing (Agency for Cultural Affairs). Inside, look for the coffered ceilings, the diamond-lattice clerestory windows and the openwork transom at the sanctuary.

Forty-five pieces of furniture, from the altar to the pews, were designed for the building and are designated with it, along with 147 drawings and the stone front gate (Agency for Cultural Affairs). The church says the openwork transoms are cut from paulownia grown by members of the congregation.

Visiting

The church holds services on Sunday mornings, and the sanctuary is open to visitors on Sunday afternoons, except when church events take place. It is a 2-minute walk from exits 2 and 3 of Kintetsu Nara Station along the Higashimuki shopping street, or 15 minutes from JR Nara Station; there is no parking (Nara Christ Church).