United Church of Christ in Japan Kurashiki Church

About United Church of Christ in Japan Kurashiki Church

United Church of Christ in Japan Kurashiki Church (日本基督教団倉敷教会教会堂, Nihon Kirisuto Kyōdan Kurashiki Kyōkai Kyōkaidō) is a church building in Tsurugata, Kurashiki City, Okayama Prefecture, completed in 1923 and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2009. It was designed by Nishimura Isaku, who later founded the Bunka Gakuin school in Kanda, Tokyo.

Kurashiki Church was founded in 1906 by 25 believers. According to the Kurashiki tourism site, its first temporary hall stood near what is now the Former Ōhara Residence, an Important Cultural Property, and its founding members included Hayashi Genjūrō and Ōhara Magosaburō. The congregation also received guidance from Ishii Jūji, who opened Japan's first orphanage.

When a larger building was needed, the church records that the Vories architectural office had actually drawn up a design, but the commission then went to the Nishimura office instead. How Nishimura came to know the congregation is unclear, though he lectured in Kurashiki at the invitation of a local cultural society in 1921.

Why Kurashiki Church Is Registered

United Church of Christ in Japan Kurashiki Church was registered on January 8, 2009, as number 33-0203, under the criterion of buildings that serve as a model of design.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs records it as timber with partial concrete, 3 storeys with a tower, slate-roofed, with a building area of 267 square meters and a ramp. It runs east to west under a gable of the Kirizuma-zukuri type, with a tower at the southeast corner. The ground floor is reinforced concrete over a timber frame, faced in stone.

The ramp is the key idea. A long slope climbs to a terrace in front of the 2nd-floor sanctuary, which you enter directly from that rooftop balcony. The church records describe the terrace as a place where anyone could come and rest, and note that the arrangement was unusual for its time. The ground floor housed the church's Takenaka Kindergarten.

The Agency sums up the effect as a distinctive harmony between the solid, stone-like base and the lighter structure above.

What to Look For

Start with the stone on the ground floor and tower. According to the Kurashiki tourism site, it is granite from Kitagi Island in the Kasaoka Islands, left in its natural color.

Then walk up the ramp. The gently sloping stone path runs along the side of the building to the 2nd-floor terrace, where the sanctuary door waits. Rising slowly from the street into the church is the experience the whole design is built around.

The sanctuary has a single aisle with 4 pointed-arch windows along each side. Inside are a pipe organ and a harmonium. Ōhara Magosaburō paid for the harmonium, and the painter Kojima Torajirō, then studying in Europe, negotiated the purchase; the tourism site calls it one of only a handful in Japan. A Bible given by Hayashi Genjūrō rests on the altar.

Visiting United Church of Christ in Japan Kurashiki Church

According to the Kurashiki local heritage guide, visitors are welcome from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and Sunday mornings are given to worship. Avoid sightseeing during services, and check with the church before you go.

Focus photography on the exterior, and ask the church before taking pictures inside.

Walk about 10 minutes south from JR Kurashiki Station through the shopping arcade. The church lies just north of the Bikan historic quarter.