United Church of Christ in Japan Nezu Church

A Taisho Church in the Lanes of Nezu

United Church of Christ in Japan Nezu Church (日本基督教団根津教会, Nihon Kirisuto Kyōdan Nezu Kyōkai) is a Protestant church in Nezu, Bunkyo City, Tokyo, whose wooden chapel, said to date from 1919, and brick gate and wall were entered on the national register as Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2001. It stands in the old shrine-gate quarter of Nezu Shrine, on a lane one block off Shinobazu-dori.

The church says the chapel was built in 1919 and came through both the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 and the wartime air raids on Tokyo along with the houses around it. The Agency for Cultural Affairs records the date only as the middle of the Taishō era; the precise year comes from the church.

A kindergarten once operated here, and the church notes that many of its graduates still live nearby. In 2009 the congregation restored the historic portions and added a new building designed to sit quietly alongside them, a project it later documented in a book about the chapel's revival.

The architect is not known for certain. A column on church buildings in a Christian newspaper lists the designer as unknown.

The 2 Registered Structures

Two items were registered on August 28, 2001: the chapel (number 13-0104) and the brick gate and wall that close off the north side of the lot (number 13-0105). Both belong to the religious corporation of the church.

On paper they are separate entries. On the street they read as one composition: a low run of red brick in front of a white clapboard chapel. The Agency describes the contrast of white and red as a symbol of the neighborhood, and the wall is deliberately kept low so that it never hides the chapel gable.

The church describes the survival of the chapel together with its brick gate and wall as unusual for Tokyo. Each structure has its own page with the building details.

Walking to the Church

From Nezu Station walk north along Shinobazu-dori and turn west into the lane just before the Nezu Jinja Iriguchi intersection. The gable and square tower of the chapel appear straight ahead. The lane is narrow and the building fills its lot, so there are few places to take it all in; step back along the wall until the tower, the gable and the brickwork line up.

The newspaper column observes that the chapel is older than most of the historic buildings around it and sets the tone of the block. A church with no forecourt still does not feel cramped, it suggests, because the whole lane works as its garden.

Nezu Shrine lies a few minutes to the north. The church's connection to it is one of setting: it was built inside the shrine's old gate town.

Visiting

United Church of Christ in Japan Nezu Church holds regular worship and has no sightseeing hours or admission fee. The church asks architecture visitors to view the buildings from outside and says the chapel cannot be toured during services and meetings.

Anyone wishing to attend worship is welcome without notice, according to the church. Requests for press coverage or photography go through the contact form on its website.

Keep photography to the exterior from the public road. Houses are packed tightly here, so avoid blocking the lane.

The nearest station is Nezu on the Tokyo Metro Chiyoda Line, 5 minutes on foot from Exit 1.