Nippon Sei Ko Kai Tokyo Diocese Tokyo All Saints Church Chapel

About Nippon Sei Ko Kai Tokyo Diocese Tokyo All Saints Church Chapel

Nippon Sei Ko Kai Tokyo Diocese Tokyo All Saints Church Chapel (日本聖公会東京教区東京諸聖徒教会礼拝堂, Tokyo Shoseito Kyōkai Reihaidō) is the reinforced concrete chapel of an Anglican parish in Sengoku, Bunkyo City, Tokyo, built in 1931 and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2004. Its square bell tower and short spire rise above a residential district about 10 minutes on foot from Sengoku Station.

The parish, which uses the English name All Saints Church, Tokyo, belongs to the Tokyo Diocese of Nippon Sei Ko Kai, the Anglican Church in Japan. It began in 1881 as the Kudan preaching station in Iidamachi, Kojimachi. In 1896 it became an independent parish named All Saints, and in 1910 it completed a large brick church in Nishi-Ogawamachi, Kanda. The Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 brought down every one of its buildings. In 1924 the congregation moved to the present site, then Hayashicho in Koishikawa, merged with the Otsuka congregation there and took the name Tokyo All Saints Church.

The chapel came out of that move. In 1931 the parish built a chapel, parish hall and rectory together, all in reinforced concrete. The Agency for Cultural Affairs names the American architect Bergamini as designer and the Shimizu-gumi firm, today's Shimizu Corporation, as builder. The Agency records the chapel as 2 storeys, with a metal sheet roof, a building area of 264 square meters and a bell tower.

Registered as Part of the Townscape

Tokyo All Saints Church Chapel was registered on June 9, 2004, as number 13-0175, under the criterion of buildings that contribute to the historic landscape of the country. The criterion is about the building's place in its surroundings, and the Agency's description says as much: the massive concrete exterior and the spire have long been familiar to the neighborhood.

The chapel also carries the marks of the war. In the Agency's account, the roof was lost to fire during the Second World War and the building was restored afterward. The church's own history is starker: in the 1945 air raids almost everything burned, and in 1955 the chapel and parish hall were rebuilt in their present form using the concrete frame that had survived.

So the building visitors see is a 1931 structure carrying a postwar roof and interior, and that layering is part of its record. The concrete walls stood through the fire, and the parish chose to rebuild inside them rather than start again.

What to Look For at Tokyo All Saints Church

The tower is the first thing to find. It is a plain square block of concrete, opened near the top by narrow arched openings and finished with a short, steep spire. The Agency's record photographs show it standing well above the low roofs around it, which is the view the registration criterion has in mind.

At street level, the entrance is marked by a gateway with a pointed arch, and the long side wall of the chapel is pierced by round-headed windows under a shallow pitched roof. The concrete surfaces are left largely plain. What gives the building its weight is volume, not ornament.

Inside, the church records that for its centenary in 1981 it installed an altarpiece and 24 sacred paintings, which now hang in the chapel. In 2023 a new parish hall for children's programs, Shoseito Kodomo-ya, was blessed on the same site; it is a separate building and not part of the registration.

Visiting Nippon Sei Ko Kai Tokyo Diocese Tokyo All Saints Church Chapel

Nippon Sei Ko Kai Tokyo Diocese Tokyo All Saints Church Chapel is the working church of its parish, with no sightseeing hours and no admission fee. The tower and the street side of the chapel can be seen from the public road at any time.

The Sunday Eucharist is held at 10:30 a.m.; on the 4th Sunday the service is a service of the Word. Sunday school meets at 9:30 a.m. Attending the Sunday service is the simplest way to see the interior; for other times, contact the church in advance by phone or email, both published by the Tokyo Diocese and the parish.

The church does not publish a photography policy. Keep photographs to the exterior from the street, and ask before taking any inside.

The nearest station is Sengoku on the Toei Mita Line, about 10 minutes on foot. The church stands in a residential block west of Hakusan-dori.