United Church of Christ in Japan Yumicho Hongo Church

About United Church of Christ in Japan Yumicho Hongo Church

United Church of Christ in Japan Yumicho Hongo Church (日本基督教団弓町本郷教会, Nihon Kirisuto Kyōdan Yumichō Hongō Kyōkai) is a Protestant church building in Hongo, Bunkyo City, Tokyo, completed in 1926 and entered on the national register as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2021. It stands on a corner lot a short walk from the Hongo-sanchome crossing, a 4-storey block that marks the corner with a small rooftop tower.

The congregation traces its start to 1886, when the pastor Ebina Danjō opened a preaching station in Hongo, a district already full of students. It moved between several halls in the neighborhood and lost the one it was using in the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923. The present building replaced it, designed by Nakamura Mamoru (中村鎮), an architect who was himself a member of the church.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs records it as reinforced concrete block construction, 4 storeys, with a building area of 321 square meters and a rooftop tower. It was renovated in 1953, 1969, 1986 and 2013. The registered lot number is 132-1 Hongo 2-chome; the church's postal address is 2-35-14 Hongo.

Why the Building Was Registered

Yumicho Hongo Church was registered on October 14, 2021, as number 13-0451, under the criterion of buildings that would be difficult to reproduce today.

The reason is the structure. Nakamura developed his own system of hollow concrete blocks, stacked so that steel bars and poured concrete could run through the cavities and lock the wall together. The church calls it the Chin block, after the characters of his given name. Tokyo after the earthquake saw a burst of patented block systems, each promising fire and quake resistance, and the Agency singles this church out as one of the best surviving examples of that experiment.

Few 4-storey buildings of this kind are still in daily use nearly a century on. Rebuilding one now would mean reviving a construction method that the industry abandoned long ago, which is what the registration criterion is getting at.

What to Look For

Start with the wall itself. The brown facing blocks are laid with their joints left visible, so you can count the individual units and see how the building was assembled.

Every window is topped by a round arch, and the same shape repeats floor after floor. The roof is flat, with the tower placed on the street corner. From the northwest you see both street faces and the tower together; the Agency's own record photograph is taken from this angle.

The sanctuary is on the 2nd floor. According to the church, a symmetrically arranged pipe organ, stained glass and a solid pulpit are the main features inside.

Visiting United Church of Christ in Japan Yumicho Hongo Church

United Church of Christ in Japan Yumicho Hongo Church is an active congregation with no sightseeing hours and no admission fee. The exterior can be viewed from the street at any time.

Sunday worship runs from 10:30 a.m. to about 11:40 a.m., and the church says anyone is welcome. An evening service begins at 5:00 p.m. on the 2nd Sunday of the month. Attending a service or contacting the church in advance is the reliable way to see the interior.

Limit photography to the exterior from the public road, and ask before photographing inside or during worship.

The nearest station is Hongo-sanchome on the Tokyo Metro Marunouchi Line and the Toei Oedo Line, about 5 minutes away on foot. The church sits in the block southwest of the Hongo-sanchome intersection.