Ichikawa Church (Ichikawamisato)

A Meiji Church in Kura Style

The Ichikawa Church (Ichikawamisato) (市川教会) is a single-storey timber chapel built in 1897 at Ichikawadaimon, Ichikawamisato-cho, Nishiyatsushiro District, Yamanashi Prefecture, and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) on June 12, 1997. It belongs to the United Church of Christ in Japan and is still used for worship (Agency for Cultural Affairs, Ichikawa Church).

The Agency for Cultural Affairs records single-storey timber with a tiled roof and a building area of 91 square metres; registration number 19-0011, owned by the United Church of Christ in Japan, Ichikawa Church.

Canadian Methodist Mission

According to the church, the Canadian Methodist missionary C. S. Eby came to Yamanashi in 1877 and from the following year preached in Kofu, Nirasaki, Isawa, Ichikawadaimon and elsewhere. In April 1888 a Japanese evangelist settled in Ichikawa, and the church was founded.

Services were first held in a rented house; the present chapel of the Ichikawa Church (Ichikawamisato) was built in 1897 on land given by Watanabe Seishu and his son Sawajiro, leading figures of the town, with funds from the congregation. The interior has been repaired, but the building is as it was then (Ichikawa Church).

Value as a Registered Cultural Property

The Ichikawa Church (Ichikawamisato) was registered as a structure contributing to the historic landscape of the country. The Agency for Cultural Affairs notes that its distinctive white-plastered exterior is the centrepiece of the street known as Konjaku-dori. The church describes it as a Fujimura-style kura building combining traditional storehouse construction with Western forms.

What to Look For

The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes a simple tiled building on a high base of natural stone, notable for its hakamagoshi roof, with a skirt of eaves below the main roof, and the gabled end wall of its porch.

Inside, the Ichikawa Church (Ichikawamisato) is a single room with a semicircular apse at the front holding the communion table (Agency for Cultural Affairs, Ichikawamisato Town).

Visiting

The Ichikawa Church (Ichikawamisato) is at 907 Ichikawadaimon, Ichikawamisato-cho, and is still used for Sunday worship. The church welcomes interested visitors, but check its notices before visiting so as not to disturb services or events (Ichikawa Church).