As mentioned earlier, Kobe was once an imperialist "concession," and that church must not be without it. I walked around and saw three. Let's start with this, Catholic Kobe Central Church.
In fact, the church turned out to be like this, a typical French Gothic church. Built in 1923 (Taisho 12), it is the largest church in Kobe. However, the Great Hanshin Earthquake on January 17, 1995, destroyed the old church (it was later demolished, and it seems that it is not as strong as the Kobe Mosque designed by Czech architects). After the church was demolished, the stained glass was removed to the Catholic Church in Miyazaki City (built in 1891), and if you go to Miyazaki later, you can visit it. (Image from the Internet)
(Image from the Internet)
After the church was destroyed by the earthquake, it was not rebuilt as it is, but rebuilt in the modern style seen today, with the church in the same courtyard as a kindergarten, the bell on the church bell tower, I guess it may have been left by the original church, if it were not for this bell tower, it is difficult to imagine a church hidden here.
Built in 1870 (Meiji 3), the earlier church was located near the current Kobe Daimaru (close to Nankin-cho) and was the earliest Catholic church in the Diocese of Osaka, but was renamed here in 1923 and was the largest church in Kobe at the time. In 1945, the church was destroyed by air raids and rebuilt after the war. After the Great Hanshin Earthquake in 1995, it was not rebuilt as it was, but was demolished. In 1999, the three Catholic Churches in Kobe City were merged into the current Catholic Kobe Central Church (カトリック神戸 Central Church). カトリック is the transliteration of Catholic (Catholic). In fact, Protestantism also has a Kobe Central Church in Kobe, which is easy to confuse without adding カトリック.
Since we are talking about Catholicism and Protestantism, let's briefly talk about the history of christianity in Japan.
The history of Christianity in Japan is much later than in China, mainly beginning with St. Francis, one of the founders of the Society of Jesus. Xavier (St. Francois Xavier，1506-1552）。 Xavier was also a man with a great influence on the entry of Christianity into China. He and Loyola were also the founders of the Society of Jesus, which was founded in response to the reformation (Protestantism) that arose in Europe in the 16th century. Xavier, on the other hand, was primarily responsible for missionary work in the East as a papal envoy, traveling throughout Malacca, India, Japan and China, and eventually dying in China.
The Xavier of Malacca is slightly similar
The history of Christianity in Japan is believed to begin with the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1549 (August 15), when Xavier landed on Kagoshima and entered Japan as a missionary. Xavier originally spread Catholicism mainly from the south to the center of Japan, and he also went to Kyoto to meet the Emperor of Japan, but he never saw it, in fact, it was useless to see the Emperor, and the Emperor did not have real power.
After the Jesuits, several other Catholic churches also came to Japan as missionaries. The initial missionary success may also have been due to firearms (arquebusiers) brought by europeans.
When Xavier saw that Japanese culture was greatly influenced by China, he had the idea of going to China as a missionary. However, due to the Ming Dynasty's policy of banning the sea, he eventually died on the island of Chuandao on the sea outside the Jiangmen Gate in Guangdong, and did not realize his wish to preach to China. However, his successor Matteo Ricci eventually introduced Catholicism to China.
Or is it that in Japan, when Catholicism entered Japan, it naturally clashed with powerful Buddhist believers, and Oda Nobunaga also killed Buddhist monks (burning Mt. Hiei) because of his conflict with the Ichijō Sect (Pure Land True Sect). I don't know if it is related to this, Oda Nobunaga became an important supporter of Catholicism, and Catholicism has developed rapidly in Japan.
At that time, Japan had a name for Catholics, called "Kilichidan", (derived from the Portuguese Christian "cristão", later changed to a pejorative meaning), many famous Sengoku daimyo were Kilichidan, such as Toyotomi Hideyoshi's confidant Kuroda Takashi (Kuroda Officers and Soldiers), Governor Konishi (religious name: Augustine), Oda Nobunaga's grandson Oda Nobunaga (son of Nobunaga, god name Peter) and so on.
After the Honnoji Rebellion in 1582, Toyotomi Hideyoshi gradually replaced Oda Nobunaga, and at first Toyotomi Hideyoshi continued Oda Nobunaga's policy towards Catholicism. But by 1587, Hideyoshi, who had become a "man of the world", began to change his policy in the face of growing Catholic power, declaring a ban on religion (perhaps afraid of another one-way fight). Kuroda Takashi, who had a good relationship with Hideyoshi, also gave up Catholicism, but Governor Konishi went his own way, even if he went to Korea to fight the Ming Dynasty, he also carried a cross, and Hideyoshi had to turn a blind eye.
In 1596, the ship San Filip of Spain was damaged by wind and waves and entered the Japanese port for repairs, because language misunderstandings caused Hideyoshi's hatred of Catholicism. In 1597, 26 clerics and believers were captured in Kyoto by Ishida Sansei and then escorted to Nagasaki for execution.
By the time of Tokugawa Ieyasu, there was at first a slight loosening of christians, but soon it became harsher than in the Hideyoshi era, and a large number of Christians were killed. Since then, the activities of some Catholics have gone underground, and this time it has been more than two hundred years. The Tokugawa shogunate's edict to lock the country down also made it extremely difficult for European missionaries to re-enter Japan.
In the Black Ship Incident of the 1850s, the United States forced Japan to open its doors, a large number of missionaries came to Japan, and underground Christians could finally operate openly.
When Catholicism first entered Japan in the 16th century, Europe was in the midst of the Reformation, and Catholicism was still struggling to eradicate Protestantism. By the time Christianity re-entered Japan in the 19th century, the christian denominations had come to Japan on an equal footing. Various factions have also built their own churches in various places.
After the Meiji Restoration, the Japanese government's policy toward Christianity also fluctuated. In particular, the several foreign wars in which Japan was involved also had some influence on Christianity in Japan. During World War II, some Christianity was shut down because of the conflict between loyalty to the emperor and faith in God.
After World War II, Japan implemented a policy of religious freedom, but in Japanese society, which is dominated by Chinese Buddhism and indigenous Shintoism, Christians account for about one percent of the population, while Christians in Japan's neighboring South Korea account for about one-third of the population.
The main branches of Christianity, Catholicism, Orthodoxy, and Protestant denominations, have churches and churches in Japan.
In Japan, you can see countless temples and shrines, but churches are rare. The church of Kobe that you see now is a Catholic church, because it was rebuilt after the earthquake, full of modernity, and the shape is rare in Europe.
Inside the church.
Many people often can't distinguish between Catholic churches and Protestant churches, but there is actually a relatively simple way to see if there are icons. Of course, there are also a few in Europe that have been converted from Catholic churches to Protestant churches, and there will also be icons in them.
As mentioned earlier, after the demolition of the original church, a large amount of stained glass was transported away and installed in a 19th-century Catholic church in Miyazaki City. The glass I see now is not known whether it was left behind or made later.
There is a small pipe organ on the church door.
Very chic roof
A chapel next to the church, with fourteen stations on the wall, is also one of the differences between Catholic and Protestant churches.
The office area next to the church or the reception area.
The façade of the church, and stained glass.
In 1941, a total of 33 Protestant tribal groups in Japan jointly formed the Japanese Christian Order (Unity Church), including the Anglican Church. This is a Protestant (プロテスタント, Protestant) church in Kobe, Kobe Baptist Church, which perhaps translates to Kobe Baptist Church.
The church is empty, and the Protestant church is usually simple and simple compared to the Catholic church.
The Bible, called the Holy Book in Japanese. I also saw one in Kobe that seemed to be a Calvin church, but I didn't get a picture because I was holding my luggage.
There may be hundreds of churches that have been written before, but there are not many churches that have been seen in Japan, and those I photographed are also accidentally encountered, and they are not deliberately looking for them. This is a church opposite Honnoji Temple in Kyoto, and I later learned that it was originally kyoto's parish church (The Catholic Kagencho Church). The Catholic Church in Japan is divided into three major dioceses (known as the Japanese Ministry of Religion), Nagasaki, Osaka and Tokyo. Kyoto, Nagoya and Kobe all belong to the Diocese of Osaka.
This is an Anglican church in Kyoto.
An Anglican church in Nara, all Japanese style.
This is a Protestant (Lutheran) church near Osaka Castle, and even the hotel that is with the church is called the Luther Hotel.
The small churches on the streets of Nagoya are definitely Protestant.
There is also a church that most resembles a church, but is not a real church, but a hotel built for wedding ceremonies.
Of course, churches like those designed by Tadao Ando (Awaji Dream Stage (top), the Church of the Sea), perhaps the architectural significance is far greater than the religious significance.