The First Church After Japan Opened Stood Next to ChinatownThe Yokohama Tenshudo, built while Christianity was still banned
Near the Chinatown exit of Motomachi-Chukagai Station stands a statue of Christ engraved “Site of the Yokohama Tenshudo.” This was Lot 80 of the foreign settlement, where the first Christian church in Japan after the port opened was built.
The statue at Lot 80
Near Exit 2 (Chinatown exit) of Motomachi-Chukagai Station is a statue of Christ engraved “Site of the Yokohama Tenshudo.” This was Lot 80 of the foreign settlement, where Yokohama’s first church stood.
Its official name was the Sacred Heart Church, but the Chinese word for Catholic church, tianzhutang (Tenshudo), hung over the entrance, so people called it the Yokohama Tenshudo. The stone marker was set up in 1962 for its centenary.
The first church, 1862
The Yokohama Tenshudo opened in January 1862. Built by Father Girard of the Paris Foreign Missions Society, it was the first church in Japan after the ports opened. The Protestant Christ Church followed the next year at Lot 105, nearer Motomachi.
Preparing under the ban
Christianity was banned in Japan at the time. Father Girard learned Japanese in Naha and came to Edo in 1859 as interpreter to the French minister. He traveled to Yokohama to hold a monthly Mass in a believer’s home, wearing his interpreter’s uniform for safety, and offered to teach French to the shogunate to raise funds.
The Tenshudo Incident and the end of the ban
The white church with its cross drew curious Japanese visitors, and Father Girard, a fluent Japanese speaker, explained the paintings and the faith. A month after the dedication, about 30 Japanese visitors were arrested: the Tenshudo Incident.
Things changed in 1873. The Iwakura Mission, touring the West, faced criticism of the ban wherever it went. Iwakura cabled home, and in February 1873 the public notices banning Christianity were removed. Freedom of religion was formally recognized in the Meiji Constitution of 1889.
The move to the Bluff
Believers increased, reaching 1,745 in the Yokohama area by 1885. After several fires and rebuildings, the church moved to the Bluff in 1906 and continues today as the Catholic Yamate Church.