Old Cathedral of St. Joseph, Tokyo: Japan’s First Catholic Church
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.7
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- Japan
- Primary era
- Modern
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Modern
- Civilizations
- Japanese
- Site type
- Religious
- Remains
- Church
On this page7 sections
History
The Old Cathedral of St. Joseph, Tokyo, in Japan, is a Catholic church founded by the Paris Foreign Missions Society, a Catholic institute established to send clergy and missionaries to Asia. Known also as Catholic Tsukiji Church and St. Joseph’s Church, it was Tokyo’s first Catholic church and became a base for missionary work, especially in areas north of the city. The present building, completed in 1927, is a wooden church finished with mortar and designed in the classical Greek Doric style.
Beginnings in the Tsukiji settlement
The church’s development followed Japan’s opening to foreign trade under the Ansei Five-Power Treaties of 1858, agreements that expanded the country’s commercial relations with foreign powers. The Tsukiji-Tepozu district was established as a foreign settlement in 1869, and anti-Christian edicts were removed in 1873. These changes created new conditions for Catholic activity in Tokyo.
In 1871, the Paris Foreign Missions Society missionary Jean-Marie Marin rented a merchant house near Inari Bridge. He operated a language school there while waiting for an opportunity to begin missionary work. On July 2, 1874, Marin rented plots 35 and 36 of the Tsukiji foreign settlement from the Japanese government. Construction of the first church began the following month, and the building was consecrated on November 22, 1874.
Cathedral of Northern Japan
In July 1877, Pierre-Marie Osouf, the first bishop of the Apostolic Vicariate of Northern Japan, established his episcopal seat at Tsukiji. An apostolic vicariate was a Catholic territory governed by a vicar apostolic before becoming a diocese or archdiocese. A larger brick church was begun in December that year and was consecrated and opened on August 15, 1878.
Tsukiji served as the cathedral of Tokyo’s Catholic ecclesiastical jurisdiction from 1877. In 1891, the Apostolic Vicariate of Northern Japan became the Archdiocese of Tokyo, a major diocese led by an archbishop, and Tsukiji continued in its cathedral role. The episcopal seat was transferred to Sekiguchi Church, now St. Mary’s Cathedral, Tokyo, in 1920, ending Tsukiji’s period as the archdiocese’s cathedral.
Earthquake and reconstruction
The Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 destroyed the church through fire and collapse. A temporary structure containing an altar was erected about a month later, and Mass was celebrated on October 21, only 52 days after the earthquake. Construction of a temporary church and residence began in November and was completed in late December.
Work on the present church began in November 1926 at the request of Jean-Pierre Rey, then archbishop of Tokyo, as part of the rebuilding of the parish. The new building was consecrated on April 10, 1927. The church was designated a Tokyo Metropolitan Selected Historic Building on June 1, 1999, and is also a civic cultural property of Chuo Ward. In June 2024, Archbishop Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi led a Thanksgiving Mass for the 150th anniversary of the foundation, which included the reading of a blessing message from Pope Francis.
Remains
The church stands at 5-26 Akashichō in Akashi-cho, Tsukiji, within Tokyo’s Chuo Ward. The present structure is a wooden building covered in mortar. Its design closely follows an ancient Greek Doric temple, an architectural form known for sturdy columns, plain capitals, and traditionally no bases, and it also draws inspiration from La Madeleine in Paris.
Present church
The facade is arranged around six Doric-order columns. Above them, the gable carries carved lilies and roses. This reconstructed 1927 building replaced the earlier brick church erected in 1877 and 1878, while the first church had occupied land measuring approximately 900 square metres.
Surviving statue
A plaster statue of Saint Peter survived the destruction caused by the 1923 earthquake and remains installed in the present church. Saint Joseph, the church’s patron, is the Christian figure regarded in New Testament tradition as the husband of Mary and the legal father of Jesus.
