Leaving JR Takatori Station on the western side of the port city of Kobe and walking ten minutes south through the quiet residential lanes of Nagata Ward, visitors encounter a graceful white modern building crowned by a translucent fiberglass membrane roof. Just inside the forecourt beneath a canopy of green trees, a weather-worn white concrete statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus stands upon a stone pedestal with arms outstretched in welcome. Looking closely at the base and the faint scorch marks preserved around it, one can still trace the memory of the sea of fire that engulfed this neighborhood in the pre-dawn hours of 17 January 1995.
In Nagata Ward, home to one of Japan's largest communities of former Vietnamese boat people and workers since the late twentieth century, Takatori Church has long been far more than a denominational house of worship. For three decades, this modest compound has stood as a cradle of solidarity across nationality and creed, where Japanese, Vietnamese, Korean, and Latin American neighbors rebuilt their shared home from the rubble, and where Vietnamese prayers honoring Our Lady of La Vang and the Vietnamese Martyrs still rise every week.
IThe miraculous Sacred Heart statue and a spirituality of multicultural solidarity
Takatori Catholic Church belongs to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Osaka-Takamatsu. Originally written in Chinese characters as Takatori Kyokai (鷹取教会), the parish officially changed its name in 2005 to the phonetic hiragana script Takatori Kyokai (たかとり教会) so that young children and foreign residents learning Japanese could read it with ease. The spiritual heart of the parish centers on devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Catholicism, embodied in the concrete statue standing in the church forecourt.
In Catholic theology, devotion to the Sacred Heart directs the faithful toward God's unconditional love, self-sacrifice, and compassion for the suffering and marginalized. The image of Jesus with arms flung wide open, turning no one away, became the living rule of life for Takatori Parish in Kobe's darkest hour: when disaster struck, the sanctuary did not retreat behind closed walls but opened its grounds to embrace every survivor regardless of religion or nationality.
At 5:46 a.m. on 17 January 1995, the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake convulsed the entire Kansai region. According to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), the quake registered a magnitude of 7.3 (reaching Seismic Intensity 7, the highest level on the Japanese scale), whereas the United States Geological Survey (USGS) recorded a moment magnitude of 6.9 Mw. In Nagata Ward, densely packed with wooden tile-roofed houses and hundreds of small footwear workshops storing flammable synthetic adhesives, massive fires raged for days. The wooden Takatori church building, rectory, and kindergarten were burned to the ground. Yet when the smoke cleared, residents were astonished to find the concrete statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus standing completely intact on its stone pedestal in the forecourt. Even more remarkably, the advancing wall of fire had stopped right at the trees in front of the statue, sparing the row of houses directly across the street.
Our Lady of La Vang and the Vietnamese Martyrs in a Japanese parish
Because Nagata Ward has hosted one of the largest settled Vietnamese communities in the Hanshin region since the 1980s, Vietnamese Catholics make up a vital part of the congregation at Takatori Church. To nurture the devotional heritage of these families far from home, the church grounds and sanctuary accord a place of honor to a statue and icon of Our Lady of La Vang attired in traditional Vietnamese ao dai, alongside an altar honoring the 117 Vietnamese Martyrs. The side-by-side presence of Kobe's historic Sacred Heart statue and Vietnam's Our Lady of La Vang forms a moving testament to shared faith in Japan.
Many architectural travelers who visit Kobe looking for Shigeru Ban's world-famous Paper Church (Paper Dome) assume that the cardboard-tube structure still stands at Takatori today. In fact, the Paper Church served as a temporary sanctuary at Takatori for ten years, from September 1995 until June 2005. After fulfilling its mission in Kobe, its paper-tube frame was carefully dismantled and donated to Puli Township in Nantou County, Taiwan, which had been devastated by the 1999 Jiji earthquake, where it was reassembled as an enduring monument of solidarity between two earthquake-stricken communities.
IINearly a century from an early parish to a global symbol of rebirth
The history of Takatori Church mirrors the modern journey of the port city of Kobe across the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries: from early mission work in the industrial neighborhoods of western Kobe, through Japan's worst postwar urban natural disaster, to an inspiring recovery that turned a small neighborhood parish into an international model of humanitarian architecture and multicultural coexistence.
- 1927 - 1929Founding of the parish and dedication of the first wooden churchThe Takatori Catholic parish community is established in 1927 in Nagata Ward, Kobe. Two years later, in 1929, its first wooden sanctuary is completed and consecrated.
- 1980sWelcoming Vietnamese boat people settling in NagataVietnamese refugee families leaving resettlement centers in Himeji and Yamato move to Nagata Ward to work in the local footwear industry, finding a spiritual home at Takatori Church.
- 17 January 1995The Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake and the Takatori Rescue BaseThe magnitude 7.3 JMA earthquake and ensuing fires destroy the wooden church, leaving only the Sacred Heart statue standing. Parish priest Father Hiroshi Kanda immediately turns the grounds into the Takatori Church Rescue Base.
- 17 September 1995Dedication of Shigeru Ban's Paper Church (Paper Dome)Architect Shigeru Ban, working with over 160 student volunteers, Japanese parishioners, and Vietnamese residents, completes a temporary sanctuary built from 58 structural paper tubes in just five weeks.
- 1995 - 1996Birth of Vietnamese radio FM Yumen and multilingual station FMYYOperating from the church grounds, the Vietnamese radio station FM Yumen and Korean station FM Yoboseyo begin broadcasting disaster relief news in mother tongues, merging in 1996 into the multilingual station FMYY.
- 2000 - 2005Incorporation of Takatori Community Center and transfer of the Paper DomeIn 2000, the Rescue Base becomes the non-profit Takatori Community Center (TCC). In 2005, the parish adopts its hiragana name and donates the dismantled Paper Dome to Puli, Taiwan.
- 2007Consecration of the permanent new Takatori ChurchA permanent new church complex designed again by architect Shigeru Ban is completed and solemnly consecrated in 2007, remaining integrated with the multicultural community center.
The guiding spirit behind the rebirth of Takatori Church in 1995 was its parish priest, Father Hiroshi Kanda. On the very morning the wooden church burned down, standing before the unharmed statue of Jesus amid smoking embers, Father Kanda declared that a church is not a building of wood and brick, but the living community of people. He threw open the church compound to hundreds of volunteers from across Japan and personally sheltered Vietnamese, Korean, and Peruvian workers who had lost their homes and could not read Japanese relief notices. This pioneering work was subsequently honored with numerous civic and humanitarian awards across Hyogo Prefecture and Japan.
IIIShigeru Ban's humanitarian architecture: from Paper Church to luminous membrane roof
Takatori Church holds a unique place in contemporary world architecture because both of its post-earthquake sanctuaries (the 1995 temporary hall and the 2007 permanent church) were designed by Shigeru Ban, laureate of the 2014 Pritzker Architecture Prize. Rather than pursuing monumentality, the architecture here prioritizes natural light, seismic safety through lightweight roofing, and open spatial transitions that link the sanctuary with daily neighborhood life.
In the historic Paper Church (1995 to 2005), Shigeru Ban arranged 58 recycled structural paper tubes (each 33 centimeters in diameter, 15 millimeters thick, and 5 meters tall) in an oval plan inside a 10-by-15-meter rectangular frame topped by a translucent tent membrane. When designing the permanent 2007 sanctuary, he carried forward that gentle geometry and luminous canopy using durable reinforced concrete, steel framing, and a modern PTFE-coated fiberglass membrane roof.
The white concrete statue mounted on a granite pedestal in the forecourt plaza. Although the wooden church around it burned to ashes on 17 January 1995, the statue remained completely intact, becoming an enduring emblem of hope for Kobe.
Located on the second floor, the main worship hall follows a gentle curved plan crowned by a white tensioned membrane roof that diffuses soft daylight throughout the nave while keeping the overhead mass extremely light against earthquakes.
Inside the new church, the altar, ambo, and warm-toned wooden slats evoke the memory of the earlier paper tubes, while wide sliding glass doors allow the nave to open directly onto the outer terrace during large celebrations.
A dedicated devotional space honoring Our Lady of La Vang and the Vietnamese Martyrs established by the Vietnamese Catholic Community in Kobe, preserving decades of prayers offered by Vietnamese refugees and workers in Hyogo.
Sharing the same open, wall-free compound is the Takatori Community Center building, which houses nine multicultural non-profit groups, including the multilingual radio station FMYY and Vietnam Yume Kobe.
The most striking feature of the Takatori site plan is the absence of dividing walls between sacred and civic space. The brick courtyard beneath the Sacred Heart statue functions as a neighborhood plaza (hiroba) where Japanese and Vietnamese children play in the afternoon and elders converse beneath the trees, while a short flight of stairs leads up to the quiet, light-filled sanctuary on the second floor.
IVThe lie of the land and the facing
Catholicism does not teach feng shui, and the siting of Takatori Church in 1927 grew out of pastoral service to residents of western Kobe. Even so, when the natural topography of Kobe is examined through the traditional landform methods of the Hall of Myriad Paths library, the Kaiuncho plot in Nagata Ward displays notable geographic features.
In terms of the dragon vein (long mạch) and macro-topography, the city of Kobe occupies a narrow coastal strip running east to west, backed to the north by the steep granite peaks of the Rokko Mountain Range and facing south toward Osaka Bay on the Seto Inland Sea. This forms one of the clearest examples of the classical backed by mountain, facing the sea configuration in the Kansai region. Directly behind the Takatori neighborhood in Nagata Ward (at latitude 34.6513 degrees North and longitude 135.1383 degrees East) rises Mount Takatori (Takatoriyama, 328 meters high), the hawk-shaped peak that gave both the district and the church their name. From the southern slopes of Mount Takatori, the terrain descends gently toward the coastal plain where the church stands, providing a solid rear backing (hậu chẩm) against cold northern winds.
In terms of water courses and the inner site, two small rivers descending from the Rokko and Takatori hills, the Shinminato River and the Myohoji River, flow southward into the sea on either side of the neighborhood, embracing the district before meeting the broad bright hall (minh đường) of Nagata Harbor and Osaka Bay to the south. Appropriately, the street district where the church stands is named Kaiuncho (meaning Sea Fortune District). Within the compound, the church facade and forecourt open toward the warm southern sunlight, placing the Sacred Heart statue at the focal node of the forecourt. That open courtyard and its cluster of living trees acted as a natural thermal buffer in January 1995, helping the statue withstand the conflagration and shield the homes behind it.
VLiturgical calendar, the 17 January memorial, and Vietnamese community feasts
Liturgical life at Takatori Church weaves together the universal Roman Catholic calendar (reckoned by the Gregorian calendar), annual civic and interfaith commemorations of the 1995 Kobe earthquake, and the traditional celebrations of the Vietnamese Catholic Community in Hyogo Prefecture (observed across both the Gregorian and lunar calendars).
| Date and calendar | Feast or observance | Meaning and community practice |
|---|---|---|
| 17 January each year (Gregorian calendar) | Memorial of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake | Beginning at 5:46 a.m. and continuing through the day, Japanese, Vietnamese, and neighbors of all faiths gather before the Sacred Heart statue to light candles, pray for the more than 6,400 victims, and renew their pledge of mutual aid. |
| Weekly and monthly Sundays (Gregorian calendar) | Japanese Parish Masses and Vietnamese Community Masses | Regular Sunday Masses for the parish alongside scheduled Vietnamese-language Masses gathering settled Vietnamese families in Nagata as well as trainees and students across Kobe. |
| June each year (Friday after Corpus Christi, Gregorian calendar) | Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus | Special patronal devotion honoring the Sacred Heart of Jesus, closely tied to the miraculous statue standing in the Takatori forecourt. |
| August and 24 November (Gregorian calendar) | Feasts of Our Lady of La Vang and the Vietnamese Martyrs | The Vietnamese Catholic Community in Kobe holds Marian processions, floral offerings, and solemn Vietnamese Masses honoring Our Lady of La Vang and the 117 Vietnamese Martyrs. |
| 24 and 25 December (Gregorian calendar) | Multicultural Christmas Vigil and Festival | Christmas Masses and shared celebrations bringing together Japanese, Vietnamese, and Latin American parishioners across the church and the Takatori Community Center. |
| Lunar New Year (1st lunar month) | Vietnamese New Year Mass for Peace and Tết Festival | Vietnamese Catholics celebrate a Thanksgiving Mass for the Lunar New Year, followed by making traditional square sticky-rice cakes (bánh chưng), lion dances, and New Year greetings in the church courtyard. |
During Vietnamese feast days and Lunar New Year gatherings at Takatori Church, the forecourt becomes a joyful meeting ground for the entire Kaiuncho neighborhood. Elderly Japanese neighbors who once shared rice balls with Vietnamese families around campfires in the freezing winter of 1995 still join second- and third-generation Vietnamese youth born in Kobe, bearing witness to a friendship forged through adversity.
VILocation And How To Get There
- Address
- Getting there
- From central Kobe (Sannomiya Station or Kobe Station), take the JR Kobe Line to Takatori Station (about 10 minutes), then walk south from the south exit of Takatori Station for 8 to 10 minutes to reach Takatori Catholic Church in Kaiuncho, Nagata Ward.
- Coordinates
- 34.6513, 135.1383
Takatori Catholic Church stands in a quiet residential neighborhood and shares its open grounds with the Takatori Community Center. When visiting the Sacred Heart statue in the forecourt or attending Mass in the second-floor sanctuary, please dress modestly, walk quietly, and respect the peaceful atmosphere. The upper church is open for prayer during parish hours, but visitors should not enter the offices of community organizations unannounced or photograph worshippers without permission. On the 17 January earthquake memorial day, please follow the guidance of local organizers.
Nearby places in the library
VIIContribute To This Page
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Góp ảnh, thông tin hoặc video cho Nhà thờ Takatori (たかとり教会)Everyone is welcome to enrich this page: a photo you took, a detail the page misses, a short video. Every contribution is read and answered.
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?Quick Questions
Why is the statue of Jesus in the forecourt of Takatori Church famous across Japan
During the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake on the morning of 17 January 1995 (magnitude 7.3 JMA), massive fires burned down the surrounding neighborhood and the wooden Takatori church. Yet the concrete statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus on its stone pedestal stood completely unharmed, and the flames stopped right in front of it.
Does Shigeru Ban's Paper Church still stand at Takatori today
No. The temporary Paper Church (Paper Dome), built in September 1995 by architect Shigeru Ban and volunteers using 58 structural cardboard tubes, served the parish for ten years. In 2005 it was dismantled and donated to earthquake-stricken Puli Township in Taiwan, while a permanent new church was completed at Takatori in 2007.
Why is the church's Japanese name written in phonetic hiragana characters
From its founding in 1927 until 2005, the church's name was written with two complex kanji characters reading Takatori (鷹取). In 2005 the parish changed the official spelling to hiragana (たかとり) so that children and foreign residents in Kobe, including Vietnamese and Latin American neighbors, could easily read it.
What role has Takatori Church played for the Vietnamese community in Kobe
Nagata Ward is home to Kobe's oldest and largest settled Vietnamese community. Since the 1995 earthquake, the church has served as an emergency relief base, the birthplace of the Vietnamese radio station FM Yumen, and the spiritual home for Vietnamese Masses honoring Our Lady of La Vang and the Vietnamese Martyrs.
Who designed the present Takatori Church building completed in 2007
Architect Shigeru Ban, who received the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2014 and designed the 1995 Paper Church, also designed the permanent Takatori sanctuary completed in 2007, featuring a lightweight, earthquake-safe translucent fiberglass membrane roof.