Assumption of Mary Cathedral, Hiroshima Audio Guide

Noboricho Catholic Church: what does the audio guide cover?

1. 01

   Welcome to Noboricho Catholic Church

   Welcome to Noboricho Catholic Church, known in Japanese as 幟町カトリック教会. It stands in the Noboricho district of Naka Ward, in the middle of Hiroshima, close to the lively Hatchobori area. Its patron is the Assumption of Mary, and its main building is the Memorial Cathedral for World Peace. That building is the seat of the Catholic Diocese of Hiroshima. This is one of the most layered places in the city. A Christian community has been connected to Hiroshima since the 1600s. A small wooden church stood on this ground until the atomic bombing of August the sixth, 1945. From the ruins grew a cathedral that was meant to be a prayer for peace and a gift of friendship from people all over the world. Over the next few minutes we will follow that arc. We will start with the congregation's long road to this spot, then stand with the priest who survived the bombing. After that we will look at how an architect wove Japanese motifs into a European church plan, and finish with practical pointers for your own visit.

2. 02

   Noboricho Catholic Church: A Congregation on the Move

   The story of Catholicism in Hiroshima goes back a long way. In 1599, under the rule of the Mori lord Mori Terumoto, the first Catholic church in the city was established. Then came a long era when Christianity was banned, and the story only picks up again after the Meiji period began. In 1882, a church was set up in Noboricho. The community did not stay put at first. In 1885 it moved to Yamaguchi-cho, and in 1889 it moved again, this time to Togiya-cho. Finally, in 1902, it came back to Noboricho and settled on the site where it stands today. For decades afterward, the church on this ground was a small, single-story wooden building in the Japanese style. Until the end of the Second World War, the Hiroshima Catholic church was known by an older name, Noboricho Tenshu Koukyokai. It is a modest picture, and it makes what came next all the more striking.

3. 03

   Noboricho Catholic Church: August 1945 and a Promise of Peace

   On the morning of August the sixth, 1945, this site lay about 1.2 kilometers from the hypocenter of the atomic bomb. The blast brought down the whole church, apart from the rectory, which had been newly built in 1936. Fire then spread and burned the rectory too. At the time, the parish had about 300 members, and a little over 100 of them lived within the city. Twenty-five are recorded as having died in the bombing. The parish priest then was a German, Father Hugo Lassalle, and he was inside the rectory when the bomb fell. The building withstood the blast and did not collapse. That autumn, he and other priests put up a shack of corrugated tin, roughly the size of three tatami mats, and used it as a chapel. That tiny shelter was the first step toward rebuilding the parish. Out of that experience came an idea. Father Lassalle proposed a church as a place to remember the victims of the atomic bomb, and as a symbol of friendship and peace among all the peoples of the world. Catholics, along with people around the world who sincerely longed for lasting peace, answered with their wishes and generous donations. The cathedral was dedicated on August the sixth, 1954.

4. 04

   Noboricho Catholic Church: A Japanese Spirit in a Basilica

   The cathedral was designed by Togo Murano, with construction by Shimizu Corporation. It follows the traditional three-aisle basilica plan. It is 57 meters long. At its eastern end, where the sanctuary lies, rises a drum with a petal-shaped plan. A bell tower 45 meters high stands toward the northwest side. What makes it special is how Japanese the details feel inside such a Western form. Look for windows that call to mind pine, bamboo and plum. The lighting is modeled on lotus flowers, and a phoenix sits atop the dome. These touches answer the brief of the design competition, which asked for a cathedral that respected Japanese character, in a sound modern style, in harmony with its religious and memorial purpose. The result has been honored. It was the first postwar building in Japan to be designated an Important Cultural Property by the nation. It is also regarded as a pioneering work of reconstruction in the atomic-bombed city, and as a key early work of Murano's postwar career. Murano is the architect behind landmarks such as the Shin Kabukiza theater in Osaka and the Nissay Theatre in Tokyo.

5. 05

   Before You Head Off

   If you are planning a visit, the address is Noboricho four forty-two, in Naka Ward. From Hiroshima Station, take the Hiroden streetcar to the Hijiyama-shita stop, then walk for about 10 minutes. When you step up to the building, let your eyes move slowly. Take in the strong rhythm of the tower and the long body of the nave, then look closer for the small Japanese touches: the pine, bamboo and plum motifs, the lotus-shaped lights, the phoenix above the dome. If you go inside, notice how the light comes through the stained glass. And keep one thought with you. A tin shack the size of three tatami mats became the seed of this cathedral. Standing in the middle of a busy modern city, it still carries the same plain wish its founders had: remembrance, and peace.