Takarazuka’s Catholic Church looks like a white whale swimming through a residential area.
17:13 JST, November 9, 2024
TAKARAZUKA, Hyogo – A giant white whale swims leisurely, with its tail raised, through a residential area in Takarazuka, Hyogo Prefecture, with the blue sky like the ocean and flowing clouds like white-tipped waves.
This whale is a building, the Catholic Takarazuka Church of the Archdiocese of Osaka-Takamatsu, designed by Togo Murano (1891-1984), one of the most important Japanese architects of the 20th century. The church was completed in 1965.
The more I looked at it, the more I felt that the undulating roof represented the body of a white whale, with the spire for a tail. Inside, the ceiling has a curved shape. The interior space underneath could be considered the whale’s stomach. Some people also compare the building to an upside-down high heel or a very large fish.
It seems that the church almost emerged from the earth, rather than being built on it.
Satoko Takenaka, left, and Hisashi Murano pose for a photo.
“My grandfather always told me that the idea was to prevent the building and the earth from fighting each other,” Satoko Takenaka, 62, a granddaughter of Murano, said outside the church. Hisashi Murano, 54, a grandson of Murano, nodded as he stood next to her.
Modernist church
From Osaka he worked on many famous modernist buildings. In 1940 he moved to Takarazuka.
The church in Takarazuka is known by locals as ‘the church of the white whale’.
“I heard the story [of a large fish] in the book of Jonah in the Old Testament,” said Satoko, who was baptized in the church as a child.
In the book, Jonah, fleeing from God, is swallowed by a large fish. It prays in the stomach of the fish for three days and nights and is then vomited out.
“The ceiling of the cathedral resembles the upper jaw of a whale or a gigantic fish. It’s a mysterious space,” Takenaka said. “When you come from space, you feel like you’ve been reborn.”
She says the experience is similar to events in Buddhist temples in which people walk through the darkness believed to be the Buddha’s womb.
Father Ki Deok Park, the parish priest, said: “The cathedral seems to have something special. I feel like it’s different from others.”
‘A safe haven.’
The interior of the cathedral of the Takarazuka Catholic Church resembles the inside of a whale’s stomach.
Murano was baptized at the age of 89.
“My grandfather always had a brown bag in his pocket with his rosary in it. The bag was ragged,” Satoko said.
“He gave his full, sincere attention to each work,” Hisashi said. “Maybe it was partly because he was involved in a lot of religious building projects.”
In church people come together and care for each other. “By facing our weaknesses and praying, we can come closer to God’s will,” Father Park said during a homily.
The church is currently being renovated and is temporarily closed to outsiders. “The work will be finished on Christmas Eve, so come and pray,” the father said.
The architect wrote in a note: “After we had drifted across the ocean, [the whale] has finally found a safe haven.”
I felt like there was a prayer that included everyone in the church.
How do you get there?
About a seven-minute walk from Takarazuka-minamiguchi station on the Hankyu Line
Togo Murano
Togo Murano makes a construction model around 1960-65
Murano was born in Saga Prefecture. He worked on the Nissay Theater, Osaka’s Shinkabukiza Theater, and Takarazuka City Hall, to name a few.
In 1958 he received the Medal of Honor with Blue Ribbon and in 1967 the Order of Culture. His Memorial Cathedral for World Peace in Hiroshima is a designated Important Cultural Property.
