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Hakodate Orthodox Church

First Orthodox Church in Japan

Hakodate Orthodox Church was started in 1860 and is the birthplace of the Japanese Orthodox Church. The white-walled church was built in the Russian Byzantine style, with six bronze tower bells of a mellow tone, and paintings of the Iconostasis made by Russian painters.

Hakodate Orthodox Church, also known as Church of the Resurrection, was first built in 1860 next to the then Russian Consulate in Hakodate and was destroyed by fire in 1907. Today, the white-walled Orthodox Church is a piece of Russian Byzantine Architecture, and was rebuilt in 1916 as a second-generation church.

Orthodox Style Dome

Hakodate Orthodox Church is the birthplace of the Japanese Orthodox Church. The missionary St Nicholas Kassathin came to Hakodate from Russia in 1861 and landed in this church. He brought Orthodoxy to Japan and became the Archbishop of Japan. Before his death, he raised money to rebuild the Hakodate Orthodox Church. The Stone Monument for St. Nicholas can still be seen today in the church garden.

Manywhere Trivia:
In 1872, St. Nicholas was sent on a mission to Tokyo, where he founded the famous Tokyo Holy Resurrection Cathedral, also known as Nicholas Church (Nikorai-do), the first cathedral in Japan.

The six bronze bells inside the Church's Bell Tower have a rich and mellow tone and sound as if they were arranged in an orchestra, so the Church is fondly called The Church of Clanks by local residents.

Inside the church nave, which is square in shape, there are 30 Paintings of the Iconostasis on Display, and they were all by Russian painters.