The Water Church in Hokkaido

Posted on May 1, 2007 by Tarasenko Kateryna

Tomamu is a small JR station harbored in the mountains of HokkaidoThe Northernmost of the 4 major islands of the Japanese archipelago., somewhere halfway between Furano and Asahikawa. As we saw the train off, I got an odd feeling that we were left alone in the green mountains. We crossed a whimsical caterpillar-shaped stuffy walkway over the railroad.(Actually the walkway crossing was my first and the only time to experience hot and humid summer in Hokkaido, so far). After leaving the station behind, we were happy to acknowledge that this was not a completely uninhabited land after all. A kind-looking bus-driver in a smart uniform was welcoming us with a fatherly smile into the fare-free bus. "We would like to visit Mizu no Kyokai (The Water Church). Is this the right bus?". Sure, he confirmed.

15 minutes later, we were again left alone in an abandoned spot with neatly mowed golf courses, now-on-the-summer-vacation ski slopes and a couple of skyscrapers looking pretty hippy-ish among the conservative style pine trees and other wild vegetation. It felt pretty weird to see all those facilities designed for humans, but not a single soul taking actually advantage of them.

The bus dropped us near the hotel called Astoria, if my memory is correct. A young receptionist lady in a uniform led us through luxuriously looking but nevertheless lonely huge hall out to the church grounds.

There, amid birch trees (I felt myself like in Russia, indeed) washed by tens of tiny streams, it was. The Water Church was designed by the famous Japanese modernist architect Tadao Ando: a concrete squared building with four concrete crosses installed in a big glass box on its roof. To the left of the box there is a concrete squared frame of the length equal to that of the church's façade, which we could not grasp the purpose of first. On the face of it, the church seems to owe its name to the adjacent pond reflecting very accurately all the objects around. There is another yet iron cross set up in the middle of the pond parallel to the left edge of the façade. We walked around the pond and came closer to the front of the church stepping on the stones in the water. We scrutinized the simple interior: two rows of benches and a platform for a pastor at the end of the aisle, right by the glass window. From the spot where we landed, one can see the iron cross, clouds and trees being reflected in the pond, which, in its turn, is reflected on the glass façade. Thus, the observer outside gets the illusion that the floor in the church is flowing! As we felt like we had been plunged into a magic water kingdom, the glass façade started moving until it filled the empty frame to the left having endowed it with a practical meaning.

The "concrete box" created by Ando gave us an indelible impression. This work of art made my skeptical attitude towards the modernistic architecture melt. The church is open to visitors, though a reservation for a tour into the interior is to be made in advance. Wedding ceremonies are welcomed too. I believe this is indeed a place worth stopping by at any time of the year. If you happen to go to Tomamu for skiing, avoiding the unbearable heat of the Honshu`s summer or whatsoever, give it a try!