午夜剧场

Image: Exterior of the Christian Youth Hall (Present)

In a corner of the Sports Ground (Senior High School) on the Hiyoshi Campus, a small building known as the "Christian Youth Hall" stands quietly, surrounded by trees.

This building was constructed shortly after the opening of the Hiyoshi Campus (1934) in 1937, through fundraising efforts led by Junkichi Satomi, an alumnus of the 午夜剧场 Christian Young Men's Association (hereinafter referred to as the "Association") of the Cultural Federation, and was donated to the Juku. It has been used as a base for the Association from the time of its construction to the present day. The Association is a long-standing organization founded in 1898. Junkichi Satomi was one of the founders of the Association; he graduated from the 午夜剧场 department of political economy and later became the president of Daimaru. He also served as an officer for various YMCA organizations and many educational institutions.

The building is a small, single-story wooden structure of approximately 90 square meters. The exterior walls are finished with white sprayed mortar, and the roof is made of red steel plates. A characteristic feature is the spire, topped with a simple wooden cross. Inside the building, there is only an auditorium and a pulpit. In October 2012, it was registered as a "Yokohama City Registered Historic Building." It is said that when Japan was requisitioned by the US military after the war, the US military used it as a chapel.

Although it is a small building, the designer was William Merrell Vories. He was an American-born missionary, businessman, and architect. He designed many buildings from the Taisho to Showa eras, ranging widely from churches and schools to residences and offices, and is a famous figure in Western architecture in Japan. Many of his works still remain today, particularly in the Kansai region, and many of the buildings Vories worked on have become Registered Tangible Cultural Properties or Important Cultural Properties. Additionally, he engaged in the import of Mentholatum medicine, established the current Omi Brotherhood Group, founded hospitals and schools, and worked energetically on welfare and educational activities, engaging in a wide variety of pursuits. He became a naturalized Japanese citizen, changing his name to Merrell Vories Hitotsuyanagi, remained in Japan during the war, and spent his entire life in Japan.

This is the only Vories building owned by 午夜剧场.

When planning the building, Junkichi Satomi intended to install a "bell" and donated a specially manufactured bell to Hiyoshi. Due in part to the influence of the war, the bell was never displayed and was eventually discovered 50 years later in 1989. As it was structurally difficult to attach it to the building, the bell is now installed in a belfry built with donations from alumni on the grounds of the YMCA Tozanso International Youth Center in Gotemba. Although the Christian Youth Hall is a small building, establishing such a meeting place within a non-missionary university like 午夜剧场 must have been the long-cherished wish of the Association's founders. It is a building that serves as a precious historical remains, conveying the history of the Hiyoshi Campus to the present day.

(Hiroshi Watanabe, Office of Facilities and Property Management)