5.5 Fire and Reconstruction: The Rebirth of the White Tent#

Facing history requires courage; facing loss requires even more.

The avant-garde cathedral standing before us is actually quite young, completed in 1998. Before this, the site was home to a classical Romanesque church featuring twin towers, a landmark built to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Xavier’s visit to Yamaguchi. However, a fire in September 1991 reduced that beloved old sanctuary to ashes.

When a cherished symbol is destroyed in an instant, should one restore it exactly as it was, or seize the opportunity for radical reinvention? The church chose the latter.

The task of reconstruction was entrusted to the Italian priest and architect Costantino Ruggeri. He boldly discarded the heavy forms of traditional church architecture, opting instead for a geometric design constructed from countless white triangles. This unique shape symbolizes a “Tent.”

In religious terms, the “Tent” holds profound metaphorical weight: it represents not only God’s dwelling place among men (the Tabernacle) but also the journey of missionaries who travel long distances, making their home under the open sky. This white “Tent” perfectly mirrors the figure of Xavier, who traveled ten thousand miles to the East, imbued with a sense of dynamism and the poetry of a life in motion.

Stepping inside, sunlight pours through the modern stained glass, bathing the otherwise cold, geometric space in a warm and sacred glow.

Looking at this white structure reborn from the fire, one cannot help but reflect on the history of faith in Yamaguchi. From the prosperity of four hundred years ago to the bloody massacres under the ban on Christianity, and finally to the burning and reconstruction of the modern church—it seems that every destruction was merely the precursor to a purer rebirth.

Perhaps true faith and culture are just like this white tent: not clinging to old forms, but possessing the courage to stand up amidst the ruins and continue walking toward the light with a brand-new posture.