Tokyo, Archdiocese of

TOKYO, ARCHDIOCESE of. — Situated in the central-western part of the island of Hondo, it comprises the two civil prefectures of T. and Ciba, whose total area is 5079 sq km.

This territory originally belonged to the diocese of Funai, erected in 1587, and subsequently to the apostolic vicariate of Japan, erected in 1846 and entrusted to the Society of Foreign Missions of Paris. On 28 June 1876 the mission was divided into two apostolic vicariates: Southern Japan, with its center at Nagasaki, and Northern Japan, with its center at T. In 1891 the latter vicariate was elevated to the archdiocese of T.; at the same time, the seven civil prefectures of northern Japan and the island of Hokkaido were detached from it, forming the diocese of Hakodate, now Sendai. On 13 August 1912 the same archdiocese ceded the territories of Toyama and Ishikawa to the new apostolic prefecture of Niigata, subsequently annexed to the apostolic prefecture of Nagoya. On 18 February 1922 the territories of Aichi and Gifu were detached from it and became part of the new apostolic prefecture of Nagoya. On 9 November 1937 the archdiocese of T. was transferred to the secular clergy, and on 2 December the first archbishop of Japanese nationality was appointed. It has seven suffragan dioceses, namely Fukuoka, Nagasaki, Osaka, Sendai, Yokohama, Kyoto, and Sapporo.

T., anciently called Edo, was founded by a feudal lord about 600 years ago. It rose to the status of a great city under the Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu, who established his castle there, now the Imperial Palace. During the Shogunate of the Tokugawa family (350 years), although the ancient capital Kyoto (Miaco) continued to exist by right, Edo (later T.) gradually became in fact the true capital, the center of life and the heart of the entire Empire of the Rising Sun.

The great T. is also the seat of various religions: Shinto, Buddhist, and Protestant. The jinja, or national temples, are not included among the Shinto sects. The influence of Buddhism is enormous. In T. the Buddhists have 76 famous temples and countless followers. The modern “Hishi Honganji,” a kind of Buddhist Vatican, is exceptionally beautiful.

Spiritual condition. — The archdiocese has a population of 8,600,000 inhabitants; the metropolis alone has 6,230,000 inhabitants. There are 20,398 Catholics, with 4329 catechumens; 3000 dissenters of the Eastern rite; 52,000 Protestants; and 8,520,000 pagans. There are 28 national priests and another 189 belonging to 27 religious congregations. There are 75 brothers; 482 sisters, both national and foreign; and 28 major seminarians. There is an interdiocesan seminary, canonically erected on 23 January 1948, with 121 students; 35 catechists; 435 teachers; 25 Catholic physicians; 4 hospitals; 4 pharmacies; 9 orphanages; 2 kindergartens; 10 elementary schools; 9 middle schools; 3 secondary schools; 1 vocational school; 29 sacred buildings; 29 parishes; 9 principal stations and one secondary station.

(Fide photograph)

TOKYO, ARCHDIOCESE of — A peasant from the surroundings of T. with an original straw raincoat.

Edoardo Pecoraro