The Japanese Church of Christ of Salt Lake City, Utah was founded in October of 1918 through the federated efforts of the Japanese Presbyterian Church and Congregation Churches of the Pacific Coast. Reverend Hidenobu Toyotome was sent to pastor the Salt Lake church as its first minister. Temporary officers were quickly elected and the work of outreach and evangelism was started in the Japanese community. To assist the minister in the work of evangelism, the Ladies Society for women and the Christian Endeavor Society for young people was organized.
In April 1921, Reverend Kenjo Tajima replaced the ailing Reverend Toyotome as the minister of the Japanese Church of Christ. Through Reverend Tajima's strong leadership and extensive traveling, membership and attendance increased. Reverend Tajima and far-sighted members continued in the efforts of Reverend Toyotome to build a new church, parsonage and dormitory. Construction of the new church was completed ahead of schedule in the latter part of 1924 in spite of many frustrated efforts and lack of funding. Reverend Tajima was soon after transferred to Southern California. Six more Issei ministers served the church until 1966 when they were completely replaced by bilingual and English-speaking Ministers who better fit the needs of the changing congregation.
In response to a growing need for an English-speaking minister, Reverend Howard Toriumi and Arnold Nakajima were called to provide pastoral leadership to the younger Japanese (Nisei) of the Intermountain area during the early 1940s. The growing presence of Nisei with their western values necessitated the formation of two separate bodies within the church, one for Iseis and one for Niseis. The two bodies functioned independently in terms of programming and pastoral leadership though both organizations shared the same physical facilities. The two churches remained separate for nearly twenty years, by which time it became too difficult to support two ministers and the Issei and Nisei churches were reunited in 1967.
Reverend George Hirose ministered the reunited church during the baby boomer years. Sunday school reached its zenith with over 180 children and youth. During the 1950s and 1960s a very effective Young Adult fellowship program was initiated. In 1962, to serve the Sansei (third generation), the JCC built a new Christian education building with a fellowship hall and multiple classrooms. In addition to youth outreach, the church began celebrating Japanese culture with the establishment of the Oriental Festival, later called Nihon Matsuri, in 1952.
Just as the 1960s was a turbulent time around the nation, it had resounding effects on the church. Issei leadership had been passed on to the younger Nisei and the Sansei generation did not remain active past their youthful years. Communication problems between generations became very evident and attendance decreased. Many Japanese business owners were forced to close down due to the building of the Salt Palace. This construction changed the downtown area completely, essentially eliminating the First South area known as Japanese Town or Japantown.
Reverend Kato led the church during the early 1970s until he left to attend the Graduate School of Social Work at the University of Utah in 1975. In 1979 Kato was killed in a tragic auto pedestrian accident.
Pastor Arata took charge of the congregation in 1976 and remained in this position until 1985. The main focus during Arata's ministry was outreach to the Sansei and young families for membership and leadership. When Reverend Ikeda was appointed to lead the congregation in 1987, he continued Pastor Arata's focus of outreach to the Sansei. Reverend Ikeda also started new mission projects.
This history was adapted from the 75th Anniversary Book of the Japanese Church of Christ. The original history was complied by Reverend Paul Kato, Reverend S. Kent Ikeda, Dorcas Nakao, and Shig Matsukawa.
Japanese Church of Christ photograph collection consists of 10 boxes of black-and-white and color prints and negatives and some digital-only images. The material was created, collected, and donated by various members of the JCC over time. The material documents almost 100 years of the church's activity, dating from approximately 1910 to 2017. The collection includes both formal group photographs of church leaders and congregations and informal snapshots of events sponsored by or located at the JCC. The collection also contains images of the lives of individuals associated with the group, including many studio portraits of unidentified individuals.
Series I: Members and Events consists of 4 archives boxes. Box 1 contains material from the earliest donation and largely foucses on the earliest years of the church. The majority of the early images in the Japanese Church of Christ collection were taken from the Hirasawa family album. Identifications of these images are adapted from the 75th Anniversary Book of the Japanese Church of Christ, edited and designed by Ted Nagata. Box 2 contains portraits of largely unidentified individuals associated with the church. Boxes 3 and 4 depict activities, events, and group portraits of the congregation dating primarily from the 1960s-1990s, with some images of members taken at Easter in the 2000s.
Series II: Oversize contains boxes 5-8. The images in these boxes primarily consist of large format group photographs of church members, with emphasis on gatherings for weddings and funerals. Box 8 contains a photograph album documenting the history of the church. Many of the images in the album are photocopies rather than photographic prints.
Series II: Addendum (2019) consists of oversize box 9 and archives box 10. These boxes were donated by church members in 2019. Box 10 contains formal studio portraits of unidentified individuals associated with the church circa the 1930s-1940s, with folder 5 containing material seemingly connected by a member of the Akagi family.
The
Twenty-four hour advanced notice encouraged. Materials must be used on-site. Access to parts of this collection may be restricted under provisions of state or federal law.
The library does not claim to control copyright for all materials in the collection. An individual depicted in a reproduction has privacy rights as outlined in Title 45 CFR, part 46 (Protection of Human Subjects). For further information, please review the J. Willard Marriott Library's
Collection Name, Collection Number, Box Number, Folder Number. Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library, The University of Utah.
Donated by Ted and Yeiko Nagata in 2003; addendums by Ted Nagata in 2006 and 2013. Addendum by Suzanne Hata in 2005. Addendum by Japanese Church of Christ in 2007, 2012, and 2017. Addendum by Shig Matsukawa in 2008. Addendum by Jun Kurumada in 2012. Addendum by Grace Tasaka in 2013. Addendum by Lillian Nakamura in 2017. Addendum by Lorraine Crouse in 2018. Addendum by Jerdravee "Ja" Morrison in 2019. Addendum by Karen Okawa and Ben Akagi in 2019.
Processed by Jamie Colton in 2003. Addendum added by Special Collections staff in 2026.
See also the
This collection forms part of the Mitsugi M. Kasai Memorial Japanese American Archives.
These images are printed on printer paper from digitized files that were scanned by the donor.
These images were sent to the library digitally (emailed, on CD, flash drive, hard drive). The image files can be requested, but the library did not create the scans and does not have the original images.
Frank Imai and Julie Otsukka.
The folder contains one print. Most of the items are digital only. These images are born digital (taken with a digital camera or phone. They are in JPG format.
Includes group photographs of Utah and national members of Japanese churches and snapshots of Salt Lake City congegreation members and their relatives. Items 21-40 are black-and-white copy slides of historic JCC photographs.
This image was sent to the library digitally (emailed, on CD, flash drive, hard drive). The image file can be requested, but the library did not create the scans and does not have the original images. The image was taken by Ted Nagata.
From Ron Nishiyama
Likely collected by JCC member M. Akagi.