Kobe Muslim Mosque

A major international port of post-feudal Japan, the city of Kobe was one of the first to welcome foreign visitors to the country. Soon, a sizeable foreigner district developed in the Kitano area of the city, which remains today as its main tourist attraction.

While the Kitano district is known for its historic European-style houses, it is also home the only Jain temple and the oldest mosque in Japan, their exotic presences fusing naturally into the unique atmosphere of the area.

First planned by Indian merchants around 1928, the Kobe Muslim Mosque was completed in 1935 with financial supports from Turks and Tatars. Designed by Czech architect Jan Josef Švagr, the mosque was the first of its kind in the country and has survived both the 1945 bombings of Kobe and the devastating 1995 earthquake.

At the inauguration ceremony, Mian Abdul Aziz, chairman of the All-India Muslim League, commented on the phonetic similarity between Kobe and Koba (Quba’), the location of the first mosque founded by Prophet Muhammad. As it also sounds like Ka’aba and literally means “God’s door,” one can see that it was a fitting place to establish Japan’s first mosque.