Building and Maintenance of Religious Space as Adaptation and Hybridization: Comparative Studies on Hong Kong and Japan

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17KK0027
• Research Category: Fund for the Promotion of Joint International Research (Fostering Joint International Research)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: 震災問題と人文学・社会科学
• Research Institution: Kyushu University
• Principal Investigator: Fukushima Ayako 九州大学, 芸術工学研究院, 准教授 (50432878)
• Project Period (FY): 2018 – 2023
• Keywords: 香港 / カトリック / 宗教 / 教会堂 / 政教関係 / 信徒 / 教会

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Catholic church buildings in Hong Kong built since the 19th century till 2022 had been defined largely by Church and State relations of the time. From the 19th century till the early 1980s, during which Hong Kong had been a British colony, Church and the Government maintained a inter-dependent relation. When Britain and China signed the Join Declaration in 1984 to return the entire territory of Hong Kong to China in 1997, Churches of Hong Kong decided to operate independently from the Govrenment as much as possible. Depending on Church-State relation of the time, the Church selected a use to be integrated with the church (e.g. school, welfare, commercial), owner of the building (Church, government, private), permanency of the church space (temporary, transitional, permanent). The combinations defined architectural plan and form of the churches. Catholic churches of Hong Kong used adaptation and hybridization to secure the space of worship in the rapidly changing Church-State relations.

Free Research Field

文化財学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

教会堂建築の研究は従来、建築材料、様式を主な指標とし、これらによって形態は変化してきたと説明されてきた。19世紀から21世紀初頭にかけての香港の教会堂は、建築材料、様式ではなく、政治と宗教の関係、すなわち「政教関係」が教会堂建築のあり方を規定してきた第一の要因であったことを明らかにした。政教関係は19世紀以来、相互依存的関係から宗教抑圧的関係へと変化してきた。それに応じて教会堂はどのように変化したかを論証した。本研究の意義は、教会堂建築研究を、建築史学、宗教学、社会学、政治学的研究の手法を融合して成果を提出したことにある。