A Study on Kawaguchi Catholic Church in Osaka (Part 1) : The Establishment of the Church From the Viewpoint of Land Use

The Kawaguchi Catholic Church in Osaka was established by French priests of the Missions étrangères de Paris adjacent to the Kawaguchi foreign settlement. Analysis of diplomatic and administrative documents from the late Edo and early Meiji periods reveals that the church site was secured through the intervention of French vice-consul Joseph Lèques, who simultaneously ac-quired a former daimyō warehouse-residence for the French consulate. This study demonstrates that the founding of Kawaguchi Church was made possible by French diplomatic leverage at a time when Christianity remained officially prohibited in Japan, highlighting the entanglement of religious mission and consular authority.