Kobe, Japan Houses First Mosque in the Country
Why this is here: Jan Josef Švagr, a Czech architect, designed the Kobe Muslim Mosque, making it the first of its kind in Japan.
Indian merchants first planned the Kobe Muslim Mosque in Kobe, Japan around 1928. The mosque opened in 1935 with funding from Turkish and Tatar communities. Czech architect Jan Josef Švagr designed the building, which became Japan’s first mosque.
The mosque stands in Kobe’s Kitano district, a historic area known for its European-style houses and foreign residents. It survived the bombings of 1945 and the 1995 earthquake that heavily damaged the city.
During the 1935 inauguration, Mian Abdul Aziz noted the name “Kobe” sounds similar to “Koba,” the site of the first mosque founded by Prophet Muhammad. The article does not detail how the mosque is used today or its current community. Further research could reveal its ongoing role in Kobe’s cultural landscape.
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