Place: Sannomiya - Kobe City - Kobe Port
My Travel:
For todays entry I would share my whole day's excitement of my new travel to Kobe city. Many fascinating places including Kobe Mosque, Kobe Port, Kobe Tower and Maritime Museum were visited.
Traveling from Osaka city, it took only 40 minutes. The route to Kobe city as follow:
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[Hankyu Line] Minami Senri => [JR Line] Osaka => [JR Line] Sannomiya => [JR Line] Kobe
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Kobe Mosque: First established mosque in Japan
Kobe is the capital of Hyogo Prefecture and one of Japan's ten largest cities. Located between the sea and the Rokko mountain range, I would say Kobe is also considered one of Japan's most attractive cities.
My Japanese friend ever said, Kobe has been an important port city for many centuries. There was one of the first Japanese ports to be opened to foreign trade in the late Edo Period, and the city remains one of Japan's cosmopolitan cities. I would say there are a lot of Muslim immigrants too. So, it is not surprised the Kobe Mosque was founded since 1935. SubhanAllah!
In January 1995, Kobe was hit by the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, which killed over 5000 people and destroyed tens of thousands of buildings. A decade later, the city is completely rebuilt, and few signs of the terrible event are left.
This past aftermath enthuse me traveling there.
Sannomiya JR Station
Sannomiya City
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| The Sannomiya map locates Kobe Mosque |
Police Station
The route to Kobe Mosque
Higashimon Street
Ikuta Shrine (生田寺）
Actually, this temple is the short cut route to Kobe Mosque
Red Spirit of Temple
Fengshui Garden
Exit Temple Gate
VIP Guests attending the Ritual Ceremony
The main temple building
Rabbit-chan welcoming the kiddies
Front Gate of Ikuta Temple
Ablution area for Shinto
Kobe Mosque
After walking around 20 minutes from Sannomiya, JR train station, finally I reached at Kobe Mosque. I noticed there looks like Muslim community area where I could found many Muslim people and several Halal Food shops. At Kobe Mosque, I had a chance meeting with mosque manager, Mr. Ahsan. Actually, he is a father of my two teachers during my former university: Saira-sensei and Saima-sensei. I was informed he had been 35 years living in Kobe since he immigrated from Pakistan. I am really lucky to meet him, knowing some past and current Muslim issue in Kobe.
According to Mr. Ahsan, the
Kōbe Mosque
(神戸モスク) or Kobe Muslim Mosque (神戸 ムスリムモスク) was founded in October, 1935. It is Japan's first mosque ever constructed, by donations collected by the Islamic Committee of Kobe from 1928 until its opening in 1935. Unfortunately, the mosque was confiscated by the Imperial Japanese Navy in 1943. However, it continues to function as mosque today. It is located in the Kitano-cho foreign district of Kobe.
Gratefully to Allah, during the
Great Hanshin earthquake in 1995, the Kobe Mosque strongly preserved without any catastrophe
. Historically, t
he mosque was built in traditional Turkish style by the Czech architect Jan Josef Švagr (1885–1969), the architect of a number of Western religious buildings throughout Japan. And now, I observed unitil last weekend, it developed progressively with further renovation. Hopefully, may Allah bless the Kobe land and I pray He open other hearts to be at Peace. Amin. 