When you walk past the west side of the sports field, you might’ve noticed a unusual-looking structure sitting amongst the trees next to the Brother’s Residence. The “pagoda” is in fact, very historically significant to our school organization. Let’s take a look at the history behind this stone structure.
St. Mary’s was founded in 1954, and its campus was in Yokohama. Three years later, in 1957, the campus relocated to Shinagawa. The campus we have now was built in the 1970s, and the pagoda is one of the few artifacts from the original school.
The Diplomat talked to Headmaster Mr. Saburo Kagei and asked him about the significance of this sculpture. According to Mr. Kagei, the Shinagawa campus was built on the site of the original building where the Japanese government signed the pacifist constitution that renounced war.
Mr. Kagei provided a tour of the Brother’s Residence to point out some more historically significant objects on campus. Displayed on the front of the house is a large metal snowflake.
According to the Headmaster, this was also part of the original building and was brought over after the school switched locations.
Overall, these items hidden somewhere on campus are actually very historically significant both for the school, and Japanese history. The pagoda and snowflake carry on the legacy and stories from previous campus locations.
