Chapter 3: Tour of Buildings - From the World of Landmark Guidebooks

The more Japanese architects with modern design skills there were, the more modern architecture became seen in Japan. People became aware of these buildings as new landmarks. This chapter introduces modern architecture shown in picture books of sights and guidebooks published during the Meiji era or later.

Modern Architecture Becoming Landmarks

In the Edo period, many people enjoyed pictures of sights in ukiyoe or “meisho zue (lit. a guidebook of sights with pictures)”. Buildings built after the Meiji Restoration also became the subject of pictures like those. In pictures of sights drawn around the year 1877, we can see the Rokumeikan, which was designed by foreign architects including Conder; the building of the Bank of Japan (converted from a Hokkaido Development Commission building) near the Eitaibashi bridge; the former Shimbashi station; and so on. The Rokumeikan was a very special building among them, which UCHIDA Roan described as follows: “People at that time considered the Rokumeikan to be a beautiful building replicating the splendid prosperity of civilization in London or Paris and used its name as a symbol of Western culture (UCHIDA Roan, “Yonju nen mae – shin bungei no shoko (lit. 40 years before – dawn of the new literature),” in Omoidasu hitobito – Yonju nenkan no bunmei no ichibetsu (lit. A brief look at civilization of 40 years) [357-142 イ]). But pictures of sights of buildings were not in the main stream. At that time, many pictures of sights represented places which were popular since the Edo period, like temple and shrines or bodies of water. The picture to the right is one of the works known as “kosenga”, which illustrated progressive scenery, sometimes including modern architecture.

It was not only one-off prints which only showed a few buildings, but guidebooks descended from Edo meisho zue (lit. A guidebook to sights in Edo with pictures) as well. For example, Tokyo meisho gashi (lit. A guidebook to sights in Tokyo with pictures and words) [11-150], published in 1888, didn’t have any pictures of buildings except for that of a five-storied pagoda in Shiba. Even in this time, some modern architecture appeared in Tokyo meisho hitori annai (A guidebook of Tokyo for individuals) (Material No. 7).

Modern architecture was considered to be sights outside of Tokyo as well.

Since early modern architecture was mainly adopted for buildings of public institutions like government offices, schools and stations, many of those which appeared in guidebooks were government offices. Especially in Tokyo, compared to the early modern period in which most government offices had been located in Edo Castle away from the public, modern architecture drew widespread attention, partly because most government offices came to have an independent building.

Before and After the Great Kanto Earthquake

In Tokyo, since the beginning of the Taisho period, the amount of modern architecture began to increase rapidly. The building of Tokyo Station and the East Building of Mitsukoshi Gofukuten (a kimono shop), which are still used now, completed reconstruction in 1914 (Taisho 3). That year, the Tokyo Taisho Exposition held by Tokyo Prefecture in Ueno Park encouraged the publication of many guidebooks to Tokyo.

In 1923 (Taisho 12), when modern architecture came to be common, the Great Kanto Earthquake occurred. Though many buildings collapsed or were destroyed by the earthquake and fires, some structures survived, as shown in this book which recorded the damage to them. Like St. Nikolay’s Church, which we saw in the chapter 1, not a few buildings were reconstructed after the earthquake.

Buildings lost in the Great Kanto Earthquake reflected the times in which they were built and were important to see how modern architecture took root in Japan. It is true that some have been reconstructed, but the only way to imagine what the building was like when it was built is with the help of photographs. At the exhibition in 1936 (Showa 11) to mark the Architectural Institute of Japan’s 50th anniversary, photographs of modern architecture in Japan were exhibited as “50 years of architecture,” and were well-received. We will introduce a photographic album which mainly shows pictures of the exhibition.

There is a higher proportion of pictures of modern architecture in photographic albums after the Great Kanto Earthquake. In the closing of this chapter, we will introduce a photographic album which compiles noted places which were rebuilt after the earthquake, and before they were damaged in the war.

Column: International Library of Children's Literature

The history of the construction of the Imperial Library started in 1896 (Meiji 29), when the proposal was approved by the House of Peers and the House of Representatives. TATSUNO Kingo and KURU Masamichi, a technical official at the Ministry of Education, belonged to the design committee which was established that year. MAMIZU Hideo, who also worked as a technical official under KURU Masamichi, visited America to investigate the architecture of libraries from 1898 (Meiji 31) to the next year, in order to design the Imperial Library. Coming back to Japan, he designed a hollow-square-shaped magnificent library with Kuru and its construction started in 1900 (Meiji 33). However, the Imperial Library, which was originally to be constructed from the east to the west side of the hollow square, was scaled down to consist of only the east part of the first plan due to the problem of budget. Since the plan was largely cut off and the Japanese style which Mamizu proposed wasn’t accepted, he left the Ministry of Education in 1902 (Meiji 35). In 1906 (Meiji 39), the Imperial Library opened with only 20% the size of the original plan.

Enlargement of the Imperial Library continued and one-third of the first plan was completed in 1929 (Showa 4), 23 years after the opening. The part which was completed in the Meiji period consists of a structure of steel frames and bricks, and walls made of shirochoba-ishi (a type of white volcanic rock which is similar to granite) and white bricks. The part which was completed in the Showa period, in contrast, consists of a structure of reinforced concrete and walls made of imitation stones including fragments of shirochoba-ishi and tiles imitating white bricks. Many ideas have been devised to increase the unity of the appearance of the building, even though the same materials are not available.

After being used as the National Library since 1947 (Showa 22) and as the Ueno branch of the National Diet Library since 1949 (Showa 24), the building was renewed as the International Library of Children's Literature in 2000 (Heisei 12). At that time, Nikken Sekkei was in charge of planning, the ANDO Tadao Architectural Office designed the part to newly build, and SAKAMOTO Katsuhiko from Kobe Design University was in charge of training for preservation of the old Imperial Library. The rebuilding included earthquake strengthening and aseismic base isolation aimed at avoiding the effects of disasters.

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