Grand buildings of Meiji Japan

Anybody who has visited an ordinary, middle-class Japanese family will surely have noted the size and quality of the average Japanese house. They are, for the most part, small, double-story, pre-fabricated buildings without a lot of character, especially when compared to their western counterparts. And they were originally designed to house extended families, and often still are. Of course there are some large, well built modern houses, or new houses still constructed in the beautiful, classic style of Edo Japan, but these are few and far between. And incredibly expensive, when compared to similar structures in the US, or particularly Australia.

The Steele Memorial Academy, or Tozan Gakuin, in Nagasaki. It was built in 1887.

Of course limited space is a factor in Japan, which has led to a recent boom in reasonable spacious, high quality condominiums springing up in cities all over Japan, but the major reason for the lower quality housing that abounds in urban areas is the post-war boom. Japan was so heavily bombed that city and suburban housing was in very short supply immediately after the war. Japan was in a state of real poverty, with homelessness and starvation common. The need for low quality, low cost, minimum standard housing was desperate.

The construction industry grew rapidly on the back of the necessary building boom, and it also developed huge political clout. By the 1970's, when the post-war economy was in full swing, the construction companies were very powerful. To keep this power, and its accompanying wealth, it was necessary to keep the housing market in a permanent growth phase. So houses were, and still are, pre-fabricated units designed to last 30 or 35 years, when they are knocked down, and a new house built on the land.

But one period in the history of Japan resulted in some very beautiful architecture. Of course I am referring to Meiji Japan, commencing with the Meiji restoration in 1868, when the Emperor was returned to the throne after three hundred years of Tokugawa shogunate rule. Japan was opened up to the West, scholars were sent overseas, and western scholars, professionals and businessmen visited and settled in Japan. Japan developed it's first love-affair with things Western, and one legacy of this are the very attractive historic, beautifully designed and constructed Meiji period public buildings and large houses, many of which still stand as tourist attractions, or museums, having either survived all the bombing, or have been re-constructed out of public interest.

Glover house, situated above Nagasaki harbor, and it's dining room.

It is possible to see these houses all over Japan, including in such museum village set-ups as Meiji Mura in Nagoya, where about 40 buildings of Meiji period design have been relocated and re-constructed. But my favorite two places to see them are Nagasaki, on the Southern island of Kyushu, and Hakodate, located on the northern island of Hokkaido. Yokohama, too, is well known for its Meiji houses, but I am yet to visit there for long enough to visit and photograph them. The buildings in Nagasaki and Hakodate are still in their original geographic locations, giving them extra historic credibility and interest.

Lovely verandahs of Glover House, showing the Japanese inspired detail work, and the staircase in  the Steele Academy (Tozan Gakuin), totally Western in design and construction.

Nagasaki, Yokohama and Hakodate were all important harbors, doing trade with the West from very early in the Meiji period, and in the case of Nagasaki, even before that. This is one very good reason why these three locations became prime sites for these houses.

The beautiful Mitsubishi No.2 Dock house, used as a residence by ships' crews, inspires by the southern mansions of the U.S.

The Meiji architectural style that I particularly like are the American New England inspired clapboard houses, usually two story, with their American influence obvious, but with small touches, such as the decorative finishing, or the eaves construction, showing up the Japanese craftsmen who constructed them. A fine example of this is the building in Glover Garden, Nagasaki, the main building of the Tozan Gakuin, or Steele Memorial Academy, built in 1887. It sits close to the original Glover House, a single story timber house built for a Scotsman, Thomas Glover, who, amongst other very notable achievements, started the shipyard that was to become the Mitsubishi shipyard, the real target for the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki in 1945.

Large meeting room in the Steele Academy, now used as a museum, and the view across Nagasaki harbor to the shipyards.

There is a certain irony in this, I feel. But the shipyard was not visible from the air on the day of the bombing, so a different target was chosen, some five kilometers away, sparing the Glover house, and the other historic houses close by.

These houses sit on a high, steep hill directly overlooking Nagasaki harbor, and make up one of the finest house sites in Japan. They are surrounded by a beautiful garden, and obviously show how respected Wester businessmen and scholars were at the time of Meiji, to have been provided with such a prime piece of real estate. The Glover house is the oldest Western-style timber building in Japan, and actually pre-dates the Meiji period by just a few years, really being a product of the late Edo period. Glover provided considerable support to the young revolutionaries who fought to end the Edo period, and he later contributed significantly to the modernization of Japan through science and education.

Above the Glover house, taking pride of place in the garden now, is the southern U.S. inspired former Misubishi No. 2 Dock House, originally located beside the Shipyard, and used to provide a resting and lodging house for ships' crews. It is a beautifully proportioned timber clapboard construction, with little Japanese decorative touches, mainly around the window shutters, and at the top of the verandah posts.

The old public hall in Hakodate, rebuilt after fire in 1910, and one of the finest Meiji period buildings in Japan.

A similar style building to this, but much more ornate, is the old public hall in Hakodate, Norther Japan. It follows the same timber construction, but features entrance porticos, topped with balconies, and held up by four classical columns. Once again, the detail has very distinctive Japanese features, as does the eaves construction. Inside it features a stunning ballroom, and meeting hall. One method of financing these buildings as tourist attractions is to rent out period costumes to young Japanese ladies, who can stretch their imaginations back to a colorful past, as they glide around the ballroom.

Ballgowns for the tourists, ceiling and cornice detail in public hall, Hakodate.

Hakodate is also slightly hilly, and this building sits quite high above the town, overlooking Hakodate harbor. The building was constructed in 1910, to replace the original hall that was destroyed by fire. It is a truly splendid building, particularly the interior, which also features a marble reception room, and very ornate ceiling features and cornices, and crystal chandeliers.
Examples of Meiji architecture abound in the Motomachi district of Hakodate. The staircase is in the old British consulate, and the house is a small but cute family residence for a well known merchant.

There are many other splendid Meiji period buildings in this Motomachi district of Hakodate, including a sweet little house (by the standards of the day) built by the Tachikawa family in 1901, which has touches of Japanese cuteness evident from even then. But I think the public hall is the pick of the buildings, and must be one of the finest Meiji period timber dwelling in Japan, in my humble opinion.

RK

Comments

[jay]

you know what? something about Japanese architectural structures or designs makes me feel these buildings were built with so much passion in them. i mean the design and the neatness is just pleasant to look at through these pics. nice article by the way.