On the Heels of Meiji Era Architecture – Part 2
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
History of Relations of Asian Countries On the Heels of Meiji Era Architecture – Part 2 By Mohan Gopal Author Mohan Gopal Foreword Tokyo Station – Marunouchi Side My first article on this topic appeared in the March/April 2020 issue Tokyo Station was the centrepiece in the Meiji scheme of of Japan SPOTLIGHT. The article was inspired by a visit to Meijimura, architecture. As most of the great world capitals at the time boasted a the theme park created in Inuyama in Aichi Prefecture, as a site to grand central station, it would have seemed appropriate that the capital preserve Meiji Era architectural artefacts (www.meijimura.com). This of a new Japan should also showcase one. A famous architect of the article too focuses on Meiji Era architecture which was originally times, Tatsuno Kingo, was commissioned with the task in 1903 and located in Tokyo. The capital area is an endless source of history and it the station in all its grandeur was ready in late 1914, two years after may be a while before I am able to extend the subject to Meiji the Meiji Era ended, almost like a posthumous child of the era that architecture which had its beginnings in other parts of Japan. founded modern Japan. Tatsuno had already had constructions to his At the outset, I shall express my gratitude to a book that I stumbled credit, notably the grand red brick building of the railway station at upon – Meiji Revisited: The Sites of Victorian Japan (New York, Manseibashi about 3 kilometers to the north, two years earlier. Tokyo Weatherhill, 1995) by Dallas Finn. The book has become my veritable Station was designed as a three-story red brick building in European Bible on the subject and large parts of the writing that follows are style with large glass windows, elongated along a north-south axis. based upon information therein. This article is dedicated to the The main central entrance reserved for royalty and their guests would author’s passion and depth of research on the subject and her face directly west towards the Imperial Palace, several hundred meters excellence in making it very readable. away. The passenger entrance and exit were designed to be at the northern and southern ends, under lovely domed structures. The The First Couple building would be a miniature town with shops, restaurants and even a hotel, plus a few regal rooms in the central royal area. On a sunny afternoon in the late 1990s, I was seated inside the then The building survived the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake, unlike its glass-façade outdoor restaurant attached to the Tokyo station building elder brother Manseibashi, but fared rather badly during World War II on the Marunouchi side. My table was by the glass wall and on the when bombing destroyed the third floor and the domes in 1945. The outside, about 50 meters away, was the station’s central doorway station itself remained standing and was functionable again after a which was always kept closed. Almost innocuously, there was a week of temporary repairs. The next pressure on the legacy building sudden flurry of activity there. In quick succession, Japan’s national would be during the economic boom years, but thankfully destiny Hinomaru flag appeared above the doorway, a red carpet was laid would have it that Tatsuno’s masterpiece would survive these too. beneath it leading to the road in front, traffic was stopped in the After years of deliberation and almost six years of painstaking and immediately adjoining road, then on the second road beyond it and detailed renovation work after that, the current fully restored building finally on yet another road beyond. Almost simultaneously, the doors opened in 2012. Tatsuno, who died in 1919, was spared the sight of opened, the emperor and empress of Japan smilingly stepped out and the devastation wrought in 1923 and 1945 and he would be satisfied gracefully walked the 20 meters or so to a waiting black Toyota Crown with the outcome that stands today (Photo 1). embossed with the imperial gold Chrysanthemum insignia which had Photo 1: Author suddenly appeared seemingly from nowhere. In seconds, the Manseibashi automobile was off with its regal occupants, almost immediately followed by the same flurry of activities in quick reverse. The flag was The Kanda River rolled up, the red carpet vanished, and traffic was already running which snakes through normally on the three roads, as though no event of significance had central Tokyo almost ever occurred in the 15 minutes that had just passed. To me it was an slicing it in half into a event that remains etched in memory and I still wonder at the northern and southern efficiency, simplicity, and absence of any disruption, with which an portion is actually not a important activity was accomplished. river, but a man-made canal built two centuries before the Tokyo Station - Marunouchi Side in 2020 48 Japan SPOTLIGHT • September / October 2020 https://www.jef.or.jp/journal/ History of Relations of Asian Countries Photo 2: Wikimedia Commons; Public domain Photo 3: Author Church of the Holy Resurrection, or more popularly and affectionately known as the Nikolai-do (Photo 4). The original Nikolai-do was constructed at this site in 1891. It was engineered by Wilhelm Heise famed for his construction of the main bridge to the imperial palace (the Nijubashi) and designed by none other than Tatsuno’s teacher Josiah Conder, one of the most famous architects of the period and Original Manseibashi Station Entrance to the recreated Manseibashi station platform revered as the father of modern architecture in Meiji Japan. While Conder is supposed to Meiji Era began, as a result of the victorious Tokugawa shoguns have based the design on architectural plans received from Russia, the deciding to make Edo Castle their headquarters. The centralization of onion domes that characterize Russian cathedrals are absent. The the country’s governance in Edo – as Tokyo was known then – brought Nikolai-do is like a small brother version of the St. Alexander Nevsky in its wake the need to supply water to the rapidly growing population. cathedral in the heart of Sofia in Bulgaria – the largest Orthodox By the time of the Meiji Era, the canal had become critical and large cathedral in the Balkans – also constructed during the late 19th enough to be considered as a river transporting people and products. century in neo-byzantine style (Photo 5). Bridges were built to span it, wooden at first, transforming later into The heart behind Nikolai-do was a young Russian chaplain, Ioann stone and iron. Manseibashi was one such bridge and lent its name to Dmitrievich Kasatkin, given the name Nikolai upon graduation from his the station built close by. By the time Tatsuno’s hallmark station seminary in St. Petersburg, who arrived in the newly opened Russian building was ready, the Manseibashi area was already a central Consulate in the northern town of Hakodate in 1861. In that town, transportation hub with roads, tram lines, and railway lines. Nikolai initiated the construction of the first Orthodox church in Japan, However, drastic changes were in the offing. With Tokyo Station before moving to Tokyo in 1872. The Meiji Era had meanwhile begun, being completed in 1914 followed by an elevated railway line between with extra energy put into analyzing and recreating the West in Japan. it and the Ueno hub 5 km to the north, and the westbound Chuo line Nikolai was passionate about both Japan and evangelism. He learnt the being extended from Manseibashi to the new Tokyo station, the language, culture, and local traditions of his adopted country. Not even former’s importance started declining. The nail in the coffin was the the souring of relations between the empires of Japan and Russia in earthquake of 1923. While a simple station building temporarily the opening years of the 20th century could discourage him, and when replaced its destroyed grand predecessor, two existing stations nearby he died in 1912 his funeral at the church he had inspired was well- – Akihabara and Ochanomizu – and a new one at Kanda in 1919 attended, including a floral tribute from Emperor Meiji himself. After eliminated its raison d’être in the eyes of the city planners. Though the his death, Nikolai’s name became fondly etched in Tokyo’s Meiji brick building is no longer there, a part of the old Manseibashi Station history, just as that of the emperor during whose reign he had lived has been fondly recreated, including the original platform and station and who died only a few months later. staircase as a historical artefact. It is located inside a restaurant, built into the red brick viaduct of the Chuo railway line (Photos 2 & 3). War & Peace Nikolai-do Interestingly, the Russo- Japanese War of 1904-1905 was Photo 4: Author About 500 meters upstream from Manseibashi along the Kanda not about the land of either of the River is Ochanomizu. Coming out of Ochanomizu Station onto a series countries as known today. It was of by-lanes filled with students and academics from the numerous about which imperial power universities in the vicinity, on turning a corner one sees a building would have influence over the which strikingly marks its uniqueness by being in stark contrast to its Korean Peninsula and Chinese surroundings. It has a byzantine appearance – almost mosque-like Manchuria. In the context of the minus the minarets – with a large off-green central dome and a smaller times and what was at stake, the dome of the same color beside it.