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Permanent Exhibition From thePermanent Exhibition Area of thePleasureQuarters Torii Kiyonaga,ca.1782–84 Tachibana, fromthe Pleasure Quarters Pride Quarters Pleasure Utamaro,Kitagawa and T eras (1781-1800). world, the ukiyo-e In masters Torii as Kiyonaga, established the late in eighteenth century, the during and Among commoners Edoaesthetic in consciousness living of iki (present-day Nihonbashi). Higashi e painting depicts them series, are geisha the Tachibana in based Quarters Pleasure district e women depicted Tachibana in before they their make entrance. e woman the in middle is standing coming to end. an proactive commercial policies advocated by Tanuma were Okitsugu Tenmei Famine and sharply rising prices that in period, and the creative energy. experiencing e community also was the Great examining two ukiyo-e works. ukiyo-e two examining Here we explore the iki Edo agloomy casting shadow overbeginning, the free and lively Edospirit.

Contemporary Beauties

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iki ’ s emotions amanner this in that makes indierently, but witty not overly patterns. Torii depicts Kiyonaga their ū (sophistocated, knowledgeable) was ’ s masterpieces. e clean, Oct.23 Fri. 2020No.19 ō shi (e (e ” : the the : ” , From the Permanent Exhibition Area Historic Styles in the Era

Tokyo Metropolitan Edo-Tokyo Museum The permanent exhibition area at the Edo-Tokyo Museum includes, along with historic artifacts, models based on Director careful research. The Tokyo Zone has a corner entitled “Tokyo in the Age of ‘Civilization and Enlightenment’.” Fujimori Terunobu The scale models there, equipped with sound and movement, of “Ginza Bricktown,” “Rokumeikan,” and “Nikorai-dō” are particularly popular. Prior to the opening of the museum, its director, Fujimori Terunobu, spent many years constructing these models while he was still on the faculty of the University of Tokyo. Here he explains why these models, now part of the museum’s permanent exhibits, are so fascinating.

For a time a er the end of World War II, Western-style buildings from the Meiji era were considered old-fashioned and largely ignored. Reassessment of their value began around 1968, the centennial celebration of the start of the Meiji Era. Now many people admire their arches and domes, red brick and stone materials, and tasteful styles. ere is, however, one barrier to deeper understanding of these Western-style buildings. at barrier is style. is church is in the Gothic style, this bank is Neo-Classical, this station is Victorian: each of these Western buildings was built in a specic style. Each of these styles was dened during a particular era of European history, from the ancient Greeks on. Some were reborn or revived during the  eenth century, the Renaissance, as novel “Neo” forms of classical styles. e Meiji era, when Japanese architects were adopting European models, was also the nal era when those historic styles were being used. It was as if, seized with an overwhelming passion, those architects had turned over a toy box ll with historic toys, to play with whatever spilled out. Half a century ago, when historians of my generation were beginning to study the history of Replica of the Rokumeikan as it was in Replica of the Nikorai-dō as it was in the 1890s architecture, we believed that the history of modern architecture in could be understood November, 1885 without reference to those chaotic styes originating from European. As our research progressed, however, we came to understand that it was a mistake to ignore historic styles. We needed to know choice was surely not made without concepts or preferences. Whichever style was selected, there had why, out of so many possibilities, did an architect choose the one on which he based his design? e to have been a reason for it. Let’s examine three examples of Western-style buildings from early Meiji, starting with the style adopted for Ginza Bricktown, whose construction was completed in 1877. is style is called English Neo-Classic and during this era spread widely throughout regions colonized by Britain. ese buildings were designed by Irish architect omas Waters, whose intention was to replicate Great Britain’s imperial colonial style. But why? Waters was, by training a mining engineer. In Europe, that status would be lower than that of an architect. In Japan, however, he presumably wanted to enjoy working as an architect, with its higher status. Next, let's look at the Rokumeikan, a building designed to entertain foreign guests. e roof style is French. e porch appears to be based on the colonial veranda; its columns suggest coconut palms. e interior decoration was Islamic. In Britain of that era, the exotic combination of coconut palms and Islamic motifs would have evoked India. Josiah Conder, the architect who designed the Rokumeikan, had a geographical view of architectural styles. He thought that a style evoking India would be appropriate to ll the gap between Japan and the West. e original proposal for the Nikorai-dō (St. Nicholas Cathedral) sent from Moscow envisioned a properly Russian Orthodox style. Conder, who was commissioned to produce the nal design for the cathedral, kept the orthodox oor plan but eliminated the onion-shaped dome characteristic of Russian Orthodox churches. He replaced it with an English-style roof. His own aesthetic sensibility must not have allowed the onion-shaped dome. The Bustle of People in Front of the Chuo In all of these examples, form and style reect both the architects’ sensibilities and Shimbunsha Building on Ginza Brick Street Ogata Gekko, late Meiji contemporary trends.