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MEIJI-MURA
IT WAS during the Meiji era, 1868-1912, that Japan more than opened to western influence. The country, isolated by choice for the previous 300 years, enthusiastically assimilated western ways in everything from building design to bowler hats.
The Museum Meiji-Mura (www.meijimura.com/english) has structures recreated from the Meiji era. Shown on this pamphlet is the Reception Hall of Marquis Tsugumichi Saigo, c. 1880. Original site, Tokyo.
Meiji-Mura (“Meiji Village”) is an outdoor museum of more than 60 buildings of the Meiji era, painstakingly relocated from the original sites. The museum is in Inuyama, Aichi Prefecture, about two hours west of Tokyo by train, 20 miles north of Nagoya by car.
Each bit carefully identified, these may eventually be reassembled into another Meiji-Mura display.
The Mei Prefectural Office is an elegant building in Palladian style. It was designed and built by master-carpenter Gihachi Shimizu.
Mei Prefectural Office, 1879. Original site, Tsu, Mei Prefecture.
The Mei Prefectural Office survived World War II and continued in use for 85 years. It was recreated at Meij-Mura in 1967.
Not all the structures at Meiji-Mura are overwhelming in size. The Shichijo Police Box and others like it were tidy and familiar sights to city residents.
Shichijo Police Box, 1912. Original site, Kyoto.
The Shichijo Police Box is a wooden building, stuccoed and covered in ceramic tile imitating brick.
Dating from 1895, Kyoto had the oldest streetcar system in Japan. It remained in use, albeit with updated rolling stock, until 1971.
Streetcar, 1895. Original site, Kyoto.
At Meiji-Mura, two of these streetcars run a 0.4-mile route between sites.
Steam locomotives came to Japan from England as early as the 1870s. This 1877 Rokugo River Iron Railways Bridge was originally in Tokyo.
At first, railway bridges in Japan were wooden, but in 1877 the Hamilton’s Windsor Ironworks of Liverpool assembled this first iron bridge in Japan.
St. Francis Xavier’s Cathedral, 1890. Original site, Kyoto.
Originally built in 1890 of stuccoed brick, when moved to Meiji-Mura St. Francis Xavier’s Cathedral was made more earthquake-proof with brick-faced reinforced concrete.
Within, St. Francis Xavier’s columns and vaults are of zelkova wood.
Francis Xavier came to Kagoshima, Japan, in 1549 and visited Kyoto, the original site of the cathedral named for him.
The Frank Lloyd Wright Imperial Hotel (www.wp.me/p2ETap-11v) is one of my favorite architectural recreations at Meiji-Mura.
This second of three Imperial Hotels in Tokyo replaced the original Imperial, built in 1890 and considered outdated by 1919. This page from the catalog shows a location stamp, used by school kids to verify their Meiji-Mura tours.
Just a tad beyond the Meiji era, the Wright-designed Imperial opened in 1923, just in time for the Great Kanto Earthquake, which it survived.
Imperial Hotel Tea Room being prepared for afternoon service.
The Imperial’s Meiji-Mura recreation includes its second-level Tea Room.
Several of Meiji-Mura’s structures are of Japanese significance though originating elsewhere in the world. Hilo, for instance, on the Big Island of Hawaii, had an assembly hall specifically for its Japanese immigrants, even at a time when such travel was without permission.
Japanese Immigrants’ Assembly Hall, 1889. Original site, Hilo, Hawaii.
Built by Rev. Jiro Okabe as a Congregational Church for Hawaiian immigrants, the Japanese Immigrants’ Assembly Hall was reconstructed at Meiji-Mura celebrating the structure’s 80th anniversary in 1969.
The Museum Meiji-Mura continues to add to its delights. ds
© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2013
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