Retro Japan: Stately former Yamaguchi Pref. Assembly hall survives test of time
Completed in 1916, the building incorporates touches of Japanese and other Eastern elements alongside European influences, and the structure's unique aesthetic is evident throughout. The assembly hall's seating is arranged in a fan shape around the speaker's seat. The dignified interior, which use materials like Japanese cypress and maple, features a plaster ceiling accented with wooden frames for contrast.
The building was designed by Yorinaka Tsumaki (1859-1916) and Yoshikuni Okuma (1877-1952), then Finance Ministry bureaucrats in charge of building and repairs who were also involved in the construction of National Diet Building, along with Goichi Takeda (1872-1938), a professor at Kyoto Craft High School at the time. It features brickwork and also incorporates geometric patterns that were popular in Europe at the time.
Each room, including the governor's office on the second floor, features a different ceiling and wallpaper design. The stripes, waves and embossed patterns on the wallpaper in the governor's reception room were modern motifs of the era.
In 1965, plans were made to demolish the building due to deterioration and repeated typhoon damage. However, a preservation movement led by local residents successfully halted these plans. In 1984, the building was designated as an important cultural property of Japan. Serving as a parliamentary archive today, it is open to the public as a venue for concerts and lectures.
(Japanese original by Minoru Kanazawa, Kyushu Photo and Video Department)
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The Japanese version of this article was originally published on April 9, 2023.
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This series explores Japan's architectural wonders and secrets of yesteryear. Read more Retro Japan articles here.
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The Mainichi
12 hours ago
- The Mainichi
Retro Japan: Stately former Yamaguchi Pref. Assembly hall survives test of time
YAMAGUCHI -- More than a century after its construction, the stately former Yamaguchi Prefectural Assembly building, built primarily in the late Renaissance style, now serves as a parliamentary archive, having survived demolition plans in the 1960s. Completed in 1916, the building incorporates touches of Japanese and other Eastern elements alongside European influences, and the structure's unique aesthetic is evident throughout. The assembly hall's seating is arranged in a fan shape around the speaker's seat. The dignified interior, which use materials like Japanese cypress and maple, features a plaster ceiling accented with wooden frames for contrast. The building was designed by Yorinaka Tsumaki (1859-1916) and Yoshikuni Okuma (1877-1952), then Finance Ministry bureaucrats in charge of building and repairs who were also involved in the construction of National Diet Building, along with Goichi Takeda (1872-1938), a professor at Kyoto Craft High School at the time. It features brickwork and also incorporates geometric patterns that were popular in Europe at the time. Each room, including the governor's office on the second floor, features a different ceiling and wallpaper design. The stripes, waves and embossed patterns on the wallpaper in the governor's reception room were modern motifs of the era. In 1965, plans were made to demolish the building due to deterioration and repeated typhoon damage. However, a preservation movement led by local residents successfully halted these plans. In 1984, the building was designated as an important cultural property of Japan. Serving as a parliamentary archive today, it is open to the public as a venue for concerts and lectures. (Japanese original by Minoru Kanazawa, Kyushu Photo and Video Department) * * * The Japanese version of this article was originally published on April 9, 2023. * * * This series explores Japan's architectural wonders and secrets of yesteryear. Read more Retro Japan articles here.
Yomiuri Shimbun
a day ago
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Terrifying Yokosuka Air Raid Experienced by Teenage Girl; Now 95, Woman Recalls Seeing Stricken Battleship Nagato
Fumi Takahashi was 15 years old when she experienced the U.S. aerial bombing of the Yokosuka military port in Kanagawa Prefecture on July 18, 1945. The air raid near the end of the Pacific War targeted the battleship Nagato, which was anchored in front of her workplace. Takahashi, from Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, was mobilized into a student labor unit and was at the Yokosuka military port that day. She escaped to a basement and survived, and later beheld the tragic sight of the heavily damaged Nagato, which had been regarded as the symbol of the Imperial Japanese Navy's Combined Fleet. Her interview with The Japan News was the first time Takahashi has spoken to the media about those moments of terror 80 years ago. 'When I waved to the sailors on the Nagato, which was moored at the quay, they would wave back with signal flags.' Now 95 years old, Takahashi still vividly remembers the scene at Yokosuka military port. 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When they climbed up and came out, the workplace was completely destroyed. The students jumped out of the broken windows. Some fell onto green paint that was splattered about, and their clothes became covered in students were told to 'go to the mountain air-raid shelter' and started running. Takahashi said, 'A young soldier from the Kaiten human torpedo unit appeared and carried me on his back. Nine others followed behind, crying.' As dusk fell, Takahashi stepped outside the air-raid shelter to find the landscape completely transformed. There were large holes in the ground, and muddy water was flowing everywhere. When she approached the dock where the workplace was located, the Nagato was severely damaged and listing. Many of the ships that had been anchored there had sunk and were nowhere to be seen. According to the book 'Yokosuka,' an official history of the city, the Nagato was hit by bombs in its bridge and other areas. 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Asahi Shimbun
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- Asahi Shimbun
‘26 Martyrs of Japan' pieces return home from Vatican
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