It is well known that Edward S. Morse and Bruno Taut wrote books about Japanese architecture, and that Frank Lloyd Wright was much impressed by the Japanese pavilion at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The latter also incorporated Japanese elements into his architecture, making afterwards several trips to Japan. What in Japanese architecture made it so attractive to these visitors from the West after the Meiji Restoration? Also, did japonisants, those European and American aficionados of ukiyo-e and Japanese craft objects, turn their attention to the country’s architecture as well?
How were the characteristics of Japanese architecture understood and incorporated into the Western built environment, exercising what kind of influence on the birth of modernist architecture? Conversely, while Japanese architecture was presented in numerous world fairs, what did the Japanese themselves do in order to promulgate it abroad?
Further, how conscious are such internationally active Japanese architects as ANDŌ Tadao, SANAA and KUMA Kengo about the specifically Japanese features in their designs, and how are they appreciated in the West?
The 2020 edition of the Society for the Study of Japonisme International Symposium seeks to examine these East/ West encounters and their consequences, including surprise, learning and adaptation, in terms of both architectural designs and ideas to which architectural spaces give rise.
Programme
9:30– Greetings and Introduction
(moderator: ISHII Motoaki, Professor, Osaka University of Arts)
9:30-9:40
- MABUCHI Akiko, President,Society for the Stury of Japonisme, Director, National Museum of Western Art: Welcome greeting
- NAKAMURA Hiroshi, Ebara Hatakeyama Memorial Foundation Welcome greeting
- 9:40–9:50 TANAKA Atsuko, Specially-appointed Professor, Shibaura Institute of Technology: Introduction
I. Foreign Views on Japanese Architecture
moderator: TANAKA Atsuko
- HAMAJIMA Hiromasa, Ph.D.candidate, Graduate School of Business Sciences and Social Sciences, University of Tsukuba: “Victorian Views of Japanese Architecture in the mid-19th century”
- ŌKUBO Miharu, Researcher in Comparative Culture: “The Tea House seen and interpreted by foreigners”
- II. How Japanese Architecture was Received and Understood Abroad
moderator: ŌKUBO Miharu
- Edward R. Bosley, Executive Director, The Gamble House, Pasadena, California: “Two Sides of the Pacific: Japan and the Architecture of Greene & Greene”
- Jean-Sébastien Cluzel, Associate Professor, Sorbonne University: “Restoration of Emblematic Buildings of Japonisme in France: Midori no Sato pavilion, Albert Kahn pavilions, La Pagode, Stork room.
Lunch Break
13:05– Afternoon Sessions
III. The Japan Pavilions in the Universal Expositions: Their Intentions and Forms
moderator: ŌKUBO Miharu
- ISHII Motoaki: “Japanese Architecture as Locomotive for the Presence at World Fair: Japan Pavilion at the Double International Exposition of Turin and Rome in 1911”
- MANDAI Yasuhiro, Professional, Nomura Real Estate Development Co. Ltd. HASEGAWA Kaori, Assistant Professor, Tokyo University of Science; YAMANA Yoshiyuki, Professor, Tokyo University of Science: “Pavillon du Japon at the Paris International Exposition 1937 as ‘New Japanese Architecture’ ― ‘Japanese Architectural Spirit’ of SAKAKURA Junzō”
- Helena Čapková, Associate Professor, Ritsumeikan University: “Japanese Space as Gallery: Afterlives of the Japanese Pavilions at International Exhibitions”
Break
IV. Modernist Space and Japanese Architecture
moderator: Tanaka Atsuko
- ŌSHIMA Ken Tadashi, Professor, University of Washington: “Japonisme Inside Out: From Bruno Taut to KUMA Kengo”
- KISHI Yū, Research Fellow, Institute of Asian Cultural Studies, International Christian University: “From ‘Taste’ to ‘Style’: Architectural Debates in Trans-war Japan”
- EMOTO Hiroshi, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Research Fellow (Post-Doctorial) Chiba University: “The Eloquence around Mies van der Rohe: Myth-making of Japanese Influence”
- 16:45–17:15 Lili Gracia, Master of Architecture Student, École Normale Supérieure d’Architecture Paris-Belleville, France; HASEGAWA Kaori; YAMANA Yoshiyuki: “The Youth Center in Cieux (1973) and the Moulin Blanc International Center in Brest (1983): a singular embodiment of the Japanese Traditional Architecture and Modernity dialectic by Roland Schweitzer”
17:15–17:25 Wrap-Up
moderator: TANAKA Atsuko, YAMANA Yoshiyuki
17:25 Closing Remarks
TAKAGI Yōko, Managing Director, Society for the Study of Japonisme, Professor, Bunka Gakuen University
17:30 Symposium Ends