Meiji Mura: The architecture of the Meiji Era gathered and open to the public in Aichi Prefecture

In Aichi Prefecture, in 1965, was opened a park dedicated to bringing together and protecting the controversial architecture of the Meiji era. Indeed, when Yoshiro Taniguchi, a Japanese architect, saw through the windows of the metro the Rokumeikan (extremely luxurious building in which were organized large balls) being torn down, he decided with Motoo Tsuchikawa, owner of Nagoya Railroad, private transport company of Aichi Prefecture, to create a place where the emblematic buildings of the Meiji era could be preserved as evidences for the future.

An old photograph of the Rokumeikan
 

Thus was saved from destruction the Lobby of the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo that had built the famous American architect Frank Lloyd Wright, as well as the St. Francis Xavier Cathedral in Kyoto, church with a baroque architecture, rare example of this kind of building in Japan. But then, what is so special about Meiji architecture?

The lobby of the Imperial Hotel as it is currently in the Meiji Mura
 

After more than two hundred years of isolationism during the Edo era, Japan finally opened in 1854 under the threat of US naval forces. The archipelago will then send many of its subjects to study in the West and hire Westerners as advisers in various fields, including architecture. Meiji architecture is the result of this fusion, blending traditional Japanese materials with Western aesthetics of the time, creating a new architectural style that will be as controversial as fashionable during this era.

The interior of a Kyoto tramway car as it was then, now used as transportation in the park
 

Although some of these buildings can still be found in Japanese cities, including the Kyu-Iwasaki-Tei in Tokyo, most of them were destroyed during the Second World War or just after, in a frenzied quest for modernity in Japan. Among the missing buildings, there are unfortunately many culturally important works, including the Rokumeikan mentioned above.

That is why the existence of Meiji Mura takes on all its importance today, beyond the beauty of certain buildings, it is the trace of a transition in Japanese history that the park has the visitor to explore. Everything is made to plunge you into the Meiji era's atmosphere, the way of transportation inside even including a steam train. With about 60 buildings spread over 1km2 of hill near the lake Iruka, one crosses an old butcher's shop, a bank's headquarters, the door of a high school, a small police box, ... A unique experience is offered to you.


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