[Former Iwasaki Residence Garden]

In a corner of Ueno, Tokyo, an ideal residence built by Meiji-era Japan while engaging with the West remains quietly preserved. The Former Iwasaki Residence Garden was constructed in 1896 as the main residence of Hisaya Iwasaki, the third president of the Mitsubishi zaibatsu. Once a grand estate spanning approximately 49,500 square meters with 20 buildings, only three structures remain today: the Western-style mansion, the Japanese-style grand hall, and the billiard room. Passing through the gate reveals a world that seems to embody the dawn of modern Japan.

The Western-style building, the centerpiece of these residences, was designed by Josiah Conder, the British architect renowned for his work on the Rokumeikan and Mitsubishi Ichigokan. Designed as a two-story wooden structure with a basement, it skillfully incorporated the stylistic beauty of Western architecture while considering Japan's climate and natural environment. The Jacobean-style decorations inside the mansion were both substantial and delicate. Observing the details—floors, walls, ceilings—revealed a profound aesthetic sensibility toward dwelling.

On the second floor of the Western-style mansion, a guest room featured precious “kinkarakawashi” wallpaper. Visitors could actually touch samples of this wallpaper. Kinkarakawashi is a traditional craft that recreates European kinkarakawa (animal leather) using Japanese paper. It involves applying metal foil (gold, silver, tin, etc.) to washi paper, then embossing it with carved wooden blocks to create raised patterns before coloring it. During the Meiji period, it gained high acclaim in Europe and America, and its export flourished as a Japanese art industry. However, by the early Showa period, it declined due to the emergence of new technologies and reduced demand, becoming a lost craft. This kinkarakawashi is also used on the walls of the VIP room in the former Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha Otaru Branch (a National Important Cultural Property), another building representing the completion period of modern Western-style architecture in Japan.

Meanwhile, the Japanese-style building adjoining the Western-style structure is a purely traditional Japanese architecture based on the Shoin-zukuri style. It retains screen paintings for the tokonoma alcove and fusuma sliding doors, said to have been sketched by the Meiji-era Japanese painter Hashimoto Gaho. The Japanese-style building served as the daily living quarters, while the Western-style building was primarily used as a private reception hall for the annual Iwasaki family gatherings and parties hosting foreigners and distinguished guests. Furthermore, the billiard room, connected via an underground passage from the Western-style building, was constructed in a Swiss chalet style, rare in Japan at the time, strongly reflecting the fascination with foreign tastes.

The garden surrounding the buildings, while partially following the layout of a daimyo garden, incorporated lawns in a hybrid Japanese-Western style, preserving an early form of the modern garden. After the war, the Former Iwasaki Residence Garden was seized by the GHQ. Following its return, it was used as the Supreme Court Judicial Research and Training Institute as state property, enduring the changes of the times. Now designated a National Important Cultural Property, we can still see the new Japanese architectural culture that began in the Meiji era. This invaluable cultural heritage, where architecture, gardens, and history can be experienced as one, continues to mark time alongside the city of Ueno.

Former Iwasaki Residence Garden
https://www.tokyo-park.or.jp/park/kyu-iwasaki-tei/index.html
Ginza Showroom
https://www.shokunin.com/en/showroom/ginza.html

References
https://www.spt.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/tosei/hodohappyo/press/2022/11/30/24.html
https://kyu-nippon-yusen-otaru.jp/about