The Japanese garden extends beyond the frosted glass in the Japanese-style wing of the former Maeda Marquis's residence

Frosted glass of the former residence of Marquis Maeda — Japanese-style wing of the former residence of Marquis Maeda

After touring the Western-style house, I headed to the Japanese-style house of the former Marquis Maeda's residence, also located in Komaba Park. Unlike the Western-style house, which had a family room, this house was used exclusively for entertaining guests. It is said that Marquis Maeda, who was a military officer stationed in London, built this house to entertain guests from abroad. The Western-style building is elegant, but this Japanese-style building is no less so. The Japanese-style building was built with the best of Japanese architecture, such as the different shelves and the openwork carvings in the transoms of the transoms.

Entering the entrance, you will immediately see a hall and a Japanese garden. It is a very Japanese scene. It would have been fine to receive guests in a Western-style building, but I am sure that guests from the West would not be so impressed by a Western-style building. No matter how extravagant the Japanese may have been in their construction, there is no denying the possibility that it would look like an ape-like imitation to natives. That would be uninteresting. If that were to happen, it would be much better to show the sophistication of one's own culture. Marquis Maeda must have calmly calculated the situation and built a Japanese-style house next to the Western-style house to welcome guests.

Comment via

日本語