The staircase in the Western-style building of the former Maeda Marquis's residence in Komaba Park had a nice structure

Komaba Park, which was the former residence of the Marquis Maeda, also preserves buildings built by the Marquis: a Western-style building built in 1929 and a Japanese-style building built in 1930. That is right. Just like Yataro Iwasaki's Iwasaki Residence in Ikenohata, the Maeda Marquis' Residence has both a Western-style building and a Japanese-style building.

It is said that Yataro Iwasaki did not feel at home in a Western-style lifestyle, so he lived a double standard, conducting his daily life in a Japanese-style house while entertaining guests in a luxuriously built Western-style house. One might think that Toshinari Maeda also built a Japanese-style house because he was not comfortable with the Western lifestyle, but this does not seem to be the case. On the contrary, it seems that Toshinari Maeda lived his daily life in a Western-style building and served his guests in a Japanese-style building.

It may have been common for wealthy people during this period to serve guests in the Japanese style. The Furukawa Garden, built by Toranosuke Furukawa of the Furukawa Zaibatsu, also had a Japanese garden with a tea ceremony room built on the site where the Western-style building stands. Perhaps the key word is "tea". If people wanted to entertain guests with tea, they naturally wanted a Japanese-style building, and as they were wealthy men, they must have actually built one.

Comment via

日本語