Tatsuno Kingo
(1854–1919), first modern Japanese architect. Tatsuno Kingo was born the son of a low-ranking samurai of the Karatsu domain, in what is today Saga Prefecture. He left the province to go to Tokyo to study at the Imperial College of Engineering (forerunner of the Department of Engineering at Tokyo University) under Josiah Condor (1852–1920), a British architect who came to Japan in 1877. After Tatsuno graduated in 1879 at the top of this class, he went to London and trained under the Gothic-revival architect William Burges (1827–1881). In 1883, he returned to Japan and became a professor and dean of the School of Engineering at Tokyo Imperial University. He worked to found an architectural academy and promoted the introduction of modern architectural construction methods and materials.
His career can be divided into an early period during which he employed and introduced classic design and a later period in which he developed his free classic style. Tatsuno helped to introduce Westernstyle architecture to Japan, first with the Bank of Japan Building (1896) built in Italian Renaissance style; then with the Tokyo Station Building (1914), a brick-built structure based on Amsterdam Central Station, which was the last great Meiji period (1868–1912) construction project.
Further Reading
East Japan Railway Company. (1990) Tokyo eki to tatsuno kingo: ekisha no naritatchi to Tokyo eki no dekiru made (The Tokyo Station and Tatsuno Kingo: The Formation of the Station Building and the Station Itself). Tokyo: East Japan Railway Culture Foundation.
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