International Architecture in Interwar Japan

"The great strength of this book is its fascinating and compelling examination of a short but fertile moment in architecture history through the multiple lenses of Horiguchi, Yamada, and Raymond . . . a long overdue study of the germinal stage of modernism in Japan."

"A welcome addition to the literature on modernism in Japanese architecture. Oshima focuses on three of the most important professionals engaged in the shaping of a new culture that articulates patterns from Japanese culture and new forms invented in the West."

"A well—researched book dealing with an especially creative period in the history of modern Japanese architecture. International Architecture in Interwar Japan is particularly effective at exploring the relationship between Japanese architecture and contemporary developments elsewhere in the world."

"Japan's dramatic rise to international architectural prominence after the Second World War is well known, but the roots of that creative burst—- ideologically, stylistically and socially—- in the work of a handful of practitioners who negotiated the complex terrain of national tradition and modernization are little studied. Ken Oshima's focus on three figures whose works are central—- but most of whose buildings have been lost—- is an eye—opener. A richer understanding of Japan's place in twentieth—century architectural history emerges from each of the subtle analyses offered of major designs lost or lost to critical scrutiny until now."

"Anyone who has followed the evolution of architecture in the first half of the twentieth century will have long been aware of the fertile Japanese contribution. However, until this brilliant study of three of its most prominent, pioneering practitioners, we have not only lacked sufficient documentation but also any kind of comprehensive analysis that does justice to the richness and rigor of these architects: Sutemi Horiguchi, Mamaru Yamada and the émigré Czech—American Antonin Raymond, whose unique contribution in the interwar years in Japan was to be fully integrated into the local architectural culture. What Ken Oshima demonstrates is that far from being a reductive abstract manner solely dependent on foreign models, this Japanese 'international style' yielded a regionally inflected, modern architecture that was particularly appropriate to the modernization of Japan. This is a seminal work, to be valued as much for its relevance to Japanese cultural studies as for the important contribution it makes to the history of modern architecture as a whole."