Tokyo, birth of a modern city: the exhibition at the House of Culture of Japan, our photos

Attention lovers of Japanese culture! This fall and winter, the House of Culture of Japan in Paris immerses us in the urban and societal transformations of the city of Tokyo, through a unique exhibition. To discover from November 6, 2024 to February 1, 2025this new temporary installation of the Maison de la culture du Japon in Paris intends to enlighten visitors on the history of the evolution of the Japanese capital, which had to rebuild itself after the terrible Kantô earthquake of 1923.

To do this, this exhibition entitled “ Tokyo, birth of a modern city » reveals around a hundred works from the collections of the Edo-Tokyo Museum, centered essentially on the period of the 20s and 30s. These modern prints rub shoulders with posters, photographs or even kimonos, cards and decorative objects, the everything distributed over a course divided into 4 distinct themes: “Tokyo before the great earthquake“, “The Great Kantô Earthquake“, “The reconstruction of Tokyo“, Then “Modern Tokyo and its inhabitants“.

In the first part, visitors can admire prints made by one of the masters of the genre, I named Kobayashi Kiyochika (1847-1915), as well as works dating from before the Great Kantô earthquake, to the Taishô era (1912-1926). Several sublime woodcuts from Kawase Hasui are to be admired. Favorite for the prints of Yamamura Kōkarepresenting the best of kabuki.

In the second section of the exhibition, photographs, documents, postcards and even objects of various kinds present the disastrous consequences of this earthquake on the city of Tokyo. Thus, after the disaster, many local artists and artists from elsewhere came to Tokyo and represented in various ways the landscape of the capital ravaged by fires and destruction. Two very beautiful woodcuts from Hiratsuka Un.ichihighlighting the landscapes of ruins after the Tokyo earthquake, are also on display.

The third part of the installation highlights the reconstruction of the capital. Mentioned in particular are the inauguration in 1925 of the Yamanote circular railway line and the expansion of the urban area with 35 districts in 1932. Alongside the prints of Kawase Hasuiwe discover postcards testifying to the reconstruction, but also the “New guide to Greater Tokyo” de Kon Wajirô.

Finally, the fourth and last part focuses on the emergence of consumer culture in the Japanese city. The selected prints notably feature representations of nightlife, and the field of sport with the arrival, for example, of baseball. THE “modern girls“, which designate the independent modern woman, are also honored during this rich installation.

This new temporary exhibition of the Japan Culture House thus offers a new look at the Japanese capital. It is also an opportunity for the Japanese center located in the 15th arrondissement of the capital to unveil around a hundred works from the collections of the Edo-Tokyo Museum, representative of the art of modern prints, including the the most recent dates from 1959. An exhibition that will delight lovers of wood engravings and Japanese culture!