Mitsuru Shima: Modeling Kumamoto Castle as it Stood in 1870

2020/03/11

Kumamoto Castle is counted among Japan's three greatest castles and is particularly famous for the aesthetic beauty of its high stone walls, known as the Seisho-ryu style. However, these stone walls are all traces of buildings; originally, turrets (yagura) stood side-by-side without exception. Fortunately, this grand sight can be seen in many clear old photographs taken in the early Meiji era. Additionally, since there are measured floor plans from the Edo period and well-preserved stone wall remains, I had a premonition that I could approach the true image quite accurately and create a model with a close approximation.

However, the power of Kumamoto Castle overwhelms the viewer precisely when standing in that location within a full-scale space, and I felt that its charm could never be reproduced even if reduced to a model. Before the Kumamoto Earthquake, a plan was underway at Kumamoto Castle to restore most of the buildings within the Honmaru (inner bailey). I thought that one day I would be able to see its former appearance at full scale, so until that was realized, I was content to enjoy my own "restoration" within my thoughts and imagine the figures from the old photographs atop the stone walls.

April 2016, the Kumamoto Earthquake.

It was three months later that I finally visited the collapsed Kumamoto Castle. Even now, I cannot put into words the emotions that welled up within me then.

When a publisher proposed a book project themed on Kumamoto Castle, I decided without hesitation to model the entire Honmaru area. The period of reproduction was set to 1870, when the castle was decommissioned, at a scale of 1/150. For each building, I counted the tiles and components in old photographs, calculated the dimensions, and constructed them in 3D on top of the stone wall survey maps. Kumamoto Castle has many turrets with irregular floor plans, and many were extremely difficult to three-dimensionalize. I drew lines on old photographs, observed the way shadows fell, and clarified how the irregular roofs were fitted. Some parts included new discoveries or areas that were materialized for the first time; these are points that will also be challenges in actual restoration, and the day will surely come when they are useful.

The character for "model" (模) also carries the meaning of "to explore." I published the entire process of exploring the form of the buildings by literally three-dimensionalizing them as "The Record of the Transcendent Reproduction of Kumamoto Castle: The True Image of the Honmaru Revived through a Giant Diorama" (Shinkigensha).

Modeling is not simply copying a shape, but also exploring and verifying it. At the same time, as long as I am reproducing aesthetic structures like castles and ancient architecture, I must also capture their aesthetic value. I want to continue to represent and share the charm of Japanese architecture.