True Urban Planning as Seen Through Hibiya Park

2021/06/07

Since its opening in 1903 (Meiji 36), Hibiya Park has provided a wealth of topics, almost as if to delight journalists and urban sociologists. The following is a summary of events that made headlines in newspapers and magazines, which I also covered in my books "Hibiya Park: Learning from 100 Years of Pride" (Kajima Institute Publishing, 2011) and "Hibiya Park: A Guide to History and Charm" (Tokyo Metropolitan Park Association, 2013), with my own notes on their historical significance added in brackets [ ].

• A symbol of civilization and enlightenment—the birth of Japan's first Western-style park [The form and wisdom of modern Japan's acceptance of Western civilization]

• Donation of youth exercise equipment and children's swings, such as giant strides, horizontal bars, rotating towers, American-style balance beams, and horizontal ladders, from Keio University and the Japan Athletic Association [Introduction of Western-style sports and recreation]

• The outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War, the Grand Victory Celebration of the Combined Fleet, and the Hibiya Incendiary Incident [Tensions between the world and Japan; national strategic propaganda]

• Venue for the state funeral of Hirobumi Ito and the national funeral of Shigenobu Okuma [The athletic field space within the park fulfills the role of a national plaza]

• Construction of 144 barracks for Great Kanto Earthquake victims, housing over 6,000 people, and the emergence of a 400-stall market [Manifestation of evacuation green space and disaster prevention functions]

• Development of a 3,000-tsubo children's playground for guiding orphans and other children in the park, starting "Nature Study" [Healthy development of children and the beginning of Japan's first nature play and environmental learning]

• The airship Zeppelin and the Japan-Germany Goodwill Concert; installation of the Lupa Romana statue donated by Prime Minister Mussolini for Japan-Italy friendship in the First Flowerbed Rock Garden [The Tripartite Pact; a stage for international politics]

• Requisitioned by GHQ after Japan's defeat. Matsumotoro and other areas were used, and the water in the Cloud-shaped Pond was drained to create a dance floor for American soldiers [Post-war politics]

• Numerous articles reporting on the park as a nighttime spot for couples [Post-war park social customs]

• Full-scale flowerbed exhibitions sponsored by Ginza Senpikiya and others / Outdoor sculpture exhibition utilizing white cement provided by Onoda Cement Co., Ltd. / Holding of the first All Japan Motor Show [Private sector utilization and opening as an event venue]

• Assassination of Inejiro Asanuma at Hibiya Public Hall / Matsumotoro destroyed by fire set by radical students opposing the Okinawa Reversion Agreement (reported by a homeless person) / New Year's Eve "Hakenmura" (Dispatch Village), etc. [Incidents reflecting political and economic conditions]

• Setting for the Akutagawa Prize-winning novel "Park Life" by Shuichi Yoshida / Opening of "Hibiya Park Studies" at the Tokyo Metropolitan Park Association's "College of Land and Water" / Promotion and support of green volunteers [Proposing citizen lifestyles for the era of lifelong learning from the park]

• Various events for the park's 100th anniversary project to revitalize the park and surrounding urban development / In parallel with the redevelopment of the Hibiya-dori roadside area, the "Hibiya Park Regeneration Plan R2" was launched with the goal of the 130th anniversary of its opening in 2033 [The emergence of Park-PFI and area management perspectives toward becoming an international business center in central Tokyo in the near future]

It is clear that these have been a diverse 120 years spanning politics, economy, society, culture, and all aspects of life, to the point where one might wonder, "Did all this really happen in a park?" This is exactly what it means to see the city through the park. In an unchanging and stable "historical park," the memories of the city accumulate. Of course, this is not just because of Hibiya Park's central location.

It took ten years from the initial park decree, through several design proposals, to settle on Seiroku Honda's implementation plan. However, during that time, the people of the Meiji era, possessing the wisdom of "Japanese spirit with Western learning," sought to skillfully accept Western civilization. During the formative period of Hibiya Park, those involved were burning with a sense of mission, and there is no doubt that their pride and management efforts gave birth to "The Park Hibiya" in modern Japan.

In Tokyo, the only thing that can truly be called "The Park" is Hibiya Park, and the only true urban forest is the Meiji Jingu Forest. Both are the work of Dr. Seiroku Honda, a Doctor of Forestry.

Honda was born in 1866 (Keio 2). Since Yukichi Fukuzawa was born in 1835 (Tenpo 5), Honda was born nearly 30 years later. All three, including Shigenobu Okuma (born in 1838 [Tenpo 9]), who would later have a connection with Honda at Meiji Jingu, lived through an era of accepting Western civilization. While the theme of this feature is parks and cities, I am strongly drawn to the way Meiji-era opinion leaders like Fukuzawa, Okuma, and Honda burned with a sense of mission, looking at the big picture and the future while firmly securing the details at their feet.

Now, Hibiya Park opened in Meiji 36. The establishment of the Inner Garden of Meiji Jingu was in 1920 (Taisho 9), and it celebrated its 100th anniversary of enshrinement in 2020. As a Japanese landscape architect, I consider both Hibiya Park and the Meiji Jingu Forest to be excellent Japanese-style landscape heritages that the world can be proud of, and I have conveyed this thought through my writings.

I have advocated that a city should be planned for relative balance and symbiosis within contrasts such as (1) artificial and natural surfaces, (2) built-up spaces and open spaces, and (3) places that change and places that do not. If we intend for the sustainability of giant artificial cities covered with high-rise buildings made of steel, aluminum, glass, and concrete, and asphalt roads, we should conceive redevelopment plans in a way that secures enough natural surfaces within the city's embrace where water and life can circulate.

On July 11 last year, BS TV Tokyo featured Seiroku Honda and Hibiya Park in its program "Shin Bi no Kyojin-tachi" (New Giants of Beauty) under the title "Urban Oasis: Labyrinth Forest." Since media people, who often understand parks only as "greenery," designated Seiroku Honda as a "Giant of Beauty," I felt good about appearing on the program. The program's script also properly introduced the following five points that I have emphasized in my books, which allow Hibiya Park to be called a world-class "The Park."

1. It was a "Western-style park" that was familiar to Japanese people, rather than a direct import of Western styles.

2. The concept of park-making was to provide the "Three Westerns" that citizens longed for: Western flowers, Western food, and Western music.

3. By zoning the park grounds with large S-curved paths, it enabled a diverse spatial configuration according to purpose and use, realizing "spatial diversity" and "utilization diversity" as a "Makunouchi bento-style park" that could meet the tastes of people of all ages and genders.

4. Although it was subject to many attempts at remodeling due to its central location, the park authorities of Tokyo have maintained a stance of preserving the authenticity of Honda's park design for 120 years since its opening, striving to foster a character befitting a "historical park."

5. Even as a central park on high-priced land, it remains a park that continues to be a "temporal coordinate axis" for citizens.

All of these are key points for thinking about the future city of Tokyo. Competition between global cities is intensifying, and both economies and cities are constantly changing. That is precisely why each citizen needs a place where they can safely weave good memories with their families. As Ms. Felicitas Lenz-Romeiss asked in her book, "Is the city a hometown?", a city must be a "hometown" for every single citizen.

To consider this, I would like to introduce the "Memory Bench Project" started by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government's Park and Green Space Division for the Hibiya Park 100th Anniversary Project. When a citizen donates 100,000 yen, a bench is placed with a plate featuring the donor's "essay of memories in Hibiya" on the back. I have read all the memories of hundreds of people, and it is deeply moving to see how rich the moments spent in Hibiya Park were. How great an asset to Tokyo is the stability of the green open spaces that continue from Hibiya Park in the middle of a rapidly changing giant artificial city, to the Imperial Palace, Akasaka Estate, Shinjuku Gyoen, and the Inner and Outer Gardens of Meiji Jingu. Open space is an indispensable infrastructure for the "temporal and scenic coordinate axis" of the city and its citizens.

I have called Hibiya Park "The Park HIBIYA." This carries the meaning that it is a representative existence of a "Japanese-style park." What I mean by "Japanese-style" is not a direct copy of a Western-style park established in a Western climate, but an environmental space suitable for Japanese sensibilities that is continuous with Japan's natural climate and scenery without feeling out of place.

There are many parks, but above all, Hibiya is fun and never gets boring. Each area has a different atmosphere, providing a place for students on a stroll, couples on dates, families, office workers from government and private companies, and sometimes tourists or people participating in political rallies. Whether it's jogging in the early morning, a dinner or concert at night, or everyday or extraordinary moments, I am convinced that Hibiya Park is a comprehensive park where one can enjoy spending time in their own way throughout the four seasons and from morning to night.

This is a feeling based on my experience of visiting the park daily for two years to research every corner for my graduation thesis, and continuing "Hibiya watching" for many years as a professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture at Tokyo University of Agriculture. I have given students 1/1000 scale floor plans and assigned them "man-watching" tasks. I wanted to convey to these budding landscape designers that the relationship between physical setting (spatial configuration) and human behavior is the "basis of park design for users."

In my laboratory, we have conducted flow surveys, spatial preference surveys by user type, citizen park usage awareness surveys, and 24-hour user surveys, as well as characteristic surveys and interviews regarding the spaces occupied by couples and homeless people, pursuing "User Modernology." From these years of experience in park and man-watching, I have become convinced that, unlike sharp and smart, easy-to-understand modern landscape design, Hibiya Park is a sensual and human, "real" park that should truly be called a "labyrinth forest."

By the way, in "The Autobiography of Seiroku Honda: 85 Years of Experience" (Jitsugyo no Nihon Sha, 2006), there is a chapter titled "The Design of Hibiya Park." According to it, Honda was asked for his impressions of the Hibiya Park design plan by Dr. Kingo Tatsuno, who was an advisor to Tokyo City. When he expressed his opinions, he was forced to take on the design along with a topographic map right then and there. Later, when Tatsuno saw the Honda plan he brought, he recommended it to then-Mayor Hideo Matsuda, and Honda ended up being commissioned for the design. Honda recalls, "To tell the truth, it was my first time designing a park, and I was uneasy because I had only seen a few Western parks and had a few books on parks. But since there were no experts in Japan, I started with extraordinary hope and determination."

Honda was born into the Orihara family, farmers in Kawarai Village, Saitama District, Musashi Province (now Kuki City, Saitama Prefecture), and was named Seiroku because he was the sixth child. He lost his father at age 9, worked his way through the Tokyo School of Forestry, and graduated at the top of his class. He became the adopted son-in-law of Tonzaburo Honda, a former leader of the Shogitai, and became Seiroku Honda. He went to study abroad shortly after marrying, became a Doctor of Forestry after returning, and became a professor at the Imperial University's College of Agriculture at age 34. Unlike today's era of 100-year lifespans, the image of a Meiji-era person full of frontier spirit comes to mind.

One strength of Seiroku Honda, who had experienced many hardships, was the cooperative human power to care for others nurtured in rural society, and the fact that he had acquired the skills and wisdom of coexistence with nature. Another was that he studied silviculture and forest aesthetics at the Tokyo School of Forestry and during his studies in Germany, obtaining a doctorate in national economics (forest policy). He possessed the broad perspective and long-term outlook acquired there. Unusually for the field of agriculture, foresters seem to have a long-term perspective, as the saying goes, "Ten years for a tree, a hundred years for a forest."

Normally, someone who had just finished school without any hardship would have simply made a copy of a Western style when asked to design a Western-style park. But Honda was different. While respecting existing design plans, he created drawings that were Western-style "Western learning" on the outside, but contained consideration for the "Japanese spirit" sought by the common people on the inside, even looking ahead to the long-term growth of the forest. Honda's design plan was based on site conditions while also looking toward the future of citizen life.

I have considered "Seiroku Honda's design techniques" in detail. When Honda was commissioned to design Hibiya Park, several design plans already existed, such as the A and B plans of the Japan Horticultural Society, the Yasuhei Nagaoka plan, the Tokyo City official plan, and the Tatsuno plan. Honda took into account the necessary conditions common to each plan, such as the positions of the gates and the flow of movement, and reflected them in his design. He decided the framework by copying the S-curve pattern from a German drawing collection to zone the entire park into five areas. The geometric sine curves drawn with a ruler were non-existent in landscaping at the time and gave an immediate Western feel. Furthermore, perhaps inspired by park life in Germany, he specifically arranged what I call the "Three Westerns"—Western flowers, Western food, and Western music—in the form of flowerbeds, a restaurant-cafe, and a music hall. On the other hand, the pergola of the Western garden facilities was made in the style of a Japanese wisteria trellis, and a fountain shaped like a crane was created for the Cloud-shaped Pond in the Western drawings to evoke a Japanese feel. Purely Japanese elements such as a miniature hill, a plum grove, and a wellhead were placed near the Western-style Matsumotoro. Furthermore, under the social climate of the anti-Buddhist movement, in the zone along Hibiya-dori from Yuraku Gate, the stone walls of the Hibiya Mitsuke were preserved, and black bokuseki stones, a characteristic of Edo garden art, were used for the revetment of the Shinji Pond, which corresponds to the moat. In terms of planting technology, due to environmental conditions where the groundwater level was high and tree growth was difficult, inexpensive seedlings from the university's experimental forest were planted. There may have been budgetary considerations (also part of Honda's attentiveness), but it was likely the insight of a silviculturist that adapting slowly to the environment is more suitable for a hundred-year forest.

Modern designers, who have been taught landscape design theory in school that emphasizes original forms using clear concepts, may not be able to understand the Honda style, which is like a collage of diverse elements.

However, to be honest, I believe this is a "Japanese-style park" that is not a borrowed Western park, but is suitable for the natural and cultural climate and can gain the empathy of users. To be fair, I also felt some frustration in how to rationally explain it as Honda's "anything-goes park design theory."

However, everything became clear at once after I finished reading the major work "Climate Autonomy: What is Endogenous Urban Planning?" (Fujiwara Shoten, 2021) recently published by the landscape scholar I admire, Professor Yoshio Nakamura.

The "Japanese spirit, Western learning" that was the wisdom of modern Japanese people is almost synonymous with China's "Chinese learning for substance, Western learning for utility" and Korea's "Eastern ways, Western vessels." Probably no intellectual in the East at that time truly agreed with or empathized with Western civilization and Western values from the bottom of their heart. Therefore, they accepted the West for practical benefits such as science, technology, and economy, but did not give up their "spirit." Nakamura brilliantly organizes the reason for this. He says that the Western public thought that modern Japan was forced to accept was one where "the concept of the medieval autonomous city, considered the origin of Western civilization, took off from its climate-based nature in the process of growing into a refined sovereign state, and the elite group aiming for universal ideals came to despise local odors and reached an anti-climatic and noble 'universal autonomy = citizen autonomy.'" If so, it was natural that it did not fit us perfectly.

Specifically, Nakamura contrasts the West and Japan, concluding that Westerners made universalism and citizen autonomy detached from the mundane their public sphere, while Japanese people did not let go of the underlying local culture, but instead inherited and nurtured the climate and refined it culturally (calling this "climate autonomy"), which was the semi-unconscious public thought of the people. In other words, it is a contrast between the West's "citizen autonomy where elite universality comes first" and Japan's "climate autonomy enhanced through rural 'yui' and 'moyai' (cooperation) that walked with the climate, temple and shrine rituals, cultural salons of 'ko' and 'ren' (associations), and play in entertainment districts" (or emotional communities, communitas).

Nakamura calls "Climate Autonomy" his own "principles of urban planning." Therefore, I want to explain and interpret Seiroku Honda's park design methods and my "concept of a Japanese-style park" through this "climate autonomy." Whether it be a city or a park, I want to follow Nakamura's "climate autonomy" and aim for "town and park making as Japanese culture" that can be read from it.

I would be happy if those sensitive citizens who intuitively felt a lack of adaptation to modern cities and parks somewhere would read this "Climate Autonomy" and visit Hibiya Park.