Remnants of Lost Japan

Looking for the old is a passion of many visitors to Japan. But it takes no more than a glance at the titles of several recently published guidebooks and travel memoirs to begin to suspect the elusiveness of the quest. Among several that come to mind are: “Vanishing Japan: Traditions, Crafts, and Culture” by Elizabeth Kiritani, “Lost Japan” by Alex Kerr and “Looking for the Lost: Journeys Through a Vanishing Japan” by Alan Booth.

As I well know from my own frequent travels there, the streets of Tokyo do not yield easy glimpses of the past. Relatively few structures of historical or architectural interest have escaped the fires resulting from earthquakes, war or accidents that have ravaged the city. In recent decades, wrecking balls have done their part as well. Who would not prefer well-equipped homes and offices--no matter how quaint and even soothing to the eye the old wooden buildings are?

But small pockets of the old, wooden Japan can be found in and near Tokyo. Two are within range of a relatively brief train ride west of the Shinjuku section of the city. Shinjuku is up-to-the-minute Japan--a dense concentration of office towers, hotels, stores, theaters, restaurants and people. It also is a hub for a spider’s web of rail, subway and bus lines.

The places that conjure up a bit of the past are the Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum in the city of Koganei--administratively part of Tokyo--and the city of Kawagoe in neighboring Saitama Prefecture. Kawagoe is famed for a cluster of old tile-roofed buildings that have survived. Both places are served by the same train line and can easily fit together into a one-day excursion, like the one I took not long ago with a Tokyo friend.

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The museum is a branch of the Tokyo Metropolitan Edo-Tokyo Museum, which houses its headquarters and its principal collections in a massive, futuristic structure tucked behind the national sumo arena in the Ryogoku area of downtown Tokyo. By contrast, the architectural collection occupies spacious, well-landscaped grounds within suburban Koganei Park. There, museum personnel are working to preserve and display historically and culturally significant buildings that they arrange to have brought to the site.

Although the museum has been open for several years, the process of reconstruction and setting up exhibits continues. The complex of homes, shops and other buildings connected by walkways is scheduled to be completed in 2000, at which time the number of displays is expected to reach 35. Just over a dozen are ready--a number that still gives the visitor plenty to see.

My friend and I entered the Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum through the visitor center, where eye-catching photographs and video screens illustrating scenes from Tokyo’s past and present are attractively arranged in an area immediately adjacent to the front doors. The center itself is an imposing structure, built in 1940 as an imperial ceremonial pavilion.

It contains a bright, well-stocked book and gift shop, a tea parlor and an exhibition room with cases showing archeological and folk objects that date from prehistoric to modern times. When the Architectural Museum was built, it incorporated the former Musashino Folk Museum, whose collections form the core of the materials in the exhibition room. There is also a small library and video collection open to the public.

The grounds of the museum are divided into the east, west and center zones. As we emerged from the visitor center into the center zone, a few steps away to the right we came upon two beautiful homes--one built in 1902 by a wealthy silk manufacturer, the other constructed in 1922 by a prominent politician. The latter, from the Akasaka area of Tokyo, was reconstructed on the museum grounds along with a section of its original garden.

Visitors are welcome to explore the inside of the houses (shoes must be removed at the entrances) as well as stroll through gardens. Broad walkways lined with towering trees make museum-going quite pleasant even when, as on the day we went, there are crowds trooping around, maps in hand. Free English-language guides to the museum are available in the visitor center.

A main street area is the highlight of the east zone, featuring a soy sauce shop, a stationery store, a flower shop and a public bath--all dating from the 1920s and 1930s.

A bar, built in the mid-19th century, is also on exhibit on the street. As with other shops and houses, its interior is filled with furnishings and accessories that conjure up a sense of how the building was used. In the bar the polished wooden counter is set with sake flasks, bottles of beer, plates and chopsticks. There is even a menu board with prices noted. All that is lacking is a bartender, customers and the aroma of grilling foods. Occasional workshops on folk crafts and presentations of traditional folk performing arts at the museum also are aimed at bringing the architectural displays to life.

The oldest structure on display, which stands in the east zone, is a thatched roof farmhouse dating from the 1700s. Another farmhouse, from the mid-19th century, stands in the west zone; near it is a granary and a house used by samurai in the employ of the Tokugawa family of shoguns who once ruled Japan from their stronghold in Edo (the former name of Tokyo).

A pretty, creamy-yellow bungalow-style house is among the newest exhibits. Built in the 1920s, it came from Den’enchofu, a posh Tokyo enclave known for its Western-style homes. The bungalow’s tile roof and other mixed Japanese and Western touches inside and out give it an interesting and attractive air. The house has a nice garden and extensive greenery all around.

As my friend and I strolled from one exhibit to the next, I was a receptive audience for her delightful reminiscences. A retired university professor, writer and all-around fountain of knowledge, she is in her 80s now. We first met about 20 years ago, when I went to Japan as a student and had the good fortune to rent a room in her house. We admired the sparkling tile interior of the Architectural Museum’s public bath, complete with a magnificent blue, green and white mural depicting pine-tree-covered islands, tall mountains, misty valleys and the bluest of summery skies for bathers to gaze on while having a nice hot soak.

Bathhouses such as this used to function as neighborhood community centers, but they have all but disappeared from the city. Now people have their own tile-lined baths at home (with or without murals). The pungent soy sauce shops, which were familiar to my friend, are gone now too, replaced by supermarkets. Even a police box--the one-room structure that still serves as office and home-away-from-home for Tokyo’s neighborhood policemen--has found its way into the museum.

As authentic as they may look and feel, the museum’s buildings all have been removed from the sites they once occupied and relocated here. Getting back on the train and heading beyond the western edges of Tokyo proper into Kawagoe provides a chance to see historical structures with the street life that still swirls around them.

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The walk from the train station to Kawagoe’s small historic district threads through busy streets lined with shops, offices and houses. It is the kind of ordinary mixed-commercial-and-residential area you might see in any city in Japan today. But once the tile-roofed storehouse buildings called kurazukuri come into view, then you know that you have arrived at your destination.

The kurazukuri are Kawagoe’s trademark, attracting tourists seeking a hint of how a market town might have looked one or two centuries ago. Around the world, cities with historic districts to boast of energetically promote their street-scapes to potential visitors. Kawagoe is definitely among them.

In keeping with the protective function of a storehouse, large, heavy tiles cover the roofs, sturdy shutters seal slitlike windows and dark frames enclose extra-thick walls made of clay and plaster--all aimed at blocking penetration by fire. Despite such precautions, a huge conflagration in 1893 virtually leveled the city. Where there were once more than 200 kurazukuri, only about 30 storehouses standing today were rebuilt.

Several kurazukuri have museum-style displays, shops and restaurants catering to tourists. We enjoyed a bowl of flavorful noodles for my lunch at one of them. Rising above the kurazukuri buildings is a wooden bell tower with a handsome bronze bell that is still rung several times a day. The tower was rebuilt after the 1893 fire, but its design goes back to the 17th century.

Kawagoe’s history is closely tied to that of Tokyo, and guidebooks remind readers that its sobriquet is “little Edo” (little Tokyo). Strategically located to the northwest of Tokyo, Kawagoe was a castle town and the home base of wealthy and politically influential lords who served the Tokugawa shoguns in Edo. (A small section of Kawagoe Castle still stands and is open to the public.)

It also was a busy trading center. Boat traffic going to and coming from Edo was once brisk along the Shingashi River. Kawagoe merchants who could afford the expensive building materials modeled their kurazukuri on what was a popular architectural style in Edo.

No visitor searching for old Japan passes up a chance to visit a noteworthy temple or shrine, and Kita-in Temple, which is a short walk from the storehouse district, is among the most significant. In the early 1600s the friendship of the head priest named Tenkai with several Tokugawa shoguns brought special prominence to the temple. Kita-in already could boast a history going back to the 9th century and status as a regional center of the Tendai sect of Buddhism.

Justly renowned for the architecture of its handsome buildings and the pleasing layout of its gardens, Kita-in also is a treasure house of historical relics. Of particular interest is a museum within the temple grounds that contains several rooms from the original Edo Castle. A gift to the priest Tenkai from the third shogun, the rooms have been preserved here for over 350 years.

Almost next door to Kita-in is the Senba Toshogu Shrine, built as a memorial to Ieyasu, the first Tokugawa shogun. It is a branch of the main Toshogu Shrine, which is located two hours north of Tokyo in the town of Nikko. Senba Toshogu Shrine may be smaller, but it fully displays the rich ornateness that was deemed necessary to honor the spirit of Ieyasu. The quantity of gold leaf lavished here is by itself testimony to the close ties between “little Edo”and the Edo of the shoguns.

Visitors are invariably drawn to a side street not far from the kurazukuri buildings where a dozen or so shops specializing in old-fashioned candies are lined up one after the other. Candy making has been a specialty here for the past 100 years. It is customary in Japan for someone who takes a trip, even a day trip, to bring a little memento to the folks back home. Food items in general and candy in particular offer the perfect solution. Watching candy makers at work and browsing among the profusion of colorful and tasty treats, some of which incorporate ingredients derived from locally grown sweet potatoes, is a sweet way to end a day of travel before heading back on the train to Shinjuku and a very contemporary Japan.

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GUIDEBOOK

Circling Toyko

Getting there: Airlines flying nonstop to Tokyo include JAL, Northwest, United, Delta, All Nippon Airways, Malaysian Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Korean Airlines and Varig; fares begin at about $1,060, including tax.

Koganei and Kawagoe can be reached via the Seibu-Shinjuku train line. For the Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum (Edo-Tokyo Tatemono-en), get off at Hana Koganei Station, about 35 minutes from Shinjuku. The museum is less than 10 minutes by bus or taxi from the station.

For Kawagoe, get off the Seibu-Shinjuku train line at Hon Kawagoe Station, about 50 minutes from Shinjuku. Walk, or take a bus or taxi to the kurazukuri district.

Koganei Park: Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum, 3-7-1 Sakura-cho, Koganei-shi, Tokyo, telephone 011-81-423-88-3300. Admission to the park is free; entry to the museum costs about $2.50. The museum is open every day but Monday.

Kawagoe City: The kurazukuri district can be seen any time, and most of the other places mentioned are open every day except for holidays--and in the case of the Osawa house, except Monday. Admission charges vary.

For more information: Japan National Tourist Organization, 624 S. Grand Ave., Suite 1611, Los Angeles, CA 90017; tel. (213) 623-1952, fax (213) 623-6301.