[Special Feature: Viewing the City through Parks] Thinking about True Placemaking from Hibiya Park

Since its opening in 1903 (Meiji 36), Hibiya Park has provided a variety of topics as if to please 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: History & Charm Exploration Guide" (Tokyo Metropolitan Park Association, 2013), with my own notes on their historical significance added in brackets [ ].

・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 Athletic Association [Introduction of Western-style sports and recreation]

・Outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War, the Combined Fleet's Great Victory Celebration, 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 a role as a national plaza]

・Construction of 144 barracks for victims of the Great Kanto Earthquake, accommodating over 6,000 people, and the emergence of a street with 400 stalls [Manifestation of disaster prevention functions in evacuation green spaces]

・Development of a 3,000-tsubo children's playground for guiding children such as earthquake orphans, and the start of "Nature Study" [Sound development of children and the beginning of Japan's first nature play and environmental learning]

・The airship Graf Zeppelin and the Japan-Germany Goodwill Concert; installation of the Lupa Romana (She-wolf) statue donated by Prime Minister Mussolini for Japan-Italy friendship in the First Flower Bed Rock Garden [Tripartite Pact between Japan, Germany, and Italy; a stage for international politics]

・Requisitioned by GHQ after Japan's defeat. Matsumotoro and other areas were used as dance floors for American soldiers after draining the water from the Cloud-shaped Pond [Post-war politics]

・Numerous articles reporting on the park as a spot for couples at night [Post-war park customs]

・Full-scale flower bed 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 "Green and Water Citizens College" / Support for promoting green volunteers [Proposing citizen lifestyles in 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 / Launch of the "Hibiya Park Regeneration Plan R2" in parallel with the redevelopment of the Hibiya-dori corridor district, targeting the 130th anniversary of the opening in 2033 [Introduction of Park-PFI and area management perspectives toward becoming an international business center in the near-future Tokyo city center]

It is clear that these 120 years have been so diverse across politics, economy, society, culture, and all aspects of life that one might wonder, "Did all this really happen in a park?" This is exactly what it means to see the city through a 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 and Western techniques," sought to skillfully accept Western civilization. During the formative period of Hibiya Park, those involved—the "park men"—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 urban forest is likely 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 the 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 Meiji Jingu Inner Precinct 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 Jingu Forest to be excellent Japanese-style landscape heritages that the world can be proud of, and I have conveyed these thoughts through my writings.

I have advocated that a city should be planned for relative balance and symbiosis within contrasts such as (1) artificial vs. natural surfaces, (2) built-up spaces vs. open spaces, and (3) changing places vs. unchanging places. If we intend for the sustainability of a giant artificial city 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: The Labyrinthine Forest." Since media people, who often understand parks only as "greenery," designated Seiroku Honda as a "Giant of Beauty," I happily appeared on the program. The program's script properly introduced the following five points that I have emphasized in my books as reasons why Hibiya Park can be called a world-class "The Park."

1. It was a "Western-style park" that felt 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 yearned 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 "usage diversity" as a "Makunouchi Bento-style park" that meets the tastes of people of all ages and genders.

4. Although it was subject to numerous remodeling attempts due to its central location, the Tokyo metropolitan park authorities 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 city-center park with high land prices, 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 every citizen needs a place where they can safely weave good memories with their families. Not unlike Ms. Felicitas Lenz-Romeiss, who asked in her book "Is the City a Hometown?", the city must be a "hometown" for every 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 several hundred memories, and they poignantly convey how rich the moments spent in Hibiya Park were. How great an asset to Tokyo is the sense of stability provided by Hibiya Park in the middle of a rapidly changing giant artificial city, along with the continuous green open spaces of the Imperial Palace, Akasaka Estate, Shinjuku Gyoen, and the Jingu Inner and Outer Precincts. 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 and harmonious with Japan's natural climate and scenery.

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 sectors, occasional tourists, and people participating in political rallies. Whether it's jogging in the early morning, a dinner or concert at night, the everyday or the extraordinary, I am convinced that Hibiya Park is a comprehensive park where one can spend time and enjoy themselves in their own style throughout the four seasons and from morning to night.

This is a realization from my own experience of visiting the park daily for two years to research every corner for my graduation thesis as a student, 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 conducted flow surveys, spatial preference surveys by user type, citizen park usage awareness surveys, and 24-hour user surveys, as well as surveys on the characteristics of occupied spaces and interviews with couples and homeless people, pursuing "User Modernology." Through these years of experience in park and man-watching, I have become convinced that, unlike sharp, smart, and easy-to-understand contemporary landscape designs, Hibiya Park is a sensual, human, and authentic park that should truly be called a "labyrinthine 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 draft by Dr. Kingo Tatsuno, an advisor to Tokyo City. When he expressed his opinions, he was thrust with the design task along with a topographical map on the spot. Later, when Tatsuno saw the Honda proposal he brought, he recommended it to then-Mayor Hideo Matsuda, and Honda ended up being commissioned for the design. Honda recalled, "To be honest, 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 with a silver watch. 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 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 known hardship, 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 a broad perspective and a 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 just finished school without any hardship would have settled for a copy of a Western style when asked to design a Western-style park. But Honda was different. While respecting existing design proposals, he created drawings that were Western-style "Western techniques" on the outside, but filled with 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 proposal was based on site conditions while also looking toward the future image of citizen life.

I have considered "Seiroku Honda's design techniques" in detail. When Honda was commissioned to design Hibiya Park, several design proposals already existed: the A and B proposals of the Japan Horticultural Society, the Yasune Nagaoka proposal, the Tokyo City officials' proposal, and the Tatsuno proposal. Honda took into account the necessary conditions common to each proposal, such as the positions of the gates and flow lines, and reflected them in his design. He determined the framework by zoning the entire park into five areas, copying the S-curve pattern from a German drawing collection for the main paths. The geometric sine curves drawn with a ruler were non-existent in landscaping at the time and immediately gave a 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 flower beds, 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 tsukiyama (artificial hill), plum grove, and wellhead were placed near the Western-style Matsumotoro. Furthermore, under the social climate of Haibutsu Kishaku (anti-Buddhist movement), in the zone along Hibiya-dori from Yuraku Gate, he preserved the stone walls of the Hibiya Mitsuke and used black boku-ishi (lava stone), a characteristic of Edo garden art, for the revetment of the Shinji-ike 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, he planted inexpensive seedlings from the university experimental forest. There may have been budgetary considerations (another instance 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 were taught landscape design theory in school emphasizing original forms using clear concepts, might find it almost impossible 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 appropriate for the natural and cultural climate and gains the empathy of users. Yet, frankly, I also felt a sense of 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 "Fudo Jichi: What is Endogenous Placemaking?" (Fujiwara Shoten, 2021) recently published by the landscape scholar I admire, Professor Yoshio Nakamura.

The "Japanese spirit and Western techniques" that was the wisdom of modern Japanese people is almost synonymous with China's "Chinese learning for substance, Western learning for application" and Korea's "Eastern ways and Western machines." Probably no intellectual in the East at that time was truly convinced by 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 surrender their "spirit." Nakamura organizes the reason for this brilliantly. He says that the Western public thought that modern Japan was forced to accept was one where "the ideals of medieval autonomous cities, considered the origin of Western civilization, took off from their climatic nature in the process of growing into refined sovereign states, and the elite groups aiming for universal ideals despised indigenous odors and reached a noble, anti-climatic 'universal autonomy = citizen autonomy'." If so, it is natural that it did not quite fit us.

Specifically, Nakamura contrasts the West and Japan, concluding that Westerners made universalism detached from the mundane and citizen autonomy their public sphere, while Japanese people did not let go of the indigenous culture at the base, but instead inherited and nurtured the climate (fudo) and refined it culturally (calling this "Fudo Jichi"), which was the semi-unconscious public thought of the masses. In other words, it is a contrast between the West's "citizen autonomy where elite universality comes first" and Japan's "Fudo Jichi" (or emotional community, communitas) enhanced through rural 'yui' and 'moyai' (cooperative labor) that walked with the climate, rituals of shrines and temples, cultural salons of 'ko' and 'ren' (devotional and social groups), and play in entertainment districts.

Nakamura calls "Fudo Jichi" his "principles of placemaking." Therefore, I want to explain and interpret Seiroku Honda's park design methods and my "ideals of Japanese-style parks" through this "Fudo Jichi." Whether it be a city or a park, I want to follow Nakamura's "Fudo Jichi" 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 "Fudo Jichi" and visit Hibiya Park.