Hibiya Park: Design and Challenges

Map of Hibiya Park from Waley. Features a depiction of all the Western and Japanese design elements of the park

When the Meiji government came to power, it encountered many challenges as it tried to consolidate national power under a new regime. The government responded by implementing many strategic changes to produce the desired effect. These changes included abolishing the old Han system and consolidating the national structure into prefectural regions. The government also abolished the old samurai class distinction as an unnecessary relic of the Tokugawa age. The Meiji government even began to transform urban space by converting old Tokugawa castles and religious spaces into publically sponsored parklands. Many citizens already used these sites for leisure and group gatherings without issue, but the government decided to make the usage of these public spaces more official.[1] The idea to create parklands was inspired by the members of the Iwakura mission who had travelled to London, Paris, New York, and Boston.[2] The Japanese ambassadors were very impressed and inspired by the style and grandeur of the public parks they observed there. However, the early parks designated by the government in 1873 were not actually constructed in a western style and were only appropriations of religious and powerful Tokugawa sites around the country. The first western-style park in Tokyo, Hibiya Park, was not completed until 1903.[3]

            The parks were designated not only as useful public spaces, but also for their health, culture, and urban considerations. In the late 19^th century the continued growth of urban environments and crowding of living environments increased the threat of spreading infectious disease and causing damaging fires. As Camille Sitte once said, parks are “the lungs” of the city and places of “moral and bodily well being.”[4] The parks were also defined to have a strict set of behavior for all of the people who chose to visit, and were meant to encourage the development of a more western culture.[5] Furthermore, the parks and Hibiya Park especially were meant to serve as impressive sites that could be showed off to prominent Western dignitaries.[6] The parks creation served a role in the overall diplomatic attempt to modify or nullify the one-sided treaties with western powers that had been signed during the Edo period.

            Hibiya Park followed many years after the rest of the parks, largely due to challenges surrounding people’s willingness to decide on a design, and whether the designer should be foreign or Japanese. The site of Hibiya was officially given to the military shortly after the transition to the Meiji government in 1868. The site was used for public parades and formal reviews of the military’s skill up until 1887, when the army’s grounds were relocated to the outskirts of the city after a proposal for the new park had been made in 1885. Subsequent proposals were made again in 1897 and finally 1900, which lead to the parks eventual completion in 1903.[7]

            The specific location and design of Hibiya Park within Tokyo was also very meaningful, and served as a bridge between the “western” and “eastern” aspects of the redefined city. After a very lengthy debate over the specific contents of the park, it was decided that one quarter of the park would be a traditional Japanese water and mountain garden while the rest of the park would consist of an open space with tress, grass, and wide, winding carriage paths.[8] The park also featured a place for sports and recreation, which was the result of distinctly western influenced ideas as in the Edo period recreation was thought of as simply venturing out into nature.[9] When the park opened it also hosted a small zoo, a public restroom, and a bandstand for public performances, all hallmarks of western style public park. All of these prominent features can be seen highlighted on the accompanying map.