Technische Universitt Berlin

Fakultt I: Geisteswissenschaen
Institut fr Sprache und Kommunikation
Fachgebiet Audiokommunikation

Institute of Advanced Media Arts and Science

e Acoustics of the First

Concert Venues in Japan

Magisterarbeit
Clemens Bttner
Erstgutachter: Prof. Dr. Stefan Weinzierl
Zweitgutachter: Akamatsu Masashiro
Ogaki, Berlin 2008

1
Table of Contents
Credits and Acknowledgements 3

Introduction 4

1. Beginning concert life in Japan 5

1.1. Research to date 5

1.2. e beginning concert life in Japan 7

1.3. e Music Academy 9

1.4. e Meiji Music Association 13

1.5. e Tokyo Philharmonic Society 14

1.6. e New Symphony Orchestra 17

2. Early concert venues in Tokyo 20

2.1. Rokumeikan 21

2.2. Kanda YMCA 24

2.3. Hibiya Yagai Ongakudo 27

2.3. Sogakudo 30

2.4. Imperial Hotel 34

2.5. Imperial eater 38

2.6. Kabuki-za 45

2.7. Nihon Seinenkan 50

3. Acoustical Evaluation 52

3.1. Acoustical Measures 53

3.2. Room Acoustic Simulation 58

3.3 Geometrical Models 64

Discussion of Results 77

Bibliography 82

2
Credits and Acknowledgements

I am very much indebted to Yokohama Tadashi, President of the Institute of Advanced

Media Arts and Science for many explanations on architectural topics, for introducing me to many
experts in this subject and for access to his private library. For advice on architectural problems I also
have to thank prof.Irie Keiichi as well as Yamashita Ken.
Since non-japanese literature in many cases proved insucient, japanese literature has been
consulted, a task that would have been impossible without the help I received in comprehending and
translating Japanese literature, namely from Takeda Sanae, Taniguchi Mariko, Kuwabara Sho, Kojima
Ichiro, and Majima Miyako. Any text that was translated from Japanese and appears in this paper was
translated with the help of one of the above mentioned people.
I would like to thank Sait Minoru and Tosaka Shoko of the Kanda YMCA, Yamamoto
Shinya and Oe Hiromi of the Nihon Seinenkan, ????, the manager of the Sogakudo, and Tanimura
Masajiro, President of the Japan Sousa Society for sharing his studies on the Hibiya Open Air
Concert Hall , as well as Kobayashi Tetsuya of the eater Workshop for sharing his insides on the
Imperial eater.
Also, I would like to thank prof. Fujii Keisuke and especially prof. Sakuma Tetsuya and
Yurugi Tomoko of the Tokyo University, Fujii Keisuke for introducing me to the Architectural
Society of Japan and Sakuma Tetsuya as well as Yurugi Tomoko for providing me with the models of
the Sogakudo,and for many helpful discussions on the subject.
ank you also to prof. Tsukahara ???? and prof. Hashimoto Kumiko of the Tokyo
University of Fine Arts, and Prof. Detlef Schauwecker of the Kansai University.
Japanese Names are given in the customary Japanese form, which is family name followed by
given name. For the readers convenience all dates are displayed using the Gegorian Calender, instead
of using the Japanese era names, although the latter is the system that was predominantly used in the
period of time under investigation. For the sake of completeness, a table of the Japanese era names
and the corresponding year in the Gegorian calendar are given in the Appendix.

3
Introduction
e popularity of classical music in modern Japan is astonishing, represented by a high number of
professional symphony orchestras and professional performances, as well as an abundance of concert
halls. It is even more astonishing when considering the fact that the establishment of a concert life
compared the one in Europe started not before the Meiji era (1868 - 1912). Literature on the process
of the developing concert life, and the precedent importation of western music, especially in any
non-japanese language is still rare, even though over the recent years, a number of elaborate
disquisitions appeared. Any comprehensive survey on the concert venues 1 in which these rst
performances took place does, to the authors knowledge, not exist.
In this thesis, the most important venues for music performance of the period when the
concert life in Japan started to develop are presented. It will be examined where these concert halls
were located, how they looked like, who built them, and how these architectural features might have
inuenced their acoustical conditions. e Auditorium of the Tky Music Academy is generally
agreed to be the rst building erected merely for the performance of music, however, a number of
other buildings existed, not primarily built as concert halls for (classical) music, in which a number
of concerts took place. Prior to the introduction of these early concert venues a summary of the
establishment of a concert life in Japan will be presented, focussing on the activities of the Tky
Music Academy as the center for early innovations on the one hand, and the incidents that led from
the organization of the Nippon Symphony Association, to the establishment of the New Symphony
orchestra on the other hand, a chain of events that eventually ended up in the formation of the NHK
Orchestra, still having the reputation of the most illustrious ensemble in Japan nowadays.
Architectural data of these buildings will be gathered to get a most precise picture of the halls
proportions, the volume as well as the geometrical properties. Based on these ndings, computer
models will be created to calculate a number of acoustical measures for those concert halls where the
geometrical properties could be comprehended and reconstructed with sucient accuracy. is
survey covers the period from the rst performances of western music, held at the Rokumeikan in
the 1880s, to the subscription concerts of the New Symphony Orchestra, taking place at the Nihon
Seinenkan until the 1930s. It is furthermore geographically restricted to the events and venues
emerging from Japans capital since pivotal impacts at this early stage seemed to occur in Tky.

1 e word venues is preferred her over the word concert hall, since it could be shown that the predominant part of the buildings under investigation
was not erected primarily for the purpose of music performance.

4
1. Beginning concert life in Japan

1.1. Research to date

Concerning non-japanese literature on the developing concert life, a number of works exist,
mainly focussing on the importation of Western music, but also giving an overview on the early
concert life. Essential is the book Yogaku 2 , written by Galliano, providing an extensive research on
the introduction of Western music in the Japanese society. An equally sumptuous examination on
the subject of importation of Western music (in german) is given by Hirschfeld, 3 devoting one
chapter to the the establishment of a Western music life 4
Concerning non-japanese literature on the buildings examined in this paper, Coaldrakes
essay on Architecture and Authority in Japan5 certainly is of great value, featuring thoughts on the
introduction of Western architecture in the Meiji era in general, and a considerable description of the
Tokyo Music Academys auditorium. 6 Ernst outlines the form of Kabuki theatre as an expression of
Japanese life and culture 7 and covers the development of the physical theatre, giving an elaborate
explanation on Kabuki theaters , including some remarks on the Kabuki-za in Tokyo. e hall to the
Kanda YMCA, the old Imperial Hotel, and the Nihon Seinenkan, as well as the Imperial eater are
mentioned in the literature on the importation of Western music noted above, but barely described
in any detail regarding the interior architectural features. Any comprehensive research, focussing
primarily on the early concert venues in Japan does, to my knowledge, not exist.
Needless to say that the quantity of Japanese literature concerning this topic exceeds the
Non-Japanese. More or less detailed historical descriptions exist for all buildings under
consideration, however, the architectural properties of the buildings, especially the interior is in
many of these works of minor priority. 8
Newspaper and music magazines represent one of the most fertile sources concerning this
period of time and have been an adjuvant resource of this paper. e Yomirui Shimbun provides CD-
ROMs with searchable archives (in japanese) that have been digitalized from microlm, entitled

2 Lucianna Galliano Ygaku-Japanese Music in the Twentieth Century, (Lanham: Scarecrow Press, 2002).

3 Mattians Hirschfeld Beethoven in Japan. Zur Einfhrung und Verbreitung westlicher Musik in der japansichen Gesellscha. (Hamburg: von Bockel,
2004).

4 Chapter 5.2, originally Etablierung eines westlichen Musiklebens

5 William H. Coaldrake Architecture and Authority in Japan. (London, New York: Routledge, 1996).

6 Coaldrake, p.208 - 251

7 Earle Ernst e Kabuki eatre. London: Secker & Warburg, 1956, p.vii.

8 Teikgoku no gojunen (50 years of the Imperial eater) Teikokuhoteru Hyakunenshi (100 years history of the Imperial Hotel ), Ueno Sogakudo
Monogatari (History of the Sogakudo), Kabukiza Hyakunenshi (100 years history of kabuki-za).

5
e Yomiuri Shimbun in the Meiji Era and e Yomiuri Shimbun in the Taisho Era. ese
archives are accessible at most University libraries in Japan. Another important source is a
compilation of all music related articles from newspapers and music magazines, 9 a document that is
heavily relied upon by any Japanese researcher being engaged in this eld and has also been
frequently consulted for this survey. Concert yers and posters could be obtained at the Nippon
Kindai Ongakukan.10
A interesting overview concerning the architecture of the period under investigation is
presented in the illustrated books by Suzuki, which comes in two volumes, the former presenting the
Urban Architecture in Meiji the later focussing on Urban Architecture in Taisho. e most
important structures of this time are introduced by a large number of blueprints as well as some
photos.
e original blueprints for most of the buildings could not be obtained and seem so be lost,
the most probable cause for the lack of the original plans being natural disasters, most likely
earthquakes, nevertheless, copies of these original plans do, for most of the buildings, still exist. e
blueprints of the Imperial eater where printed in the Kenchiku Sekai 11 preserved by the
Architectural Institute of Japan, the ones from the Kabuki-za are preserved on microlm, available at
the ,National Diet Library in Tky. e original blueprints of the hall to the Kanda YMCA still
exist, but are a national treasure administered by the University of Kyto. An attempt to gain
permission to examine these original prints has been made, but was not successful. For the old
Imperial Hotel, as well as the Rokumeikan, no blueprints could be obtained. Floor plans and section
plans of the Sogakudo are illustrated in the documents describing the process of dismantling,
repairing and moving the old school builing.12

9 Tatsuhide Akiyama Nihon no ygaku hyakunenshi, Tokyo: Daiichi Hki Shuppan, 1966.

10 Documentation Centre for Modern Japanese Music

11 Kenchiku Sekai Book 5 magazine 1 - 9

12 Kyu Tokyo Ongakko Sogakudo ichiku shuri koji hokokusho, 1987

6
1.2. e beginning concert life in Japan

Before looking at the developing concert life in Japan, from the rst scarce performances of
orchestral music to the birth of a professional Japanese orchestra, a few words shall be mentioned on
the incidents that led to this active importation of ideas, habits and institutions completely alien to
the Japanese at that time; e Tokugawa Shgunate collapsed in 1867, and led to the restoration of
imperial rule in a period when Japan was facing pressure from an intrusive, expanding West.13 e
newly established Meiji leaders realized that in terms of military strength and economic
development, Japan was far behind the western nations, and suspected that this was also true in
political, social and cultural aairs.14 e primary task of the Meiji government was thus the
development of military and economic power. According to the new leaders, in order to modernize
Japan, Western educational ideas and practices had to be adopted. Students were sent abroad and
Western scholars and specialists of all kind were invited to assist Japan in the process of
modernization. e importation of Western music in Japan has to be seen as part of this social
project.15
Aer opening the country under this international pressure, foreign delegations where
established in Tkys harbor in Yokohama from 1860. e arrival of these delegations, accompanied
by military escorts and brass bands where the rst time when Japanese got exposed to Western music.
Military music was seen as an important part of Western martial techniques and therefore military
bands were established in the process of modernizing the Japanese military. Education was
acknowledged another cornerstone in this process and with the reformation of the educational
system based on the model of the french education system, Western music education was installed
starting in the elementary school. e ongaku torishirabe gakari16 was established in 1879 under
Izawa Shji with the purpose of training music teachers and the development of teaching materials
for the schools.17 e name was changed to Tky Music Academy in 1887 and the Institution was
relocated to Ueno.
A concert life similar to those in european cities did not exist and was yet be established. At
the end of the 19th century, public performances of western music were limited to concerts of the
military bands, the musicians of the court, or the orchestra of the Music Academy.18 e rst regular

13 Wiliam G. Beasley e Meiji Restoration. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1972. p.1

14 Mikiso Hane Modern Japan: A historical survey, 3. Ed. Boulder: Westview Press, 2001. p.92

15 Galliano p.91

16 Institute for music research

17 Hirschfeld p.37

18 Hirschfeld p.54

7
concerts took place at the Rokumeikan hall, built in 1883. e rst concert of orchestral music is
said to have taken place in 1881, the rst performance of European symphonic music in 1887,
namely the second and third movement of Beethovens First Symphony.19 e Nippon Ongakukai20
founded by Uehara Rokushiro, the director of the School of Music under the presidency of the
nobleman Nabeshima Naohito was responsible for a number of concerts at the Rokumeikan in these
early years.21 In 1898 musicians form the Imperial Department and the School of Music founded the
Meiji Ongakukai 22 the primary venue chosen for their concerts was the hall to the Tokyo YMCA in
Kanda.
e orchestra of the Tokyo Music School started giving regular concerts from the middle of
the 1890s in the schools auditorium in Ueno. In 1902 August Junker conducted the rst Japanese
performance of Schuberts Unnished Symphony and in 1908 Junker conducted the rst Japanese
performance of Beethovens Eroica Symphony. Mozarts Jupiter Symphony and Beethovens Fih
Symphony were performed for the rst time in Japan in 1918 by the Orchestra of the Music
Academy under Gustav Kron. Many concerts of symphonic work, chamber music and some operas
could be heard in Ueno.23
e military bands of the army and the navy where the rst ones to give regular concerts at
the Hibiya Park Open Air Concert Hall aer its completion in 1905. At that time music
departments had established at other major Universities like Waseda, Keio, Meiji, as well as the
Imperial School (now Tokyo University). A Wagner Society was started at Keio University in 1902.
Other music organizations like the Toyo Ongaku Gakku started organizing concerts open to the
public.
A big inuence on the development of these days was given through students who, aer
graduating from the Music Academy, where given the chance to study in Europe. Most of them
became teachers at the Music Academy themselves aer their return or started organizing orchestras.
Certainly the most renowned two young men who went this path, and played a leading role in the
establishment of Japanese orchestras, were Yamada Kosaku and Hideomaro Konoe.
e Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra began performing in 1910 and gave a special concert
starring two symphonic poems by Yamada Kosaku, who had just returned from Germany. Aer this
concert the orchestra continued under Yamada Kosaku by the Name Tokyo Philharmonic Society
until 1914. Concerts took place at the Auditorium of the Music Academy in Ueno, at the Yurakuza,

19 Chapter 1.3

20 Japan Music Association

21 Chapter 2.1

22 Meiji Music Association

23 Chapter 1.3

8
the Imperial Hotel and nally at the Imperial eater. 24 Yamada Kosaku and Hidemaro Konoe
founded the Japan Symphony Association in 1925. In April of the same year a series of Japanese
Russian concerts took place at the Kabuki-za which is said to have been a special event since the
audience was, for the rst time, exposed to an orchestra equally skilled to the ones existing in Europe
at the time.25 Aer this very successful concert in which the newly founded organization joined
forces with musicians from russian orchestras, the Japan Symphony Association held 12 subscription
concerts until its breakup in 1926. Konoe started the New Symphony Orchestra in the same year,
and regular subscription concerts at the Nihonseinenkan, as well as concerts excluding a subsription
were held.
Aer this period of a increasingly ourishing concert life, the birth of numerous concert
organizations, music magazines and a rising popularity of Western music in Taisho and early Showa
era, history certainly took a dierent turn in the beginning of the 1930s. 26 Censorship of music
literature and records started in 1934. Foreign music was almost completely banned. e numerous
concert organizations that were founded in the years before were suspended. e Hibiya Kokaido,
built in 1929, was the main stage for the events of the upcoming years.

1.3. e Music Academy

e Ongaku Torishirabe Gakari was founded in October 1879, with [...] three fundamental
objectives: the creation of a new corpus of music using both Western and Eastern elements; the
training of musicians in preparation for the new developments to come; and the introduction of
music into the national school curriculum. 27 It was led by Izawa Shji who invited Luther Withing
Mason, a music teacher from Boston working as consultant and teacher at the committee for two
years, and helped to establish the rst books of school songs (Shgaku shkash). 28
Classes started in 1880 with the subjects singing, organ, piano, violin, and music theory on
the new site in Hongo, in 1883 Mason was succeeded by Franz Eckert, who came to the Committee

24 Chapter 1.5

25 Nippon Hoso Shuppan Kyokai e NHK Symphony Orchestra - Fiy Years of its Growth 1926-1977. Tky: Nippon Hoso Shuppan Kyokai,
1977, p.100

26 Hirschfeld p.81

27 Galliano, p.30

28 Hischfeld, p.37

9
to teach orchestral music and music theory. 29 e department found a new home again in 1885 in a
former temple located in Ueno Park. At the rst graduation ceremony on the 20th of July in 1885 a
variety of music performances (piano solo, choir, japanese instruments, chinese instruments, folk
music) took place. Capable musicians where yet to be trained resulting in the performance of a string
quartet by Haydn, in which the part of the rst violin was played by a ute. 30 e second graduation
ceremony was held on the 19th of February in 1887.31 e second and third movement from
Beethovens First Symphony was performed under the dutch conductor Guillaume Sauvlet, who took
over the position of Franz Eckert aer his resignation in 1886. is performance, played merely with
strings, a ute and a clarinet, is generally acclaimed to have been the rst performance of an
European symphony in Japan.32 Sauvlet taught singing, composition and conducting until he was
succeeded in 1888 by the Austrian Rudolph Dietrich.
It was ocially announced that the name of the ongaku torishirabe gakkari changed into the
tky ongaku gakko 33 on the 5th of October in 1887. A new building for the Music Academy was
constructed in 1889, the opening ceremony was held on the 12th of May in 1890.34 Dietrich came to
the Tky Music Academy upon a request of Isawa Shji and is said to have contributed signicantly
to the development of the School as well as the progress of the establishing Western concert life in
Japan.

29 Galliano, p.40

30 Nippon Hoso Shuppan Kyokai, p.96

31 Nippon Hoso Shuppan Kyokai, p.96

32 Hirschfeld p.56

33 hereaer Tokyo Music Academy.

34 Chapter 2.3

10
 Figure 1 Rudolf Dietrich, surrounded by Students of the Tokyo Music Academy

In the book Ueno Sgakud Monogatari, 35 the period under Dietrich is described as (Sogakudos)
Golden Era, the Japan Weekly Mail wrote:

e commencement exercises of the Tokyo Academy of Music took place on Saturday at Uyeno Park,
the entertainment giving the heartiest enjoyment to the large audience which lled the hall of the
Academy to the very doors. no attempt was made to decorate the salon beyond the placing of two large
vases near the platform holding a mass of tree and ower beautifully arranged with the rich hues of the
dresses that the young lady performers wore [...] the Meditation was a capital performance, the string
part being rendered with such power and expression as to more than justify the hearty applause that
followed [...] most of the accompaniments were played by Professor Dietrich, on whom much credit
was directly reected by the performances of the pupils.36

Graduates from the Tokyo Music Academy where sent to study in Europe or America and
certainly contributed to the ourishing concert life, the rst student to persecute this path was Nobu
Koda (1870-1946). She graduated from the school in 1885, went to study in Boston for one year and
then to Vienna for ve years. Aer returning to Japan, she became a professor at the Tky Music
academy.
Another foreign teacher of great inuence was August Junker (1868-1944), who came to
Japan in 1890, aer completing his studies in Berlin. Many works of European music were rst
performed at the Academy, several of them under Junker, such as Schuberts Unnished Symphony ,
Beethovens Eroica Symphony, Glucks Orfeo ed Euridice and a concert performance of Carmen. 37
Under the guidance of Junker, the Music Academys orchestra is said to have made remarkable
improvements, as reected in the following article:

e Autumn Concert of the Tokyo Music Academy of Music, which was held at the Academy in
Uyeno Park on the aernoon of the 9th instant, showed that the students have made quiet remarkable
progress under the instruction of Professor Junker. Several foreign ladies and gentlemen of Yokohama
and Tokyo played in the orchestra pieces and contributed largely to the success of the performance, but
aer every allowance was been made to that account, a solid residue of credit remains to the Japanese,
who, alike in the vocal and on the instrumental parts acquitted themselves in a manner that bears high

35 Chunichi Shinbunsha: Ueno Sogakudo Monogatari, Tky: Tky Shinbun Shuppankyoku. 1987, p.23.

36 e Japan Weekly Mail, July 18, 1891.

37 Galliano, p.91.

11
 testimony to their own diligence and capacity and to the competence of Prof. Junker, who may fairly be
congratulated on achieving results quiet beyond anything anticipated by the most sanguine critics two
or three years ago. e orchestral pieces [...] unquestionable ranked for higher as musical displays than
anything previously heard in Tokyo. It is plain that whatever importance we attach to Prof. Junkers
labour, he must have found pliant and zealous material, and while heartily congratulating him on the
ne results attained, we may add an expression of hearty satisfaction that the future of musical
development in Japan was now been shown to depend solely upon the opportunities aorded by the
authorities, all doubts as to the endowment of the people having been removed.38

Figure 2 August Junker and Students of the Tokyo Music Academy.

As described above, a large number of teachers were German, therefore the repertoire of the
concerts held at the academy consisted to a substantial part of music by German composers, a fact
that was not always result in benevolence:

...where the students are at the present time - so far as for an outsider has opportunities of judging - not
only being trained entirely by German teachers and methods, but are having their taste for European
music formed exclusively on German models. At least such appears to be the case, as no music of any
other nationality is ever presented to the public by the pupils at the periodical concerts given by them
at Uyeno Park.39

Private music groups on the other hand did not seem to restrict their repertoire in such manner. e
most active of these private associations shall be presented in the following.

38 e Japan Weekly Mail, December 15, 1900

39 e Japan Weekly Mail, August 22, 1891

12
1.4. e Meiji Music Association

In 1898, musicians form the Imperial Department and the School of Music founded the Meiji Music
Association and the rst concert took place on the 22nd of March in 1898; an article in the Yomiuri
Shimbun described an audience of approximately 500 people gathering at the hall around 6:00 pm 40:

We formed this Association to share the great pleasure of music so we assembled the most elegant
music from West and East. e name of this Organization shall be Meiji Music Association. Our
purpose is to share our pleasure with you, so please dont be nervous. If anyone has a favorite song, we
will try to play it in the next concert.

Concerts by the Meiji Music Association quickly seemed to enjoy increasing popularity and
the Chuo shimbun wrote in an article entitled the expansion of the Meiji Music Association:

As this groups members are increasing with every concert, thus the system was changed and members
are from now on divided into three groups: owner, special, and normal. Whether attending the concert
or not the fee has to be payed. Every member can bring one outsider. Owner members have to pay more
than 50 , special members have to pay 1 . normal members have to pay 0,5 .41

Apart from the habitual concerts at the hall to the YMCA, sporadic concerts took place in
other locations, such as the Hongo Chkaid, 42 or the Auditorium of the Music Academy. 43 e
repertoire consisted of Western and traditional Japanese music, and in most concerts the Western
music was presented in the rst half, and aer an intermission, the Japanese music had its turn. In the
1st concert in 1898, the orchestra consisted of 12 instrumentalists, opening with a March of ,Franz
von Suppe. is performance was described as elegant and the most rened performance seen so
far. 44 e traditional japanese performance in the second half was, compared to the rst half judged
monotonous.45 Ten years later, for the occasion of the 28th concert, held on the 31st of February
1908, an overture by Schumann, and the largo from Handels Xerxes where played, and a good
selection of songs and a good technique, due to the orchestras long history got attested.46

40 Yomiuri Shimbun, January 22, 1898.

41 Chuo Shimbun, June 12, 1900, in: Nihon no ygaku hyakunenshi, Akiyama, ed., p.104.

42 Yomiuri Shimbun, June 24, 1901.

43 Meiji Ongakukai, Ongaku Shimp, December 1906, in: Nihon no ygaku hyakunenshi, Akiyama, ed., p.154.

44 Yomiuri Shimbun, January 25, 1898.

45 Yomiuri Shimbun, January 25, 1898.

46 Asahi Shimbun, February 2, 1908, in: Nihon no ygaku hyakunenshi, Akiyama, ed., p.177.

13
 e Meiji Music Association gave concerts until the year 1910. Although it can only be
guessed why the concert activity stopped in this year, one possible explanation can be found in the
following article:

Music world goes down dramatically; Usually in autumn the musicians are very busy performing in
the concerts but this year I have not listened to any good concert yet. e police administration
(keshich) did not allow the music performance without a special license to perform [...] this license is
insulting to the musicians so many of them gave up there profession or became music lecturers. 47

While, for what reason ever, the activities of the Meiji Music Association came to an end, another
orchestra was born in the same year.

1.5. e Tokyo Philharmonic Society

e Tokyo Philharmonic Association was founded by Baron Iwasaki in 1910, and the rst concert
took place on the 3rd of April of 1910 at the Auditorium of the Tokyo Music Academy. e Jiji
newspaper wrote:

e Tokyo Philharmonic Association was founded under the protection of the British Ambassador
Mr. McDonald, Count sumi, Baron Iwasaki [...] with the support of Tky Ongaku Gakko Prof.
Werkmeister and the President of the Toyo Music Academy Suzuki Yonejiro. e Tokyo Philharmonic
Association is a Membership Organisation with the purpose of promoting chamber music. [...]
Concerts are held six times a year [...] the aim is to present modern music to cope with the New Era, a
presentation concert is planned for the 3rd of April from 2pm at the Auditorium of the Music
Academy with Government ocials invited.48

e repertoire consisted of works from German composers like Beethoven Brahms, as well as other
European composers like Grieg and compositions from teachers of the Academy, such as
Werkmeister, Petzold, and Junker,49 e initial concert at the Sogakudo was followed by three
concerts at the Yurakuza in Juli and October of the year 1910, and in January of the following year.

47 Ongakukai, November,1910

48 Philharmonikai daiikai enskai, Jiji Shinbun, March 31, 1910, in: Nihon no ygaku hyakunenshi, Akiyama, ed., p.216.

49 Takeomi Nagayama (ed.) Kabukiza Hyakunenshi. Tky: Shchiku, 1993. p. 216.

14
e next two concerts where held at the ballroom of the Imperial Hotel.50 e Hchi newspaper
wrote:

e Tokyo Philharmonics 5th concert was held on the 20th of March from 8 oclock at the ballroom of
the Imperial Hotel [...] about 180 people attended this concert, half of these people being students in
uniform.51

Aer this event the concerts of the Tokyo Philharmonic Association found a new, and from then on
permanent home in the Imperial eater.52
Yamada Kosaku gratuated from the Tokyo Music Academy in March of 1908 and became a
researcher at the academy aer that studying Chello under Prof. Werkmeister. He went to Germany
in 1910 to study composition at the National Music University in Berlin under Bruch and Wolf.53
Aer coming back to Japan in January of 1914 Yamada organized a concert at the Imperial eater.
On the 6th of December he gathered musicians from the military orchestra, teachers from the Tokyo
Music Academy, imperial musicians as well as musicians from the Mutsukoshi shonen ongakutai to
form an orchestra of a total number of around 80 people. ey played the overture of Wagners
Lohengrin, two pieces out of Bizets Carmen as well as two of Yamadas own compositions.54 is
concert was entitled the 14th big concert of the Tokyo Philharmonic Association. Aer the very
successful concert, Iwasaki entrusted Yamada Kosaku with the further organization. In the Statutes
of the Tokyo Philharmonic Society, printed in January of 1914 the name e Tokyo Philharmonic
Society was proclaimed. 55 It was also stated that [...] e Society has for its object the promotion
of Music [...] and [...] In order to attain the said object this Society shall hold a Regular Concert
quarterly, subject to alternations according to circumstances [...] . Four types of memberships
existed: Honorary members, Family members, special members, and ordinary members. A Members
list printed in April of the year 1915 shows a total number of 104 members. 56

50 YOGAKU PAGE

51 Teikoku hoteru no enskai, Houchi shimbun March 21, 1911, in: Nihon no ygaku hyakunenshi, Akiyama, ed., p.229

52 Nagayama, p.246.

53 Nippon Hoso Shuppan Kyokai, p.98.

54 Nagayama, p.288.

55 See Appendix

56 See Appendix

15
Apart from these concerts, Yamada Kosaku organized regular public rehearsals at the Imperial
theater. A poster invited people to these public rehearsals: 57

Exept for the rainy season in July and August, our group has held rehearsal concerts every month since
the last May. e program is a mixture of popular and classic music and we hereby invite the public to
listen to our serious studies for the popularization of music. We need your cooperation ! Any interested
listener at our public rehearsals would be very much appreciated.
e Tokyo Philharmonic Society
President
Yamada Kosaku

e activities suddenly came to an end when rumors concerning Yamada Kosake led Iwasaki
to the decision not to support the Tokyo Philharmonic Society nancially anymore. e last concert
held took place in February of the year 1916. 58 e magazine ongakukai wrote in its march issue of
the same year: 59

Much to our regret the Tokyo Philharmonic Society is going to break up. e Society was sponsored
by the noble Iwasaki Familiy and founded by the President of the Toyo Music School, Yonejiro Suzuki,
with the support of Toyo Music School Prof. Werkmeister. e last concert, held at the Yurakuza (...)
was a fantasic concert. We were expecting the Tokyo Philharmonic Society to continue its ourishing
path aer Yamada Kosakus comeback, however the sponsorship from the Iwasaki family could not be
extended. It is a great pity not to have the Tokyo Philharmonic Society in the music industry in the
future.

Aer the breakup of the Philharmonic Society, Yamada Kosaku went to the United States to perform
concerts with his own compositions at Carnegie Hall as the rst Japanese composer in 1918 and
1920: 60

e new seasons rst fortnight brings an interesting event, the rst orchestral concert in this country of
Koscak Yamada, the Japanese composer and conductor, who comes from a Tokio orchestra of whihch
he has been director for the last four years. Mr.Yamada will conduct here a symphony orchestra of
ninety pieces, supplemented by the New Choral Society of New York, of 150 well-trained voices, and
by Clarence Whitehill, soloist, through a program of his own compositions. His New York concert will

57 See Appendix

58 Nippon Hoso Shuppan Kyokai, p.99.

59 Philharmonikai kaisan, Ongakukai March 1916, in: Nihon no ygaku hyakunenshi, Akiyama, ed., p.296-297.

60 New York Times, October 13, 1918

16
 test the original powers of the young Japanese musician with his acquired European training, will
bring forward not only tonal beauties native to the Orient, but evidences of the expertness of the East
in the muscal ways of the West. Mr.Yamada is said to have had great success in introducing Western
music in Japan. He showed his talent at an early age and gained the patronage of one of the wealthiest
men in Japan, who enabled the young man to go to Europe to study. Aer gaining honors as a student
under many masters, he had his opera, e Seventh Tengno accepted for European production. He
returned to Japan to procure costumes for the work. e subject is Japanese Tengno meaning
superwoman. en the war broke out. Remaining in Japan, Yamada organized the Philharmonic
Society of Tokio and became its conductor. He has recently come to America to observe musical
methods here and to arrange for the production and publication of his own works. Many are to be sung
at recitals by Clarence Whitehill and Eva Gauthier, while his own concert oers the prime novelty of a
Japanese at the baton.

1.6. e New Symphony Orchestra

Yamada Kosaku returned to Japan in 1919 and founded the Japan Symphony Association together
with Hidemaro Konoe in 1925.61 Konoe was born in a royal family, and studied at the Imperial
University in Tokyo from 1898 in the department of literature and founded a student orchestra with
his friends Endo Hiroshi and Tsuji Soichi. Konoe went to study composition in Europe in 1923 and
brought back a large number of scores when returning to Japan in 1924.62
In April of the Year 1925, forty instrumentalists of the Nippon Symphony Association
participated in an event called the Russo-Japanese Symphonic Concerts, a series of four concerts
given at the Kabukiza. For this event, the musicians of the Japan Symphony Association joined with
34 musicians from the Moscow Marynsky eater Orchestra, the Leningrad Symphony Orchestra
and the Kiev Conservatory. e concerts, conducted by Yamada and Konoe became a huge success
and were soon repeated in other cities like Nagoya, Kyoto, Kobe and Osaka.63
In January 1926 in was decided to start a series of subscription concerts, the rst concert was
held in the Nihon Seinenkan on January 24th of 1926 from 2 oclock with Hidemaro Konoe as the
conductor.64 ere were two types of membership, A members had to pay 5 Yen, B members had to
pay 3 Yen. Until June of the same year, a series of 12 subscription concerts took place. It should not
come to more than those 12 concerts, because due to a disagreement (its reason was never cleared)
between Yamada and Konoe, the Japan Symphony Association split up. Konoe and his followers

61 Galliano, p.94.

62 Nippon Hoso Shuppan Kyokai, p.100

63 See Appendix

64 See Appendix

17
withdrew from the association on the 5th of October 1926, and formed a new Orchestra called the
New Symphony Orchestra.
e rst concert under the name New Symphony Orchestra was held on the 22nd of
October 1926, under the direction of Hidemaro Konoe, entitled e 1st Presentation Concert.
Bachs Brandenburgisches Concert No.3 Beethovens Symphony No.4, Richard Strauss: Serenade, E
at major, Op.7 and the prelude of Wagners Die Meistersinger von Nrnberg was played.65 e
rst subscription concert took place on the 20th of February 1927, at the Nihon Seinenkan. e
conductor was again Hideomaro Konoe playing the overture of Mendelssohns Die Fingals-Hhle,
the ballet music of Mozarts Idomeneo and Schuberts Symphony No.7.66 e orchestra consisted of
50 members, including 17 Violins, 5 Violas, 3 Chelli, 3 Contrabass, 3 Flutes, 1 Oboe, 1 Englishhorn,
1 Clarinette, 1 Bassclarinette, 2 Fagotts, 4 Horns, 2 Trumpets, 3 Tombones, 1 Tuba, 1 Timpani and 2
Percussions.67 Between 1927 and 1932 a number of 112 subscription concerts was performed at the
Nihon Seinenkan before the New Symphony Orchestra moved to the Hibiya Kokaido. e last
subscription concert was given at the Nihon Seinenkan on the 15th of June, 1932. In the same time,
the New Symphony Orchestra played 71 concerts excluding a subscription. In this time, a number of
concerts under the direction of Japanese guest conductors (Naodata Yamamoto, Hideo Saito, Shu
Ninomiya and Jun Otsuka) as well as foreign guest conductors (Alexander Moguilewsky, Nicolai
Schifeblatt, Henry Hadley and Eugene Krein) was held. It is said that, by the 1920s, the level of
orchestras in Japan was approaching the level of some of the musically less-developed countries in
Europe.68

65 Akiyama, p.403.

66 Nippon Hoso Shuppan Kyokai, Appendix p.5

67 Nichinichi Shimbun, February 20, 1927

68 Galliano, p. 94

18
Figure 3 Concert of the New Symphony Orchestra at the Nihon Seinenkan.

19
2. Early concert venues in Tokyo

In the following chapter, Tokyos most important venues for music performance, in the time between
1890 and 1930, will be presented. Which building to describe here in greater detail was primarily
determined based on the occurrence of concerts held at the halls under consideration. In a diagram
entitled prewar music venues and number of performances (senzen no ongakukaijo to koenkaisu)69
more than 60 buildings are displayed, where concerts of Western music have taken place between
1878 and 1945, however, in more then half of these, only seems to have happened once. All the
venues that, according to this compilation, hosted more than 20 concerts, are included in this paper.
e selection covered in this survey does not want to imply that concerts and thus buildings
to accommodate these concerts did not emerge also in other Japanese cities like Osaka, Kyoto, or
Kobe, however, the incidents in Tokyo seemed to be of pivotal signicance at this early stage.
Furthermore, an exclusive focus on the Japanese capital addresses a sucient range of topics, given
the scope of this essay.
e predominant concert venues at an early stage have been the Rokumeikan, the hall to the
Kanda YMCA, the Sogakudo, the Hibiya Open Air Concert Hall, and the Imperial Hotel. is rst
group includes ballrooms, lecture halls, auditoriums, and banquet halls with a volume between 1200
m3 and 2300 m3. e second group features halls that had their peak time between 1910 and 1930
and are notably bigger, with a volume over 5000 m3, namely the Kabuki-za, the Imperial eater and
the Nihon Seinenkan.
For the sake of completeness, a few structures not contained in further detail in this paper
shall be mentioned: A few performance of Western Music seem to have taken place at the Seiyoken,
a hotel located in Ueno, performed by foreign dignities as early as 1880. Around the same time, the
Higashi Hongan-ji, a buddhist temple in Tokyo was once used for a performance of Western music.
Between 1895 sporadic concerts occurred at public halls such as the Aoyama Gakuin hall, or the hall
to the Hitotsubashi University.

69 Created by Maeno, Masaru, in: Ueno Sogakudo Monogatari

20
2.1. Rokumeikan

e construction of the Rokumeikan began in 1881 and was nished in 1883 on the site in Hibiya.70
It was formally opened on the 28th of November 1883 71 by Foreign Minister Inoue Kaoru
(1835-1915) and his wife, Takeko. Inoue felt the need for a place [...] where foreign dignities could
be accommodated in style and where they and members of the Japanese elite could meet socially. 72
e Meiji government was trying to revise the unequal treaties with western powers and Inoue
expected the Rokumeikan to be a place that would contribute to this goal. e old Enryokan, where
foreign dignitaries were accommodated until then, a cheaply constructed building originally built for
the training of naval cadets, was considered insucient, 73 since Inoues idea behind building the
Rokumeikan was to provide a space where Japanese could socialize with the Westerners and show
that they where equally civilized. He engaged the Josiah Condor (1852-1920) to design the
Rokumeikan, who came to Japan from England in 1877, when he was twenty four years old, to work
as an architect and teacher for the japanese government. 74 e name of the building was taken from
a song called deer crying (rokumei) out of an ancient chinese book of poetry, namely the Shih
Ching, describing friendship with strangers. e total cost is said to have been around 180,000 yen.
Photographs and pictures as well as some woodblock prints from the inside and outside of
the building still exist, showing a two-story, white painted brick building. Its architectural style is
oen described as French Renaissance style 75 or Renaissance villa , 76 mainly because of the
mansard roof. e portico of the facade is said to be inuenced by arabic architecture, whereas the
columns show indian inuence. Although the original plans are lost, numerous oor plans exist,
giving a fairly good impression of the inside. e total interior space is estimated around 15,000 2
including dining rooms, smoking rooms, a billiard room and a library on the rst oor, and salons,
suites and a ballroom on the second oor. 77 In the most popular time of the Rokumeikan, oen
referred to as the Rokumeikan Era, over a thousand guests per night attended the events, the most
famous ones being the ball on the 3rd of November of each year in honor of the emperor`s birthday.
e Rokumeikan is nowadays mostly remembered for the activities of Western ballroom dancing,

70 Dallas Finn, Reassessing the Rokumeikan, in: Challenging past and present: the metamorphosis of nineteenth-century Japanese art, ed. Ellen P. Conant
(Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2006), p. 23.

71 Hiroko Tomida, Japanese Women - Emerging om subservience, 1868 - 1945 (Folkestone: Global Oriental, 2005) p. 161.

72 Tomida, p. 161.

73 Donald Keene, Emperor of Japan: Meiji and His world (New York: Columbia University Press, 2002) p. 391.

74 Finn, p. 228.

75 Keene, p.391.

76 Finn, p. 228.

77 Finn, p. 229.

21
also because it was the rst time in Japan, where japanese women would prominently participate in a
social event, however, it is also commonly mentioned as the rst venue where concerts of western
music took place in Japan on a regular basis, especially in the years between 1886 and 1889.

Figure 4 Facade of the Rokumeikan (1893)

e Nihon Ongakukai 78 was founded at the 1886 by Izawa Shuji, 79 as well as the leader of
a French military orchestra and professors of the Imperial University. 80 In a meeting on the 20th of
January, the decision establish the Nihon Ongakukai was made, and it was furthermore decided that
meetings should be held twice a month at an oce in the Rokumeikan for practice, and that regular
concerts should start in March. 81 e November issue of the music magazine Ongaku Zashi
describes a concert held at the Rokumeikan on the 17th of November 1891 where around 400
people came to listen. 82 It must be assumed that the audience was standing during such a music
performance, otherwise this number of people could not have been accommodated. For the same

78 Japan Music Association

79 Chapter 2.3

80 Nihon Ongakukai, Kyoiku Jiron December 5, 1886 in: Nihon no ygaku hyakunenshi, Akiyama, ed., p.229, p.30.

81 Nihon ongakukai no setsuritsu, Kyiku hchi January 29, 1887, in: Nihon no ygaku hyakunenshi, Akiyama, ed., p. 31.

82 Gakuyukai jizen Ongakukai, Ongaku Zashi November, 1891, in: Nihon no ygaku hyakunenshi, Akiyama, ed., p.53

22
reason it must be assumed that the musicians most likely performed in the ballroom and the
audience was standing in the ballroom as well as in the two adjacent rooms. 83
e Rokumeikan was partly destroyed in an earthquake but the damage was repaired by
Condor, who used this occasion to renovate the building. Electricity was installed, the guest rooms
modernized and another oor was added to the central pavilion. e revision talks, initiated by
Inoue in 1882 were cancelled in 1887, and Inoue resigned in September of the same year and as a
consequence of these events the status of the Rokumeikan changed. In 1889, the Rokumeikan was
sold to the private Peers Association and the name of the Rokumeikan changed to the Peers Club
(Kizokukaikan).84 e Western music found new venues. e military bands began to play outdoor
concerts for the public at the Hibiya Open Air Concert Hall 85 from 1905, the students and
teachers from the Tokyo Music School (Tokyo Ongaku Gakko) moved to their own concert hall
built in Ueno in 1890.86 Concerts of private music organizations where from now on mostly held at
the Seinen Kaikan in Kanda, described in the following Chapter.

Figure 5 Ballroom of the Rokumeikan

83 Add oor plan

84 Finn, p. 230.

85 Chapter 3.3

86 Chapter 3.4

23
2.2. Kanda YMCA

While the prominence of the Rokumeikan decreased another building, also built by the previously
mentioned Josiah Condor 87 became the key music stage of the Kanto area for Western classical
music until the 1923 earthquake, 88 namely the hall to the Young Mens Christian Association in
Kanda, Tokyo. e Tokyo Young Men Christian Association was founded in 1883, presumably
initiated by a member from the American YMCA called John T. Swi, who is also believed to be
responsible for the nancial support of this project. e New York Times wrote:

Mr. Swi, who was formerly Assistant Secretary of this institution, went to Tokio some time ago to teach in one
of the Japanese colleges. Now he has founded a Young Mens Christian Association from some students in the
Imperial University, and he intends to give up his position as Professor and devote his entire work to the
furtherance of the interests of the institution. 89

Swi contracted Josiah Condor as the architect, who nished the plans for the building in July of the
year 1892. e cornerstone ceremony took place on the 23rd of March 1893, and the construction,
realized by the Shimizu Coorperation, was nished about a year aerwards. e opening ceremony
took place on the the 5th of May, 1894. 90
Condor designed a red-brick structure in romanesque style, consisting of two square
buildings of roughly the same oor space. e three story main building, facing the street, contained
oces, a reading room, a library, a guest-room, and a meeting-room, and was connected to the
lecture hall situated behind the main building by a corridor on the rst and second oor. e
contract drawings display a oor space of approximately 288 m2, a stage with a width of appr. 5 m,
and wooden pews, arranged on the rst oor as well as the second oor balcony.91
Performances of Western music took place at the Hall to the Kanda YMCA organized by the
Association itself, or rented to other organizations. Numerous programs exist, that give examples of
the concerts held at the YMCAs hall. e eorts made by the authorities of the Young Mens
Christian Association are reected in the following article:

87 Chapter 3.1

88 Detlef Schauwecker, Perspectives of Japanese Studies in the Baltic Area: Past and Future, Proceedings of the International Conference
(Saint-Petersburg: Japan Foundation,1998) p.81.

89 New York Times, 19 November 1888.

90 Yoshiyuki Kawahigashi, Josiah Condor Kenchikuzumensh Vol.1 (Tky: Chkron Bijutsu Shuppan, 1980), p.60.

91 Floor plan and Section on p. 27.

24
 Heretofore the great diculty in securing musical entertainment of a high order at the Association has been the
lack of a piano of suitable quality: but the funds accruing from the recent concerts will form a nucleus of about
three hundred yen with which may be made the rst payment on a high grade piano and the same secured for use
in later concerts. e piano playing of Miss Khroostche was of course the leading feature of these concerts but
excellent as that was, the solo singers and the quartette was scarcely less appreciated, and we voice the wish of all
who attended when we say that we hope the Association will now be able to provide many more such
entertainments. 92

Apart from concerts, organized by the YMCA itself, the hall was rented to individual groups on
various occasions. e regular concerts of the Meiji Music Association took place in the hall to the
YMCA exclusively. 93 A review on the rst concert at the YMCA held by the Meiji Music
Association revealed no description of the building apart form the fact that around 500 people
attended the event. 94

Figure 7 Kanda YMCA with hall in the back

92 e Christian Young Men, Vol.I, 19 December, 1905. No.4

93 Chapter 2.4

94 "Daiikai Meiji Ongakukai, Yomiuri Shimbun, 25 January 1898.

25
Figure 8 Inside Kanda YMCA

26
2.3. Hibiya Yagai Ongakudo

A concert venue that enjoyed great popularity in the late Meiji and Taisho era was the Hibiya Open
Air Concert Hall. e newly build structure seemed to arouse public interest primarily in the period
right aers its completion, as reected in various newspaper articles. In April, 1905 the Tokyo
Nichinichi wrote in anticipation:

Eight Columns are used to shape the form of an octagon, having no walls the structure looks like a European
summer house. It is built under the supervision of Nakaei Chue Tetsuro and the construction is estimated to be
nished within this month [...] the main goal of this new structure is to give an opportunity to the general public
to listen to music.95

Figure 10 Hibiya Park Open Air Cocnert Hall

e opening ceremony took place on the 1st of August, 1905. 96 On the same day the
following description of the newly built structure was published in the Yomiuri:

95 Tokyo Nichinichi Shimbun, 8 April 1905.

96 Yomiuri Shimbun, 1 August 1905.

27
 e total size of the octagon structure is 20 Tsubo, the height to the top of the total building is 39
Shaku 5 Sun. e height of the Floor is 3 Shaku 1 Sun. e Eaves height is 3 Shaku 5 Sun, the indoor
ceiling height is 6 shaku 2 sun. e oor is made of bricks and there are stairs on both sides of the size
of 6 shaku [...] in the middle of the roof there where four electric bulbs.97

e time and dates for concerts to be held were announced by the city major Osaki in the
Tokyo NichiNichi of the same day:

[...]at the Hibiya Park Open Air Concert Hall concerts will be held every year from April to November.
In case of rain or any other circumstance, the concert will be postponed to the following week. In April,
May, June as well as in October and November concerts will be held on the 2nd and 4th Sunday of the
month, from 2pm to 5pm. In Juli, August and September concerts will be held on the 2nd and 4th
Saturday from 6pm to 8pm.98

Instead of an entrance fee, a donation box was placed at the entrance, and listeners where asked to
donate for the maintenance of the site.99 e opening ceremony was described as a huge success, and
mountains of people are said to have gathered around the newly built structure, listening to the city
mayors speech, and the subsequent concert, which ended around 9 pm with the Japanese national
anthem. 100

97 Yomiuri Shimbun, 1 August 1905.

98 Tokyo Nichinichi Shinbun, 1 August 1905.

99 Tokyo NichiNichi Shimbun, 1 August 1905.

100 Yomiuri Shimbun, 1 August 1905

28
 Figure 9 Hibiya Park Program

However, the new building was not le without criticism:

...the building itself was very high compared to the open air concert halls in Berlin or Paris, where the
players are located much lower than the audience, making it easier for the listener to enjoy the music
[...] and usually there some free space under the oor but here bricks were used for the oor so the
reections were not good.101

Nagai Tateko, leader of the military orchestra that played at the opening ceremony remarked:

e stage was very high and the wind was pretty strong so that the musical notes ew away. e
electric lights hanging in the center of the building made it hard to read the notes.

101 Yomiuri Shimbun, 2 August 1905

29
Probably due to this criticism the newly built structure was renovated not long aer the rst concerts
had been played. e area around the Pavilion was extended in size, trees were planted surrounding
the pavilion, and benches were placed around the building so that 1000 people could be
accommodated.102 Concerts were held again starting from the 15th of April:

e performances at the park were disrupted temporary but resumed yesterday, on the 15th of April.
[...] It was a holiday and the weather was great [...] e people who came to the concert reserved their
seats hours before the concert started [...] e music was played by the military orchestra consisting out
of 26 musicians. e concert started at 2 oclock with big applause with a march that lasted 7 minutes
[...] the national anthem was played last. e concert ended at 4:45 on this aernoon.103

e Hibiya Open Air Concert Hall enjoyed the most popularity in the years between 1905 and
1928, aer 1928 the concert activity almost disappeared.104 is might have occurred due to the
inauguration of the Hibiya Kokaido105 in the Hibiya Park, located less than 100 meters away form
the Open Air Concert Hall. Concert programs and yers, as well as newspaper articles, show that the
concerts held at this venue where mainly played by the military orchestra.106

2.3. Sogakudo

e Auditorium of the Tokyo Music Academy was part of the Academys new school building that
opened in Ueno park with a big opening ceremony in May, 1890. Many performances of Western
classical music received its Japanese premier in the Auditorium of the Academy and it is commonly
said to be the rst concert hall in Japan solely built for the purpose of music performance.107
According to the ocial daily gazette, the Sogakudo was designed by Yamaguchi Hanroku
and Kuru Masamichi. In 1876, at the age of 18, Yamaguchi moved to Paris as a member of the
second group of Monbusho-sponsored students that got elected to study abroad. Aer completing a
three year course in civil engineering on the Ecole Polytechnique (Ecole Centrale), he stayed in Paris
for two years of practical experience.108 Aer returning to Japan Yamaguchi became the Chief
architect for Ministry of Education, and was entrusted with the construction of several educational

102 Tokyo Nichinichi Shimbun, 28 March 1906

103 Tokyo Nichinichi Shimbun 16 April, 1906

104 See Maeno Masaru in Sogakudo monogatari p.132

105 EXPLANATION ON HIBIYA KOKAIDO

106 See e.g. Abbildung oben

107 Chunichi Shinbunsha, Ueno Sogakudo Monogatari (Tky: Tky Shinbun Shuppankyoku, 1987) p.11

108 Sogakudo no monogatari, p.130.

30
buildings in Japan. Although his bad health condition only enabled him to pursue his position at the
Ministry of Education for a limited amount of time, he is said to have had a considerable inuence
on the ocial architectural style of the Ministry of Education. e Sogakudo can thus be considered
as an example of a stream of architectural projects owing from the Ministry of Education under the
direction of Yamaguchi. 109
e overall style is Classical Revival, with a Palladian portico, carefully craed timber
mouldings, cornices and applied pilasters, and an impressive Baroque pediment set into the eaves
over the central entrance 110 and [...] the completed building provides a clear illustration of the
governments educational priorities of the 1880s [...] 111 that is, the creation of Western-style
buildings appropriate to Western-style education. It was a two-story wooden structure consisting of
two symmetrical anking wings with a total width of 78 meters and a depth of 30 meters.

Figure 11 Sogakudo

e interior was dominated by a symmetrical arrangement of rooms along the corridor spreading
from east to west. In the center part oces, teachers rooms, a dining room and a sleeping room was
located. e classrooms and practice rooms were located in the side wings. e auditorium could be
found on the second oor of the center building.
For the design of the auditorium, the architects consulted an engineer named Uehara
Rokushiro, who from 1877 had ben a teacher of physics at the Naval academy. 112 One of the
noticeable characteristics of the hall is the barrel vaulted inset ceiling. e stage was lacking a
proscenium, and in its initial condition, had a width of 6.8 m, a depth of 1.5 m and a height of 0.76
m, with a cyclorama behind the stage that lasted until the pipe organ was established in 1928. 113 In

109 William H. Coaldrake, Architecture and Authority in Japan (London: Routledge 1996) p.242.

110 Coaldrake, p.240.

111 Coaldrake, p.240.

112 See Tokyo shimbun shuppankyoku (ed), Ueno Sogakudo monogatari, p. 128-130

113 Shin Yosha, Kyu Tokyo Ongakko Sogakudo ichiku shuri koji hokokusho (Tky: Zaidan hojin bunkazai kenzobutsu hozon gijutsu kyokai, 1987)

31
the many renovations between 1890 an 1959 the Stage was prevalently subject to change, and
constantly increased in all dimensions, as reected in gure 12:

Figure 12 Changing stage between 1890 and 1959

Table 1 Changes in size of the stage between 1890 and 1959

32
By the late 1970s the Sogakudo had become old and run down, thus the plan to abolish the
Auditorium was rst discussed in the Ministry of Education in November 1972, however, the
Japanese Society of the Architects, numerous music groups, as well as many students and faculty of
the the University objected the idea to ruin this important historical building, and a movement to
save the Sogakudo was born in February 1980. Government authorities proposed to move the old
hall to the Meiji-mura, an open-air-museum for Meiji architecture, close to Nagoya. However this
was unacceptable for the supporters of the Sogakudo. Authorities prohibited the use of the hall in
March 1980, and the situation seemed hopeless when in 1981 the mayor of Taito-Ward, Eichi
Uchiyama presented a plan to move the building a few hundred meters out of the campus to the
Ueno Park, a solution acceptable for both parties. Deconstruction started in 1984, and the whole
building was painstakingly dismantled and rebuilt in the present position. e whole building was
reduced in size by shortening the side wings, the ceiling was replaced, and the pipe organ rebuilt. e
Sogakudo opened again in October, 1987. 114

Figure 13 Inside Sogaudo

114 e chronological history of the Sogakudo, in: Sogakudo Monogatari p.189

33
2.4. Imperial Hotel

e old Imperial Hotel

e old Imperial Hotel opened on the 3rd of November 1890 and included 60 bedrooms, a
breakfast room, a meeting room, a newspaper reading room, a smoking room, and a lounge, as well as
a ballroom and an auditorium. e total cost of the building is said to have been 26,000 .115 An
opening ceremony took place on the 20th of November, 1890 with many prominent guests such as
the Stockholder Shibuzawa Eichi and the british architect Josiah Condor. Aer a speech by
Shibusawa, a concert of Western Music was given. e Nichinichi Shimbun116 wrote that [...] e
ballroom is very big and about 500 or 600 people can gather and [...] the ballroom has a size of about
200 Tatami 117

Figure 15 Old imperial hotel oor plan

115 Teikoku Hoteru, Teikokuhoteru Hyakunenshi 1890 - 1990 (Tky: Teikoku Hoteru, 1990), p. 64.

116 Teikoku Hoteru, p. 64.

117 200 tatami equals 324 m2

34
 e initial plans to built a new eater in Tokyo date back to the year 1880, when Prime
Minister Yamagata Aritomo urged the need for a new hotel in Western style. e project was rst
entrusted to a german architecture company called Ende & Beckmann Association, and
constructions started in July of the year 1887, however, one year aer that, the Japanese authorities
decided to cancel the contract with the german rm, and authorized a young Japanese architect
called Watanabe Yuzuru, who had just come back from studying in Germany for 3 years, with the
further construction of the Imperial Hotel. e three-storey structure built in the French Second
Empire style118 was completed under Watanabe Yuzurus supervision in 1890. Concerts at the old
Imperial Hotel where held in the ballroom, described above, and at the auditorium, which seemed
allow a number of around 200 spectators.119 e capacity of 60 bedrooms soon proved to be
insucient, to accommodate the increasing ow of foreign visitors to Japan, and it was thus decided
to replace the the old hotel by a completely new building. Business in the old Hotel was scheduled to
end in 1923, however, the story of the old Imperial Hotel should come to an end even before that:

Fire today destroyed the older portion of the widely known Imperial Hotel and damaged the
temporary annex to the hotel [...] the ames swept rapidly through the hotel under the strong wind
that was blowing, and it was quickly enveloped. e annex also was considerably damaged, and the new
hotel which is under construction at a cost of 7,000,000 yen was endangered. 120

118 Kevin Nute, Frank Lloyd Wright and Japan, e role of traditional Japanese art and architecture in the work of Frank Llyod Wright (London:
Chapman and Hall, 1993), p,153

119 Nichi Nichi Shimbun 4 February 1907, in Yogaku 100 nenshi. p.158

120New York Times, April 17th 1922

35
 Figure 14 Old imperial Hotel
Frank Lloyd Wrights Imperial Hotel

e Imperial Hotel designed by the american architect Frank Lloyd Wright and opened on the rst
of July 1922, one year ahead of completion, to ll in for the original building which, as mentioned
above, had been destroyed in a re. e 100-roomed hotel, covered an area of appr. 13,500 m2. Its
main features was a three story-lobby and a two-story dining room, ballroom and auditorium.121

Figure 16 Imperial Hotel, conceptual drawing by Frank Lloyd Wright (1914)

121 Alofsin, p.??

36
A writer of the New York times described Wrights Imperial eater upon the arrival in Japan with
the following words:

e japanese are proud of this strange structure, which has become almost a cult [...] Either one does or
one does not like it [...] it is the most marvelous structure that has ever rambled over a ve-acre lot,
with ballroom, swimming pool, theatre and countless public rooms facing open courts of owers and
fountains [...] so I, for one, am glad that some man could spend seven years of his life making his dream
come true and that there were enough hard-headed business men and imperial investors to produce
6,000,000 yen ($3,000,000) for the glorication of the ideal [...] e native Nikko stone, rough faced
and porous, never before has been used in this fashion for a big structure. Scoers say that it will
crumble like cheese under the rst of the earthquakes that periodically add spice to life at Nippons
capital. is stones light gray, mottied by holes, has been used to form a color contrast with the yellow,
rough brick. Inside, as well as out, along strange winding passages that meander from one public room
to another, up and own stone stairs, combined by stine walls, along the bedroom corridors, stone
appears in its naked, quaried state without any attempt at mollication by plaster or hangings [...] all
this is a bit barbarous, but the result is sturdy and beautiful. ere is freshness and virility, and the
points just mentioned would not annoy a Japanese lady, for her kimona does not y riotously, and the
straw sandal would not be destroyed by the wide cracks and rough surfaces.122

Concerts took place at the banquet hall, at the ballroom or the auditorium. Figure 18 shows
the auditorium at the le end of the center part of the building.

Figure 17 Imperial Hotel, Floor plan (1914)

122 e New York Times, 31st of December, 1922

37
One aspect that Wright was most concerned of when designing the hotel was the possibility of an
earthquake:

But this terrible natural enemy to all building whatsoever - the temblor ! e terror of the temblor
never le me while I planned the building nor while, more than ve years, I worked upon it [...] ere
may be more awful threat to human happiness than earthquake. I do not know what it can be. 123

anks to the oating foundations and reinforced steel construction Wrights hotel was one of the
few buildings to survive the Kanto earthquake in 1923.

2.5. Imperial eater

e Imperial eater opened on the 1st of March, 1911 in front of the Marunouchi palace, and a big
opening ceremony, with over 2000 people invited, took place on the rst and second of March. e
rst theatrical performance took place on the 4th, the rst orchestral concert was held by the Tky
Philharmonic Society on the 6th of November.124 e plan to build a new theater was rst in a
meeting under the former Prime Minister Ito Hirobumi on the 8th of January, 1906. A committee to
establish the new theater was founded and the businessman Shibusawa Eichi became the chairman.
In the rst meetings of the newly formed committee Yokogawa Tamisuke, who was also responsible
for the design of the Yraku-za, which was built in Tky in 1908, got elected as the architect for the
Imperial eater.125 He went to America in the same year to study the American theater.

e Japanese invasion has nally reached Broadway. Two Japanese architects are in town making are
minute study of American theatre construction for the purpose of building the rst truly European
playhouse in Tokio [...] He is the representative of a company which is to build the new theatre in Japan
and will be the architect actually in charge of the work. ough he is an architect, and neither a stage
director nor actor, he has also been commissioned to make a special study of American methods of
handling scenery and obtaining scenic eects [...] Mr.Yokohama is accompanied by Yasuo Matsui,
another Japanese architect, who was graduated from the University of California and speaks good
English [...] Mr.Matsui explained that the new theatre in Tokio will not be nished for three or four

123 James Cary, Frank Lloyd Wright's Imperial Hotel (Rutland: Charles E. Tuttle Company, 1988)

124 Teigeki no Gojunen, 1966, p. 246

125 See Kobayashi, 1996, in Journal of the Architectural Institute of Japan, p.453 - 456

38
 years, but will surely be completed in time for the international exposition in Tokio, which is to take
place in 1912. e theatre is to be called the Tokio Artistic and Imperial eatre, he said. is does
not mean that it is a Government undertaking, or directly under the patronage of the Emperor, though
the projectors hope to have his inuence. It is to be built by a private company, in which some of the
most prominent men in Tokio are interested. e theatre will be progressive. Its aim will be to combine
the Japanese drama with the European drama. [...] It is the purpose of the Artistic and Imperial atre
to oer both the great Japanese dramas and some of the famous European works. [...] e new theatre
will aid in the merging of there two widely divergent forms of dramatic art.126

Yokogawa Tamisuke unfortunately did not leave any comments on his designs but in a
Magazine called Bijutsu Shinp some of his thoughts concerning the building process of the Imperial
eater got published. Looking at this article one can conclude what was Yokogawas ideal theater
and how the one he actually built diered from this ideal:

I do not have to say much about the struggle I had building the Imperial. If I should mention
something, I would certainly say that the budget was not enough. e eater structure in Europe A
building for drama is only used for the performance of drama, a building for opera is only used for
opera, but in Japan nowadays it is not the same [...] it becomes a trouble when you have to meet all
these dierent requests. To tell you the truth, I did not want to install a runway, but the it was
demanded, so I decided to design the runway that could be taken away, for the purpose of some
performances. To have seats reserved for special guests, I designed something that is called the National
eater or Royal eater. for the audience seats my prototype was the recent development from
Germany or America. e cafeteria I designed based on our habits, since there is usually no such place
in a Western theater. e Western theater has a space for refreshment but food would be served outside
of the building. Cafeterias do exist in Western theaters but only in smaller ones. I had do incorporate a
cafeteria in this theater because the japanese audience, visiting a theater, is used to habit of eating and
drinking. 127

e appearance of the Imperial eater was unlike anything witnessed in Japan before and
therefore caused a diversity of reactions. It was a four-story building in Renaissance style, the outer
appearance dominated by the walls made of white bricks, and a statue of an old man, looking down
from the roof top as a symbol for the Imperial eater. is outer appearance, on many people made

126 e New York Times, May 3rd, 1908

127 Kobayashi, Tetsuya Kyuu teikoku Gekijou no Fukugenteki kousatsu: Meijisue kara shouwa ni kaketeno Engekiundo to kenchikuni kansuru

kousatsu Journal of the Architectural Institute of Japan, 67 (1997), pp.455

39
an astonishing impression. One visitor stated that [...] the outside of the Imperial eater looks like
a piece of Tofu cut in half and I am certainly not impressed. 128, another person described:

there is nothing more unsightly than the statue on the roof, which does not match at all with the halls
style [...] and I had to laugh about the materials that where used. It looks as if a person from the
countryside would put on thick makeup and jump on the stage all of a sudden [...] when we look at the
opera in Paris [..] all the details match. I would like to present a photo from the grand opera in Paris,
which is the ideal of all theater buildings worldwide [...] the sculptures are all in the right place.
Compared to the Imperial eater, there is a huge dierence [...] the next thing I can not agree with is
the color [..] it looks like they put white face powder on the building [...] when I saw the blue columns
in the entrance it looked to my like the columns used in a train station. Seeing this color during the
construction, I thought it would be only temporary [...] I hope it will be repainted as soon as possible
[...] comparing the white bricks to red ones, of course the white ones are more elegant, but when
considering materials for architecture, one must think about the balance with the surrounding [...]
there is no value in art if you ignore the harmony. 129

Figure 18 Facade of the Imperial eater (1911)

128 Yomiuri Shimbun 7th of March, 1911

129 Yomiuri Shimbun, 1st of March, 1911

40
 Other writers, on the other hand, described that the [...] white impressive building has a
spectacular appearance and deserves the name King of eaters."130 and that comparing the Imperial
eater to the Meiji-za, the Shintomi-za, and the Kabuki-za the other three look like barracks.131
A number of pictures still exist from the inside of the building, giving a relatively good
impression of its interior. One aspect that is apparent is that the inside is perfectly symmetrical, in the
main hall but also in the surrounding rooms and in the entrance hall. When entering the Imperial
eater through the main entrance one could nd a ticket booth on both sides. Going up the stairs
one would be led through a door where he had to present his ticket into an impressive hallway that
lead to the doors for the rst oor seats. On the second oor, one could nd a counter and a shop, a
cafeteria and a party venue. e main hall was designed in a horseshoe shape style, similar to theaters
that existed at the same time in europe 132 and had a capacity of about 1,700 seats, consisting of
chairs on the rst and second oor and benches on the third and fourth oors. It was the rst theater
to introduce an orchestral pit in Japan, and provided a hanamichi 133 that could be removed. e
luxurious interiour was partly designed by Yokogawa Tamisuke, the wallpapers created by Wada
Eisaku, and the sculptures my Mumata Kazumasa, both of them where teachers at the Tokyo Art
University. It was also Wada Eisaku who was responsible for the paintings on the main halls ceiling
and the cafeteria. 134 One aspect that is not noticeable in the existing black and white photos, is the
color of the interior which was for the most part golden, the painting on the ceiling in contrast was
blue. e stage had a width of 14.5 meters and a height of 7.2 m (compared to the Kabuki-za that
had a width of about 22 m and a height of about 5.5 meters at that time).135

130 Jijishinpo, February 4, 1911

131 Yomiuri Shimbun 7th of March, 1911

132 for example the Grand Theatre, Bordeaux floor plan can be found in Barron 1996 p.231

133 In Japanese, the word hanamichi is written with two characters meaning ower and path. is name probably comes from a theater called
Nakamuar-za, which in 1687 insalled a stage to display owers that where given to the artists as presents. Details on the hanamichi and the origin of
the word is shown in E.Ernst, e Kabuki eater (London: Secker & Warburg, 1956), p. 25.

134 Kobayashi, 1996, p.456

135 is is compared to the second version of the Kabuki-za

41
Figure 18 Facade of the Imperial eater (1911)

42
 Figure 20 Imperial eater Section

Figure 21 Imperial eter Floor plan (rst Floor )

A critical review of the theater can be found in the Yomiuri on the day of the opening:

43
 If you compare the stage to the one from the Kabuki-za [...] this might be the better shape, however,
the actual decoration is not very interesting. [...] First it looks like European style, but it is the most
unnatural and uncomfortable thing that was used so far in a Japanese theater. [...] e new small sitting
chairs are relatively comfortable to sit. e rst and second row box seats on both sides provide a great
view. From the third row seats there are some parts you can not see the runway, from the fourth row
seats you can hardly see the performance. is architecture skill is indeed a terrible thing [...] from the
balcony seats on both sides of the fourth oor, spectator where not able to see any of the performance.
e front seats are also not that good. All one can see is the ceiling above with gold and blue colors.
Also, the two places for honored guests are not the are not ideal for a Japanese theater [...] since
Japanese people are accustomed to eat lunch boxes in the theater and to enjoy the performance between
the conversations. ese seats can be seen form many dierent angels and one might feel
uncomfortable being seated there. 136

When Mr.Yamamoto, the manager of the Imperial eater went to New York to study the
theater business there, in 1914, he was cited:

We have no ticket speculators in Japan. We make it possible for patrons to procure tickets by
telephone. Of course some people come to the box oce in person, but the favorite way is to telephone
or write the booking oce, when one of our uniformed messenger boys goes to the address with the
tickets desired and collects the money 137

Traditonal Kabuki theater started at 11 in the morning and was supposed to be nished by 4
in the aernoon, and Kabuki lovers spent the whole day at the theater. e compact performances at
the Imperial eater, starting in the evening without long intermissions where also a novelty to the
Japanese. While the more conservative Kabuki lover stood up for the long days at the Kabuki theater,
some others praised that workers and employees could now witness a performance aer work.138
During the process of designing the Imperial eater Yokogawa Tamisuke dedicated a
deliberate amount of study time on how a building could be constructed most resistant against
earthquakes and res. is engagement in the rst instance prevented the Imperial eater form any
major damage, when the big earthquake struck in 1923. It was a couple of hours aer, that the
theater caught re that spread from the adjacent Metropolitan Police Department.

136 Yomiuri Shimbun, 4 March, 2009

137 e New York Times, May 3rd, 1908

138 Yomiuri Shimbun, 22 of March, 1911

44
2.6. Kabuki-za

Before the opening to Western inuence, a number of art forms had established in Japan, the
most prominent being Gagaku, N, and the Kabuki theatre.139 Although the rst Kabuki
performances emerged as early as 1956 in Kyoto, it was during Edo period (1603-1868) that the
Kabuki theatre developed its characteristic form,140 and as a consequence established a distinctive
style of theatre buildings.
e Kabuki-za opened on the 21st of November 1889, being the largest theater at that time
with a stage of 24 m width and 21,8 m depth.141 It has been destroyed and then rebuilt a number of
times and it is therefore common to refer to one of the four periods of the Kabuki-za,142 the fourth
version being the one still existing nowadays, the third being the one of the greatest interest to this
research.

Figure 22 Kabukiza (1889-1911)

139 For the interested listener on the subject of traditional japanese art forms, see [ ]

140 See Ernst 1956, p.2

141 See Ernst 1956, p.62

142 A h period starting in 2010, when the Kabuki-za will be demolished and then rebuilt again due to concerns over the buildings stability in case of
an earthquake. See Kabukiza Saisei Kent Iinkai Hkokusho, Tkytoshi Keikaku, 2006

45
 e rst version by Takahara Ks certainly caused a sensation not only for its size but also
for the fact that it imitated a Western theatre in its exterior while its interior was built according to
the conventions of a Japanese (kabuki) theatre. Aer 22 years of existence and obvious dilapidation,
the rst renovation, undertaken by the Shimizu Corporation completed in 1911, came across quiet
drastically. A new building part143 was added and the exterior was completely remodeled to a purely
Japanese style, inuenced by the architecture commonly found at Japanese temples. Reasons for the
recurrence of this strong traditional inuence, especially in a time where the fashion rather pointed
in the opposite direction, can only be assumed, one possibility being two new theatres that came into
being around the same time. e Yraku-za on the one hand, completed in 1908, was designed
completely on the model of a Western theatre, inside and outside, and established to present Western
vaudeville, while the Imperial eatre on the other hand, whose doors opened in 1911, was based on
the model of a European opera house.144

Figure 23 Kabukiza (1911-1921)

143 most likely a storage room

144 See chapter 3.8

46
 Aer it was destroyed in a re on the 30st of October 1921, the Kabuki-za was once more
rebuilt, but constructions remained unnished when the big Kanto earthquake struck in 1923. e
renovations, based on a design by Okada Shinichiro where resumed shortly thereupon and
completed on the 13th of December in 1924. is time the alterations mainly aected the inside,
introducing a generally Western style interior to the Kabuki theater
with chair seats, aisles, oors raked towards the stage, prosceniums, and front drop curtains.145 A
description of the newly built theatre was given in the Yomiuri shortly before the opening:

e reconstruction of the Kabuki-za started in April of last year and is now almost nished, 400
people are now working on the make up, and we are looking forward to the opening on the 5th of
January. e new structure has a capacity of 2750 people, the area of the total building is about 3200
Tsubo, which is bigger than any of its kind. e building is made of reinforced concrete and build in a
mixture of modern style and hafuzukuri style architecture. It is as we expected Tokyos No.1 eater
and we can be proud to have it. e audience is usually sitting on the oor, however for Western theater
or other performances such as movies it can be changed to chairs. e third oor has always benches
the forth oor is always a standing oor. e middle section of the second oor is reserved for noble
visitors [...] the aisle is very wide. Not only on the rst and second oor but also on the third and forth
oor there is a cafeteria a smoking area and a lounge. e decoration is a mixture of foreign and
japanese style and is very elegant. Because it is elegant it is comfortable. e width of the stage is 15
ken. e stage it is 21 shaku high. e depth of the stage is 14 Ken. e stage features a revolving stage
of two circles. e scenery and the orchestra facilities are of a kind not seen until now. Kabukias
manager Mr. Inoue said: What we tried to achieve was elegance and at the same time usability. e
total cost was 4,000,000 . 146

is third version of the Kabuki-za lasted until it was destroyed again in the Allied bombings during
World War 2. It was restored based on the general design of 1924, but the need to rebuilt the theatre
was once again used for improvements. e outer appearance changed in the way that the sloping
roof in the center disappeared. e main alterations in the interior consisted in the installation of
chairs on the third and forth oor, which resulted in a change of capacity, as well as the changes
made to the ceiling. e hall in this shape has prevailed until today. Although the architecture of the
Kabuki-za incorporated ideas that where certainly based on Western inuences, numerous features
can be observed that reect a typical Kabuki stage, and will be pointed out in the following;

145 Ernst 1956 p.24

146 Yomiuri Shimbun, 26th of November 1924

47
 Figure 24 Kabuki-za (1924 - 1951)

Figure 25 Inside Kabuki-za (1924 - 1951)

e rst feature that becomes evident is the general shape of the audience and the size of the
auditorium compared to the proscenium. Many shapes have been tried in European theatres in the

48
attempt to nd the ideal auditorium proportions; the semicircle, the U-shape, the horseshoe, the
bell-shape, the straight-sided bell and the truncated oval or ellipse.147 While the horseshoe became
the horseshoe became the most common shape in the western theatre, a rectangular shape was
chosen for the Kabuki-za, 148 with a width of the proscenium exceeding the depth of the auditorium.
Another distinctive feature is the so called hanamichi, a passageway connecting the rear part
of the auditorium with the stage. It has a width of about 1,5 m and it is mainly used for the entrances
and exits of the actors, a signicant part of the Kabuki performance. e blueprints indicate two
hanamichi, one on the stage-right side and one on the stage-le, however, a photo shows the
auditorium with no hanamichi present, therefore it is assumed that the hanamichi where removed
for performances of orchestral music.
A third characteristic is the existence of the sajiki, corresponding to the boxes in a Western
theatre. In the Kabuki-za the sajiki can be found on the rst and second oor149 on both sides of the
hall, the main dierence between the sajiki and the boxes in a Western theatre being the lack of
chairs in the former. Instead the audience is seated on cushions placed on tatami mats. According to
the article in the Yomiuri, the audience was sitting on these tatami mats not only in the sajiki, but
also in the pit, a habit not uncommon in the traditional Kabuki theatre. In the case of classical music
performance however it is assumed that the audience was seated in chairs in the listening areas other
than the sajiki. Spectators seated in the side sections where obviously not facing the stage, but the
other side of the hall, a fact that is commonly credited to the importance of the hanamichi, which
can be appreciated well from sajiki or on the balconies in the side section.
Concerts of orchestral music at the Kabuki-za took place in the second and third period, the
most signicant ones between 1924 and 1950. e most prominent event was with no doubt a series
of four concerts under the title of Russo-Japanese Symphonic Concerts, held at the Kabuki-za
between April 26 and 29, 1925.150 Another concert is reported by Schauwecker:

In the summer of the same year, Sergei Prokoe passed through Japan on his way to America. Only a
few knew his fame from music reviews in Western countries, but they arranged for him to present two
piano performances in the most ostentatious hall of the period, the Imperial (Kabuki) eater,
introducing him as the gigantic Russian composer and pianist virtuoso. However the hall remained

147 See Barron, M. 1993 p.248 f.

148 is holds true for most of the Kabuki-eatres

149 Japan follows the american system, in which the ground oor is called the rst oor

150 See Chapter 2.4

49
 half empty, and Prokoe, furious about the unexpectedly low remuneration, continued his journey in
an unpleasant mood. 151

2.7. Nihon Seinenkan

e decision to built the Nihon Seinenkan was made in 1921 and the name Nihon Seinenkan was
decided. e opening ceremony took place on the 26th of October, 1921. One of the main purposes
was to give an accommodation to young people coming to Tokyo to pray at the Meiji shrine, it had
thus a capacity to accommodate around 500 people, and was located not to far from Meiji shrine.
Apart from the accommodations, the Youth Center consisted of a library and a newspaper reading
room, a conversation room, a cafeteria, and an auditorium with a capacity of about 2000 people.
It was built with a budget of 2,336,700 152
Between 1945 - 1953 the Nihon Seinenkan was conscated by U.S. Military. In 1953 the
building was returned to Japanese Authorities, and thereupon renovations initiated. A set of detailed
blueprints exist from the time of the renovation still exists showing a two story hall with one balcony.
From the time before this renovation however, all section plans seem to be lost, photos from the
auditorium in its initial condition are showing a 3 story hall. e model for the calculations in
Chapter 4 are based on the remaining oor plans of the hall in its initial condition, and the existing
photos of that period. In these oor plans a width of 19 meters and a length of 28 meters from the
beginning of the stage to the end of the hall is indicated. e inner stage opening has a width of 12
meters. Concerts where frequently held at the Nihon Seinenkan, and a set of rules was
established153 :
1. e music concert should be a serious contribution to the improvement and the development of
music in Japan.
2. e name of the events shall be Nihon Seinenkan Ongakukai154
3. Musicians playing at the Nihon Seinenkan should be regognized by the Nihon Seinenkan
authorities.
ese concerts where held ten times per year, on the 3rd sunday of every month excluding July and
August.155 Apart from concerts organized by the authorities of the Seinenkan, the hall was rented to
other organizations for events, the most prominent being the New Symphony Orchestra.

151 Schauwecker in Perspectives of Japanese Studies in the Baltic Area: Past and Future 1998 p.81

152 Nihon Seinenkan Hyakunenshi p. 7

153 Nihon Seinenkan Hyakunenshi p.122

154 Music Meeting

155 Nihon Seinenkan Hyakunenshi p. 123

50
Figure 26 Nihon Seinenkan Outside

Figure 28 Nihonseinenkan Stage

51
3. Acoustical Evaluation

e evaluation of the aptitude of a concert hall for the performance of music or speech is generally
undertaken on the basis of acoustical measures. 156 ere are two kinds of measuress that have to be
distinguished. e objectively measurable properties of a sound eld on the one hand, that correlate
to a certain amount with subjective measures on the other hand. erefore physical measures of the
sound eld have to be studied, as well as how hearing sensations are processed by the hearing organs
causing a perceptual sensations in the brain.
e reverberation time, introduced by W.C.Sabine,157 was the rst objective measure to be
found and is still one of the most important quantities in room acoustics, 158 Nevertheless, numerous
studies since the 1950s have pointed out that the perception of sound in a room can merely be
described by a single measure and hence focused on nding other measures that correlate to certain
hearing impressions (Subjective evaluations have shown, that concert halls sharing the same
reverberation time can be rated very dierent in the listeners preference 159 ). A summary of these
investigations can be found in Beranek 160 or Cavanaugh 161 . Within these attributes derived from
laboratory psychoacoustics and acoustic experiments, a group of measures was established, that is
now generally agreed upon as important. e selection of room-acoustical measures chosen for the
purpose of this research is mainly based on a selection of values that have been chosen for previous
studies engaged with acoustical simulation and room acoustical evaluation of historical concert halls.
162 In current practice these measures are taken into account for the purpose of concert hall planning
and design, as stated in ISO 3382.
Most of the acoustical measures are derived from the impulse response of a room. e
impulse response is usually graphically represented in a reectogram. Since a room can be regarded as
an acoustical transmission system, the impulse response contains a complete description of all the
changes a sound undergoes when traveling from the sound source to the listener. Spatial and
directional eects can be described by the binaural impulse response. e impulse response is
dened as the signal obtained at the systems output aer its excitation by a vanishingly short

156 Stefan Weinzierl, Beethovens Konzertsle: Raumakustik und symphonische Auhrungspraxis an der Schwelle zum modernen Konzertwesen
(Frankfurt am Main: Springer.Verlag, 2002), p.135.

157 W.C Sabine Collected Papers on Acoustics (New York: Peninsula Pub, 1922)

158 Heinrich Kuttru, Room Acoustics 4.Ed. (London: Taylor & Francis, 2000), p. 213

159 Leo Beranek, Concert and Opera Halls: How they sound (Woodbury: AIP-Press, 1996), p.421

160 Beranek , p.

161 Wiliam H. Cavanaugh, ed. Architectural Acoustics - Principles and Practice (London: John Wiley & Sons, 1998), p.

162 Weinzierl 2002, Gimpel 2008, Sakuma 2008

52
impulse, i.e. by a dirac or delta impulse. 163 Since the buildings examined in this research do either
not exist any more or have changed drastically due to renovations, computer models have been
generated of all the buildings, based on the precedent architectural investigations reported in
Chapter 3. e acoustical measures described in this paper are calculated based on the impulse
response derived from these geometrical models.

3.1. Acoustical Measures

Reverberation time

e reverberation time is the oldest and most fundamental acoustical measure for several
reasons: e reverberation time can be measured and predicted with sucient accuracy and
reasonable eort and a large number of data on reverberation times of existing halls (and their
frequency dependence) has been gathered over the recent years. Furthermore, the reverberation time
is usually independent from the listeners position in a hall, and therefore an important measure to
describe the overall acoustic properties of a room. 164
e reverberation time is dened as the time it takes for the sound to decay for 60 dB.In
theory, the reverberation time can be described by following general equation:

V
T = 0.163
A + 4mV

V is the volume of the room [m3], A is the total sound absorption in the room [m2], which contains
the sound absorption of all interior surfaces, listener seats (occupied or unoccupied) as well as any
additional absorbing materials. m is the attenuation constant for sound traveling through air. e
total sound absorption for the Eyring equation is given by,

A = ( ln(1 Ei ))Si
i

where Si are the individual surfaces, weighted by the respective absorption coecients. For values
a < 0.25 the Sabine equation can be applied:

163 Kuttru, p.238

164 Kuttru, p.213

53
 A = SiSi
i

When measuring, the time it takes for the sound to decay from -5dB to -35dB relative to the
initial level is oen measured, and multiplied by a factor of two. e reverberation time, methods for
the measurement of reverberation time in ordinary rooms, the apparatus needed, required
measurement positions as well as the method for evaluating the data and presenting the test report,
are specied in ISO 3382. In this document, two methods of measuring the reverberation time are
specied: the interrupted noise method; and the integrated impulse response method. In a
measurement based on the interrupted noise method, a signal derived from broadband random or
pseudo-random electrical noise is fed into a loudspeaker source. Aer excitation long enough for the
sound eld to reach a steady state, the sound source is switched o, and the decay of sound pressure
level is directly recorded at multiple microphone-positions. A few seconds of excitation is suggested
for enclosures of larger volumes. When the reverberation time is measured for the derivation of
other acoustical measures, the integrated impulse response method has to be applied. e impulse
response from a source position to a receiver position can be measured using any impulse source that
is non-reverberant, and has a broad enough spectrum. Common examples for impulse sources are
pistol shots, spark gap impulses, noise bursts or chirps as signals.
Preferable reverberation time values for a room depend heavily on the primary purpose of
this room. Values for desired reverberation times could be obtained by gathering values of concert
halls that where judged highly appropriate for the purpose they where built for in subjective
evaluations. 165 Although it is impossible to derive a single value of optimum reverberation time from
these subjective judgements, a range of desirable values can be proposed.
Halls that are mainly used for speech require reverberation times much lower than those
desired for concert halls, since a long sound decay will lead to reduced speech intelligibility.
Nevertheless a certain amount of reverberation is still desired in these rooms. e increase in
loudness caused by reections of the walls usually experienced in a closed room is certainly benecial
for the communication whereas a room with no reections would create an unnatural and most
likely uncomfortable space. e reverberation times desired for rooms mainly used for speech should
therefore be in the range of 0.5 to 1.2 seconds.166 For concert halls, reverberation times in the range
of 1.6 to 2.1 seconds at mid frequencies seem to be desirable, since reverberation times in this range
will increase the loudness and richness of the music and lead to a desired blending of the individual

165 Beranek, p.51

166 Kuttru, p.215

54
musical notes.167 Concert halls with a reverberation time below these values will most likely receive a
low rating168 , although this statement must be limited to the performance of orchestral music. For
smaller ensembles and chamber music a reverberation time of 1.4 to 1.6 seconds will most likely be
more adequate. If a single value for the reverberation time is desired, the values for 500 Hz and 1000
Hz are averaged and expressed as RTMID .
e early decay time, rst introduced by Jordan, is dened as the RT corresponding to the
slope measured over the rst 10 dB of the decay. 169 e early decay time correlates well with
subjective assessments of perceived reverberance in concert halls, and has therefore become a
measure commonly consulted in addition to the reverberation time.

Bass Ratio, RT

e bass ratio, introduced by Beranek, describes the frequency response of the reverberation time.
He describes Warmth in music as fullness of the bass tones (between 75 and 350 Hz), relative to the
mid-frequency tones (350 to 1,400 Hz) 170 and the loudness or strength of the bass sounds
compared to the middle-frequency sounds as an important contributing factor to the perception of
Warmth in a room. e bass ratio is dened as the reverberation time at low frequencies (125 Hz,
250 Hz) divided by the reverberation time at middle frequencies (500 Hz, 1000 Hz).

T125 + T250
BR=
T500 + T1000

Beranek describes a bass ratio of 1.1 to 1.25, for halls with high reverberation time as
desirable. For halls with reverberation times of 1.8 or less, he states a bass ratio between 1.1 to 1.45 as
ideal. In other sources a desired bass ratio of 1.0 to 1.3 for music performance and 0.9 to 1.0 for
speech can be found. 171 It shall be mentioned here that apparently a number of concert halls can be
found, where the reverberation time shows no increase or even a slight decrease towards the low
frequencies. 172

167 Kuttruf, p.217

168 Beranek, p.426

169 V.L. Jordan, Acoustical criteria for auditoriums and their relation to model techniques Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 47 (1970),
p.408 - 412

170 Beranek, p. 23

171 EASE 4.2 Manual p.643

172 Kuttru, p.217

55
Clarity, C80

e clarity factor 173 , expressed in dB, describes the ratio of the sound energy arriving in the rst 80
ms aer the arrival of the direct sound to the late (reverberant) energy, arriving aer these 80 ms. e
clarity factor is intended to be a measure for the transparency of music in a concert hall, based on the
assumption that the energy arriving in the rst 80 ms aer the arrival of the direct sound is
enhancing the clarity of musical performance.174 e clarity factor is described by the following
equation:
80ms

p2 (t)dt
C80 =10log 0
dB

2
p (t)dt
80ms

In a room with no reverberation, the sound will obviously be very clear and therefore the C80
value will be positive and it will be negative if the hall is very reverberant. Usually, the clarity values
are measured in the 500, 1000, and 2000 Hz bands and averaged, designated by the symbol C80 (3).
175

e desirable values for clarity depend heavily upon the musical genre. Classical music and
modern music performance allows values up to + 6.8 dB whereas a value between - 3 dB and + 4 dB
seems preferable for romantic music performance. 176

e Strength Factor, G

e previous criterion of clarity is certainly of no use if there is no sucient loudness given in a hall.
e strength factor is the ratio of the sound pressure level of as omni-directional source in the room
and the sound pressure level of a source with the same sound pressure level measured at a distance of
10 m in an anechoic chamber and is described by the following equation:

173 originally Klarheitsma introduced by Reichhardt et al.

174 W. Kuhl, In der Raumakustik benutzte hrakustische Termini Acustika 39 (1977), p.57

175 Beranek, p. 478

176 EASE 4.2 Manual, p.654

56
 t1

p (t)dt
2

G =10log t01 dB
p
2
A (t)dt
0

e strength factor is usually measured in octave bands having their center frequencies at
125, 250, 500, 1000, 2000, and 4000 Hz. e average of the 500 and 1000 Hz octave band values are
dened as Gmid, a value of great importance since the strength factor of the mid-frequencies have the
biggest inuence on the loudness. e increase in loudness of the direct sound due to the reections
of the walls, expressed by the strength factor was judged to be one of the most relevant measure in all
psycho-acoustical evaluations. Apart from the perceived loudness, it also has an impact on the
sensation of spaciousness, intimacy and presence. 177 Glow, dened as the average of the values of the
125 and 250 Hz bands, is also considered signicant since it aects the strength of bass and therefore
the sensation of warmth in a room. 178 e optimum strength factor values are expected to be
between 1 dB and 10 dB for music and speech performance which means that the loudness at any
listener position should be equal or twice as high as in free eld conditions at 10 m distance from the
source. 179

Lateral Fraction, LF

e lateral energy fraction, introduced by Barron and Marshall, describes the sound energy measured
at the sides of a listeners head compared to the total integrated energy. 180 In a measurement the ratio
of a gure-8 microphone, pointing towards the source with its null direction, to the output of a non
- directional microphone is measured. Lateral Fraction is described by:

80ms

p2 (t)dt
LF = 5ms
80ms dB

2
p (t)dt
0

177 Weinzierl, p. 139

178 Beranek, p.630

179 EASE 4.2 Manual, p.645

180 Michael Barron Auditorium Acoustics and Architectural Design. (London: Chapman & Hall, 1993), p.416

57
e integral for the gure-8 microphone starts at 5 ms to assure that the direct sound is not
included. Beranek introduced the term apparent source width (abbreviated ASW)181 describing
the perceived extension of a sound source. is apparent source width will in many cases be wider
than the visual width of the source. In a measurement the LF is measured and averaged in the four
frequency bands of 125, 250, 500, and 1000 Hz, since frequencies below 1.5 kHz have a bigger eect
on the spacial impression.182 e values for lateral fraction should be between 0,1 and 0,25.183

3.2. Room Acoustic Simulation

Acoustical scale models

A method that has been in use for quiet some time and that is applicable for rooms with more
complex geometrical conditions is the simulation of sound propagation in an enclosed space by the
means of acoustical scale models 184 . erefore a geometrically similar model of the hall under
consideration is build at a smaller scale (usually between 1:10 and 1:50) and the sound propagation
is studied in this model. e waves used in these scale models are not restricted to sound waves since
many properties of the propagation are common to all sorts of waves, so water or light has been used
as a substitute for sound, especially in the past, 185 whereas nowadays mainly sound waves are used to
study the propagation in a scale model. All physical quantities applied in the model have to be
transformed by a certain scale factor. 186 A music or speech signal, elevated by a factor and re-
recorded with a miniature articial head at the point of interest in the model can be made audible
aer retransformation to the original time and frequency domain, a process known as auralisation.187
e fabrication of such a model is expensive and time consuming and modications to the primary
structure of the model is equally sumptuous. Acoustical scale models still provide the most reliable
predictions in some situations, and are therefore still used in addition to the acoustic computer
simulation.188

181 Beranek, p.23

182 Beranek, p. 470

183 EASE 4.2 Manual p. 658

184 F. Spandck Akustische Modellversuche, Annalen der Physik, vol.412, Issue 4. (1934) p.345 - 360

185 Kuttru, p.297

186 Kuttruf, p.298

187 Kuttru, p. 299

188 Weinzierl, p. 141

58
Computer models

In recent years, computer simulation, being cheaper, faster and more ecient, has become a
frequently used tool for the purpose of the prediction of sound propagation in a room. Computer
Models are based on the approximation of the geometrical acoustic. e rst, and most simple case,
relying merely on the law of specular reection (ignoring wave phenomena such as diuse reection
and diraction) can be applied for wavelength that are small compared to the reecting surface and
big compared to the roughness of the surface. 189 Diuse reection can be simulated to some extend
in recent algorithms whereas a practical way to incorporate the wave phenomena of diraction into
these algorithms still has to be found.190
Absorption and diusion coecients are allocated to the various surfaces of a closed space
and the sound propagation in this enclosure is predicted either by the means of ray tracing or by the
method of mirror imaging. In ray tracing, a virtual sound source is emitting a number of sound
particles. ese sound particles follow a straight path until they are reected, either specular or
diusely, from one of the walls of the modeled room. e absorption coecient of the walls are
accounted in the simulation as well as the eect of air attenuation. erefore each particle is traced
until its energy has fallen below a certain, previously dened value, until it is absorbed or until it hits
counting volume. Whenever a particle hits a counting volume, its energy, arrival time as well as the
direction from which it arrived are stored. e computing time in ray tracing is proportional to the
number of surfaces that dene the room.

189 Weinzierl, p.142

190 Kuttru, p.300

59
 Figure 29 Method of ray tracing.

e second method, namely the method of mirror imaging is based on the law of specular
reection. Each ray coming from a reecting wall is replaced by the ray originating from a image
source, located in the same distance to the wall as the original source, mirrored perpen
dicular behind the wall. e image source must of course emit the same signal as the original source
with symmetrical directional characteristics, reaching the listener with the same time delay as the
reected signal. e wall absorption is simulated by a linear lter. Multiple reections are
represented by image sources of higher order, the number of which increases exponentially with
every step of reection. erefore this process can easily lead to excessively long computing times.

Figure 30 Method of mirror imaging.

e soware used for this research191 is based on a graphical model of the room under consideration
created from plane surfaces. Absorption coecients are assigned to the surfaces for six octave bands
(125 Hz to 4 kHz, the other values are then interpolated by the soware). Aer insertion of a closed
model, a set of values describing the general features of the room, such as the reverberation time
based on the equation of Eyring or Sabine, is directly accessible.
Transducers of any directivity can be placed in the model and the corresponding
reectogram, meaning the graphical representation of the impulse response, will be calculated. For
this purpose, ray tracing and mirror imaging algorithms are applicable. In this case, the measures T30,
C80, EDT, and G are calculated in the module AURA Mapping,192 a module that allows the
calculation of general acoustical measures based on ISO 3382. 193 In AURA, a reectogram can be

191 EASE Version 4.2.3.36, ADA Acoustic Design Ahnert

192 based on the CAESAR algorithms, developed at the University of Aachen, RWTH

193 Since the BR values are not directly given by AURA, they are calculated, based on the respective reverberation time values.

60
calculated on complete audience areas or on individual listener seats and a couple of parameters can
be selected, giving the opportunity to balance between long computation times on the one hand and
very accurate computations on the other. e most important parameters, and the settings used in
this survey are described in the following: 194
When calculating the reectogram on audience areas, the area is divided into a grid of
individual points, and a reectogram for each point is calculated. e density of the grid can be
adjusted by the Resolution parameter, with a small Resolution resulting in a high accuracy but also
in long computation times. is parameter is of no importance when the reectogram is calculated
on individual listener seats instead of listener areas. e limitation on a number of signicant
locations can provide a good estimation of the halls acoustical properties, in a reasonable amount of
time. erefore, in this investigation, the reectograms and thus the acoustical measures have been
calculated at a number of representative listener seats, and the obtained values where then averaged
for a single value.
e accuracy of the simulation with AURA-Mapping is depended on two further parameters
that can be individually adjusted; the number of particles to be analyzed for each sound source, and
the length of the reectogram to be calculated. In this survey, all calculations are conducted with a
number of 100.000 particles, as a compromise between accuracy and computation speed. e
length should correspond to two third of the expected reverberation time [in ms]. For the smaller
halls, a reverberation time T < 1.5 s is expected and the calculations have been conducted with a
length of 1000 ms. For the larger halls, the reverberation times are expected not to exceed a value of
T < 1.8 s and a length of 1200 ms was applied.
e parameter Absorption model denes the method to be used for the calculation of the
eect of energy loss by the wall materials. e Particle Loss method computes the loss of energy by
creating a random number between 1 and 0 each time a ray bounces of a wall. e energy loss
method calculates the energy loss by reducing the energy by (1-). For a relatively low number of
particles, the energy loss method is expected to provide the more accurate results and is thus
employed in this paper.
A scattering value for all surfaces was decided before the application of the AURA module,
so no scattering was added at this point. e Diuse Rain parameter is expected to enhances the
accuracy, when a lot of seats are used in a calculation. In this case, the calculation was undertaken on
a limited number of listener seats, and the Diuse Rain parameter is thus expected to result in no
gain of accuracy for the settings applied here. In the calculations presented here, an omnidirectional
speaker was placed on the stage of each model in the middle of the orchestra area at one meter above
the ground.

194 For a more detailed description of the parameters and their ideal settings see EASE 4.1 Use Help

61
 Based on the ndings presented in Chapter 3, computer models were generated for six of the
rooms under consideration, namely the Rokumeikan, the Hall to the YMCA, the Sogakudo, the
Imperial eater, the Kabukiza and the Nihon Seinenkan. e room shape, its geometrical
structures as well as the volume are expected to be relatively accurate. e allocation of the
appropriate absorption coecients to the surfaces of these halls represents a more complex
undertaking. Descriptions of the basic materials used are available, however, the according
absorption coecients are to a considerable amount dependent on the diameter and weight of the
material, as well as the method of construction, an aspect that is documented little in the blueprints
and articles that could be obtained. Furthermore, interior decoration (carpets, paintings, curtains,
ect.), oen not mentioned in the blueprints, can have a considerable inuence on the absorption.195
erefore, a method for assessing the reverberation time is used, specied by Beranek,196 that allows
to divide the room in merely two kinds of absorbing surfaces. According to this method, the room
can be divided into the area occupied by the audience, with the respective absorption coecients on
the one hand, and the remaining surfaces of the hall, including walls, ceiling, doors, ventilation
openings, chandeliers, glass, and other additional acoustical materials on the other. e remaining
surfaces are treated as one surface with a homogeneous absorption coecient. e total sound
absorption area of the hall is then given by:

A ges = R SR + T ST

R = residual absorption coefficient

SR = remaining area (room without orchestra and audience area)
T = absorption coefficient of audience and orchestra
ST = area occupied by orchestra and audience

Inaccuracy arising from this simplication primarily aect the calculations for the unoccupied case.
In a fully occupied concert hall, the absorption by the audience and orchestra areas constitute 75 %
of the total absorption, therefore uncertainties concerning the residual absorption will have
negligible eects on the calculated reverberation time values. In all calculations presented in this
paper this method has been used and the following absorption coecients have been applied to the
remaining surfaces:

195 Weinzierl, p. 143

196 Beranek, p. 627

62
 Description 125 Hz 250 Hz 500 Hz 1000 2000 Hz 4000 Hz
Hz

All surfaces at least 1.5 in. (3,8cm) plaster, 0,16 0,13 0,10 0,09 0,08 0,07
or plaster on concrete block, at least 25 %
of the side wall surfaces are 0,5 in. gypsum
board; oor of stage of wood; oors
parquet; some absorbin materials used to
control echoes; ceiling 0,75 in. (1,8cm)
plaster.

Table 2 Absorption coecient used for remaining surfaces.

In the Nihon Seinenkan, and in the Kabuki-za, as well as in the Imperial eater, the audience was
most likely seated on lightly upholstered wooden chairs, and therefore the following absorption
coecients have been applied to the according audience areas:

Description 125 Hz 250 Hz 500 Hz 1000 2000 Hz 4000 Hz

Hz

Audience, lightly upholstered 0,56 0,68 0,79 0,83 0,86 0,86

Seats, unoccupied, lightly upholstered 0,35 0,45 0,57 0,61 0,59 0,55

Table 3 Absorption coecients used for audience areas in Nihon Seinenkan, Kabuki-za, and Imperial eater

In the Hall to the Kanda YMCA the Audience wooden pews are assumed. Since no absorption
coecients for unoccupied pews could be found, the unoccupied case has been calculated using the
absorption coecients for unoccupied wooden chairs.

Description 125 Hz 250 Hz 500 Hz 1000 2000 Hz 4000 Hz

Hz

Wooden pews, occupied, per 2 of oor 0,57 0,61 0,75 0,86 0,91 0,86
area

Chairs, metal of wood seats, each, 0,15 0,19 0,22 0,39 0,38 0,3
unoccupied

Table 4 Absorption coecients used for audience areas in Kanda YMCA

63
e calculations for the Sogakudo were conducted assuming that the audience was seated on wooden
chairs. ese values where also used for the calculations in the Rokumeikan. It must be assumed that
the audience was standing in some of the concerts, however, the absorption values for a standing
audience compared to the audience on wooden chairs diers only in a small amount so that this is
neglected here. For the unoccupied case wooden oor was assumed.

Description 125 Hz 250 Hz 500 Hz 1000 2000 Hz 4000 Hz

Hz

Audience on wooden chairs 0,31 0,51 0,73 0,8 0,82 0,82

Chairs, metal or wood seats, unoccupied 0,15 0,19 0,22 0,39 0,38 0,3

Floor, wood 0,15 0,11 0,1 0,07 0,06 0,07

Table 5 Absorption coecients used for audience areas in Sogakudo and Rokumeikan

For the area occupied by the orchestra, a reverberation coecient given in Fasold197 is used.

Description 125 Hz 250 Hz 500 Hz 1000 2000 Hz 4000 Hz

Hz

Orchestra 0,22 0,32 0,42 0,5 0,55 0,55

Table 6 Absorption coecients used for orchestra

3.3 Geometrical Models

In the following chapter, the ndings outlined in chapter 3 will be applied to calculate the acoustical
measures for those halls, where sucient information could be gathered. In the drawings provided
for each room198, listener seats have been inserted, mainly to give an impression of the dimensions of
the room. In many cases these listener seats do not reect the original size nor the spacing between
rows in the hall under consideration. e area occupied by the orchestra is highlighted in brown
color, windows are displayed in white, the audience areas, not supplied with listener seats are
designated with a darker grey.

197 Wolfgang Fasold, Bauphysikalische Entwurfslehre, Bau- und Raumakustik. 1. Ed.(Berlin: VEB-V erlag, 1987), p.426.

198 all models where created for this reseach except for the ,Sogakudo models, that were kindly provided by Tokyo University.

64
Rokumeikan

It is most likely that the concerts, held at the Rokumeikan, took place in the ballroom on the second
oor and the adjacent two rooms. Reports of these concerts describe an audience of about 400
people. Based on the assumptions concerning the oor plans by Asayama, the oor space could be
estimated with relative accuracy. No records however can be found regarding the height of the
rooms, so the assessment of the height was undertaken by examining photos that could be found of
the ballroom and by studying the height of other rooms that the architect built in the same period.199
e orchestra is supposed to have been located in front of the windows facing the balcony above the
main entrance. For the assessment of the area occupied by the orchestra, a oor space of 1,1 m2 per
person was assumed. 200 For the half-occupied case the adjacent two rooms are assumed to be
unoccupied.

Room Data:

Volume: V = 1300 m3
Stage area: S = 16,5 m2
Listener seats: app. 400 people (standing)

Figure 31. Rokumeikan; geometrical model

199 e former residence of the Iwasaki Hisaya, built by Josiah Condor in 1896 can currently be visited in Ueno, Tokyo.

200 As stated in DIN 18041:2004-05: Acoustic quality in small to medium sized rooms p.32

65
 unoccupied occupied half-occupied

1,8

1,35
reverberation time [T30]

0,9

0,45

0
125 250 500 1000 2000 4000
frequency [f ]

Figure Reverberation Time: Rokumeikan (T30 AURA)

RTmid BR Gmid C80(3) LFE4

audience area, unoccupied 1,6 s 0,7 + 15 dB -1,5 dB 0,24

audience area half occupied 1,4 s 1,1 + 12 dB + 2 dB

audience area fully occupied 0,8 s 1,6 + 10 dB + 4 dB

Table 7 Results; Rokumeikan

66
Kanda YMCA

e old YMCA was burned down as a cause of the 1923 Kanto earthquake, and the original
structure was not rebuilt aerwards, but replaced by a new and, concerning the architectural
features, completely dierent building. Based on the existing drawings, the geometrical features and
the volume of the hall to the YMCA could be assessed accurately. e hall formed a square with a
side length of app. 17m and a height of app. 9m. For the calculation of the acoustic measures the
audience is assumed to have been sitting on wooden pews on both oors, and the respective
absorption coecients have been applied. e size of the stage is based on the values given in the
oor plans, with a width of app. 5m. In the rst concert held at the hall to the Kanda YMCA, a
performance of 12 musicians has taken place. With the assumption that one musician occupies a
space of app. 1,1 m2 a stage area of 9,6 m2 was designated. For the simulation of the half unoccupied
hall, the second oor is assumed to be unoccupied.

Room Data:
Volume: V = 2280 m3
Stage area: app. 13,2 m2
Capacity: app. 500

Figure 32. Kanda YMCA, geometrical model

67
 unoccupied occupied half-occupied

1,5
reverberation time [T30]

0,5

0
125 250 500 1000 2000 4000
frequency [f ]

Table 12 Reverberation Time; Kanda YMCA (AURA)

RTmid BR Gmid C80(3) LFE4

audience area, unoccupied 1,6 s 0,9 + 12,5 dB + 0,5 dB 0,2

audience area half occupied 1,4 s 1,0 + 11 dB + 2 dB

audience area fully occupied 1,2 s 1,1 + 11 dB + 3 dB

Table 8 Results of Kanda YMCA

68
Sogakudo

e residual absorption values for the Sogakudo have been estimated based on a reverberation time
measurements by Yurugi 201 in the present structure, using the Optimize RT function in EASE.
Since the reverberation time seems to change considerably depending on weather the curtains
covering the side windows are closed or not, a measurement for both cases was conducted. e
residual absorption values for this simulation are based on the reverberation time values measured
with opened curtains. In the case of a half-occupied or unoccupied hall, a value for unoccupied
wooden chairs has been applied to the audience area. For the half-occupied case the audience is
assumed to have been sitting in the front leaving the seats in the back unoccupied.

Room Data:

Volume: V = 2025 m2
Stage area: app. 7 m2
Listener seats: app. 390

Figure 33. Sogakudo (1905), geometrical model

201 Yurugi Tomoko, Analysis of acoustical characteristics of the old Sogakudo, Tokyo Music School: Eects of architectural factors and
renovation (Master thesis, University of Tokyo, 2009), p.55.

69
 unoccupied occupied half occupied

1,5
reverberation time [T30]

0,5

0
125 250 500 1000 2000 4000
frequency [f ]

Table 12 Reverberation Time: Sogakudo (AURA)

RTmid BR Gmid C80(3) LFE4

audience area, unoccupied 1,2 s 1,1 +10,7 dB 3 dB 0,24

audience area half occupied 0,9 s 1,2 + 8,77 dB 5 dB

audience area fully occupied 0,8 s 1,2 +8,5 5,86 dB

Table 9 Results of Sogakudo

70
Imperial eater

Aer the old Imperial eater had suered considerable damage in the Kanto earthquake, it was
remodeled and reopened, but considerable changes where made to the primary structure of the
building. e geometrical model of the Imperial eater, based on the blueprints that where printed
in the kenchiku sekkai is assumed to be very accurate. e front part of the stage, occupied by the
orchestra, was separated from the rest of the stage building by thin decorating panels that are
assumed to reect the sound little to none. e stage area was therefore only included in the model
with a size of 1m surrounding the area covered by the orchestra, as high as the proscenium opening.
For the borders to those parts of the building that have been cut o an absorption coecient of
=0.9 was applied. As a consequence, the reverberation time and other acoustical measures are
calculated based on a cubic volume of 6300 m3. Concerts with an orchestra of approximately 80
people have taken place at the Imperial eater, and the assessment of the area occupied by the
orchestra was undertaken based on this number, resulting in an area of app. 88 m2.

Room Data:
Volume: V = 6300 m3
Stage area: app. 88 m2
Listener seats: app. 1700

Figure 34. Imperial eater, geometrical model

71
 unoccupied occupied half-occupied

1,5
reverberation time [T30]

0,5

0
125 250 500 1000 2000 4000
frequency [f ]

Table 12 Reverberation Time: Imperial eater (AURA)

RTmid BR Gmid C80(3) LFE4

audience area, unoccupied 1,26 s 0,9 + 2,5 dB + 3,5 dB 0,2

audience area half occupied 1,08 s 1,0 + 2,0 dB + 4,5 dB

audience area fully occupied 1,04 s 1,0 + 2,5 dB + 5 dB

Table 10 Results of Imperial eater

72
Kabuki-za

e geometrical model of the third state of construction of the Kabuki-za was created based on the
blueprints kept at the National Diet Library. e size of the area occupied by the orchestra was
estimated according to a photo showing at least 100 musicians, during a performance at the Kabuki-
za, resulting in an area of 110 m2. e cubic volume of the stage was treated in the same way as
previously described concerning the Imperial eater. For the half unoccupied case, the rear part of
the balcony on the second oor and the complete third and fourth oor are assumed unoccupied.

Room Data:

Volume: V = 7650 m3
Stage area: 110 m2
Listener seats: app. 2700

Figure 35. Kabuki-za, geometrical model

73
 unoccupied occupied half-occupied

1,5
reverberation time [T30]

0,5

0
125 250 500 1000 2000 4000
frequency [f ]

Table 12 Reverberation Time: Kabuki-za (AURA)

RTmid BR Gmid C80(3) LFE4

Orchestra without audience 1,1 s 1,0 + 1 dB + 5 dB 0,18

audience area half occupied 1,0 s 0,9 + 1 dB + 5 dB

audience area fully occupied 0,9 s 1,0 0 dB + 7 dB

Table 11 Results of Kabuki-za

Nihonseinenkan

74
e original Nihon Seinenkan was renovated in 1953 and considerable changes have been applied.
e oor plans of the old building show an auditorium with three oors, and two balconies whereas
the renovation documents indicate a tow-story auditorium with merely one balcony. Section plans or
photographs of the initial shape of the building, showing the shape of the ceiling above the
auditorium could not be found. e shape of the ceiling above auditorium could therefore only be
assumed. e hall had a length from the beginning of the stage to the end of the hall of app. 30m,
and width of app. 19m. At the time of the rst subscription concerts held at the Nihon Seinenkan,
by the newly founded New Symphony Orchestra in 1927, the orchestra consisted of 50 members,
resulting in area covered by the orchestra of approximately 60,5 m2. For the half unoccupied case the
second and third oor balcony are assumed to be unoccupied.

Room Data:

Volume: V = app. 6300 m3

Stage Area: S = 40 m2
Capacity: app. 2000

Figure 36. Nihon Seinenkan, geometrical model

75
 unoccupied occupied half-occupied

1,5
reverberation time [T30]

0,5

0
125 250 500 1000 2000 4000
frequency [f ]

Table 17 Reverberation Time: Nihon Seinenkan (AURA)

RTmid BR Gmid C80(3) LFE4

Orchestra without audience 1,6 s 1,0 7 dB 0,5 dB 0,23

audience area half occupied 1,5 s 1,0 6 dB 1 dB

audience area fully occupied 1,4 s 1,1 6 dB 2 dB

Table 12 Results of Nihon Seinenkan

76
Discussion of Results

A summary of the results is given in Table 13. As a reference, a selection of concert halls is given in
Table 14 to 17.

Name Volume Seats RT (occ.) BR Gmid C80(3) LFE4

Rokumeikan (1883) 1300 m3 400 1,6s (0,8s) 0,7 + 15 dB -1,5 dB 0,24

Sogakudo (1890) 2025 m3 390 1,2 s (1,2 s) 1,1 + 11 dB + 3 dB 0,24

Kanda YMCA (1894) 2280 m3 500 1,6 s (0,8 s) 0,9 + 12,5 dB + 0,5 dB 0,2

Imperial eater (1911) 6300 m3 1,700 1,3 (1,0 s) 0,9 + 2,5 dB + 3,5 dB 0,2

Kabuki-za (1924) 7650 m3 2,700 1,1 s (0,9 s) + 1 dB + 5 dB 0,18

Nihon Seinenkan (1921) 6300 m3 2,000 1,6 s (1,4 s) 1,0 7 dB 0,5 dB 0,23

Table 13 Results of the concert venues under investigation (unoccupied) (1890 and 1930)

Name Volume Seats RT (occ.) BR Gmid C80(3) LFE4

Boston, Symphony Hall (1900) 18,750 m3 2,625 1,8 s 0,9 +5, -3,4 0,2
4 dB dB

Vienna, Groer Musikvereinssaal (1870) 15,000 m3 1,680 3,0 s (2,0 s) 1,0 +7, -3,9 0,17
9dB dB

Amsterdam, Konzertgebouw (1888) 18,780 m3 2,037 2,6 s (2,0 s) 1,0 +6, -2,7 0,18
3dB dB

Table 14 Examples of concert halls built in Europe and America between 1870 and 1930 202 (unoccupied)

Name Volume Seats RT (occ.) BR Gmid C80(3) LFE4

Paris, Opera Garnier (1875) 10,000 m3 2,131 1,2 s (1,1 s) 1 +0,7dB 4,5 dB /

London, Royal Opera House (1858) 12,250 m3 2,120 1,4 s (1,1 s) 1 +0,7dB 4,5 dB 0,24

Table 15 Examples of opera halls, built in Europe between 1850 and 1930 (unoccupied) 203

202 Examples are taken from Beranek 1996, p.593-617.

203 Examples are taken from Beranek 1996, p.593-617.

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 Name Volume Seats RT (occ.) BR Gmid C80(3) LFE4

Landstdtischer Saal (1875) 1,900 m3 / 3,4 s (2,1 s) 0,8 +14,5 dB -4,0 dB 0,32

Palais Lobkowitz (1858) 900 m3 / 2,7 s (1,6 s) 0,9 +19,5 dB -3,5dB 0,32

Table 16 Examples of concert venues, built in Vienna between 1850 and 1930 (unoccupied) 204

Cubic Volume, Sound Strength

When comparing the rst concert venues in Japan to those halls that existed in Europe at the end of
the 19th century, a few fundamental dierences become evident. e halls in which the rst concerts
took place, namely the Rokumeikan (1883) the hall to the Kanda YMCA (1884) and the Sogakudo
(1890) did not exceed a volume of 2500 m3, whereas famous concert halls of that time in Europe,
such as the Wiener Musikvereinssaal (1870), the Amsterdam Concertgebouw (1888) had a volume
over 15,000 m3. It thus seems more adequate to compare these early venues, not only with halls that
existed at the same time in Europe, but also with those buildings where music was performed in
Europe about a century before, such as the Palais Lobkowitz or the Landstdischer Saal, whose
volume was in the same range, not exceeding 2000 m3.
ese small volumes result in a high amplication of the sound energy, compared to the
direct sound, reected in considerably high values of Gmid of 10 - 15 dB, whereas the the above
mentioned halls in Europe at the same time did not exceed an amplication over 7 dB. e high
amplication values can equally be observed in halls such as the Palais Lobkowitz or the
Landstdischer Saal. e Kabuki-za (V=7650m3) and the Imperial eater (V=6300m3) on the
other hand show smaller values for Gmid arround + 1dB to + 2dB. Similar values can be found in
theaters such as the Opera Garnier (Gmid = 0,65) in Paris or the Academy of Music in Philadelphia
(Gmid = 1,45), both buildings that where erected in the 19th century. e Nihon Seinenkan (1921)
shows values of Gmid similar to the famous concert halls mentioned above, around + 6 dB.

Reverberation Time and Clarity

e Clarity, meaning the degree to which discrete sounds in a musical performance stand apart from
one another, is linked to the reverberation time of a room. e reverberation time, as well as the C80

204 Examples are taken from Weinzierl 2002, p.147 - 175.

78
values describing the sensation of Clarity, vary depending on the occupancy of a hall. While modern
concert hall design tries to minimize the dierence in absorption of sound between occupied and
unoccupied chairs, considerable discrepancies can be observed in the halls under investigation,
especially in those where the audience was most likely seated on wooden chairs or wooden benches.
When again comparing the early concert venues in Japan to those that existed a century before in
Vienna, it seems that buildings of smaller cubic volumes (V < 2500 m3) in Tokyo show
reverberation times notably smaller (around 1s for the occupied case) than buildings of the similar
cubic volume in Vienna (over 1,5s for the occupied case). One reason must be the primary structure
of these buildings; the ceilings in the halls in Vienna where relatively high compared to those of the
buildings in Tokyo. e result is a relatively small areas occupied by the audience in relation to the
cubic volume in the European halls, while the opposite is the case in the structures in Japan. e two
theaters can be described as dry with reverberation times around 1 s, resulting in relatively high C80
values between + 3,5 dB and + 7 dB, values that are again similar to those obtained for theaters in
Europe at the same time, such as the Opera Garnier. e C80 values of all halls presented in this
survey are a considerable amount higher than the famous halls existing in Europe or America at the
time, certainly resulting in a high horizontal denition on the one hand, and a lack of fullness of
tone on the other hand.

Bass Ratio

Since the sound absorption of audience areas mainly aects mid-frequency and high-frequency
ranges, an increasing bass ratio can be expected with a growing occupancy of a hall. In the
Rokumeikan, the Sogakudo and the Nihonseinenkan, this eect is relatively obvious, whereas the
Kabuki-za and the Imperial eater are characterized by a relatively constant reverberation time for
all frequencies.

Spaciousness

Another parameter contributing to a positive rating of a concert hall is the spaciousness of the
perceived sound. e spaciousness is enhanced by an adequate amount of early lateral reections,
expressed by the values of lateral fraction. All halls in this survey show relatively high values of
lateral fraction between 0,2 and 0,26, with the only slight exception being the values of the Kabuki-
za (LF = 0,18). ese high values must be explained by the small cubic volume of the halls, as well as

79
the width of the stage and the width of the hall in general both being relatively small. While these
values fall into the same range of the halls existing in Vienna at the beginning of the 19th century,
they are higher than the values of most modern concert halls. e slightly lower values for the
Kabuki-za are not surprising because of the relatively wide stage, and the width of the auditorium in
general compared to the length of the whole building.

Conclusion

In the Meiji era (1868-1912), a concert life similar to European cities did not yet exist, but eorts
where made to catch up with the West. European music teachers where invited to Japan and
Japanese scholars sent to Europe and by the 1920 the orchestras seemed to be equally skilled to those
of less developed countries in Europe. e rst concerts took place in venues not primarily designed
for the performance of music, such as the Rokumeikan, the hall to the Kanda YMCA, or the
Imperial Hotel a development that also took place at the beginning of the public concert life of
European cities such as Hamburg or Vienna.
While the Kabuki-za represents a special case in the sense that the architecture is
characterized by Japanese as well as Western inuences the Imperial eater opened in 1911 based
on the painstaking studies of the most prominent European and American theaters and opera
buildings. ese eorts are reected in the acoustical measures obtaine. is example demonstrates
that many aspects of Western art and cultural life where meticulously studied and introduced in
Japan as close to the Western model as possible. We can therefore assume that the famous concert
halls at that time in Europe, such as the Grosser Musikvereinssaal or the Concertgebouw where
well known to the Japanese scholars, however, this did not evoke the need for a concert hall of
similar dimensions in Japan in the period of time under investigation. e Sogkudo, which must be
seen as the rst building in Japan erected primarily for the performance of music in 1890 shows little
resemblance to the standard that seems to have been establish in Europe, but relatively obvious
similarities to structures such as the rst concert hall built in Leipzig, the Gewandhaussaal (1781),
or the Schauspielhaus in Berlin (1821). If the architect had knowledge of these buildings, or if they
have even inuenced the design of the Sogakudo can not be ascertained, but it seems reasonable to
chose a building such as the Gewandhaussaal which was erected in the time of the beginning
public concert life in Leipzig, as a model for the hall that was one of the centers for the beginning
public concert life in Tokyo.

80
 Name (Date of construction) Volume Capacity K Length Width Height

Sogakudo (1890) 2025 m3 380 5,3 26,55 16,17 5,45

Gewandhaussaal Leipzig (1781) 1800 m3 500 3,6 22,85 11,35 7,35

Schauspielhaus Berlin (1821) 2300 m3 450 5,2 23,50 13,50 12,80

Table 17 Primary structure of the Sogakudo, compared to the Gewandhaus and the Schauspielhaus

While the model for the rst Western style theater seemed to be the theater buildings of the time,
the model for the rst concert hall, seemed to be halls that existed in Europe already a century
before. is might be the case because public performances of ( Japanese traditional) theater already
had a long history, while the public concert life of instrumental music was still developing. e last
hall under investigation shows a trend towards the halls of bigger cubic volume and longer
reverberation times in Europe and America, however, a hall comparable to the standard that had
established in Europe and America at the time, did not yet exist.

81
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