Dojunkai
Encyclopedia
Dōjunkai was a corporation set up a year after the 1923 Kantō earthquake
to provide reinforced concrete
(and thus earthquake- and fire-resistant) collective housing in the Tokyo
area. Its formal name was Zaidan-hōjin Dōjunkai , i.e. the Dōjunkai corporation. The suffix kai means organization, and dōjun was a term coined to suggest the spread of the nutritious benefit of the water of river and sea. It was overseen by the Home Ministry
.
From 1926 to 1930, Dōjunkai created fifteen apartment complexes (apāto or apātomento), two in Yokohama
and the rest in Tokyo. Among the latter, the best known is Dōjunkai Aoyama Apartments (built 1926–7), which long stood on the avenue of Omotesandō toward its Harajuku Station
end. Toward the end of what was by Tokyo standards a long life, the ivy
-covered building was increasingly used for ateliers and small independent shops. It was destroyed for the 2005 construction by Mori Building
of "Omotesando Hills
", a conventional shopping mall
. Dōjunkai built one last complex in Tokyo, Dōjunkai Edogawa apāto, between 1932 and 1934.
Dōjunkai was wound up in 1941.
Remarkably, all the apartment complexes survived wartime bombing
.
After the war, the government sold the land of most of the complexes to real estate companies, notably Mori Building. Thereafter, the combination of desire for greater profits, lack of advance publicity, and government uninterest in this genre of architecture, in addition to inadequate maintenance and the lack of amenities (notably individual bathing facilities) now taken for granted, have led to the destruction of most of the complexes in the name of "site development".
1923 Great Kanto earthquake
The struck the Kantō plain on the Japanese main island of Honshū at 11:58:44 am JST on September 1, 1923. Varied accounts hold that the duration of the earthquake was between 4 and 10 minutes...
to provide reinforced concrete
Reinforced concrete
Reinforced concrete is concrete in which reinforcement bars , reinforcement grids, plates or fibers have been incorporated to strengthen the concrete in tension. It was invented by French gardener Joseph Monier in 1849 and patented in 1867. The term Ferro Concrete refers only to concrete that is...
(and thus earthquake- and fire-resistant) collective housing in the Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
area. Its formal name was Zaidan-hōjin Dōjunkai , i.e. the Dōjunkai corporation. The suffix kai means organization, and dōjun was a term coined to suggest the spread of the nutritious benefit of the water of river and sea. It was overseen by the Home Ministry
Home Ministry (Japan)
The ' was a Cabinet-level ministry established under the Meiji Constitution that managed the internal affairs of Empire of Japan from 1873-1947...
.
From 1926 to 1930, Dōjunkai created fifteen apartment complexes (apāto or apātomento), two in Yokohama
Yokohama
is the capital city of Kanagawa Prefecture and the second largest city in Japan by population after Tokyo and most populous municipality of Japan. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of Tokyo, in the Kantō region of the main island of Honshu...
and the rest in Tokyo. Among the latter, the best known is Dōjunkai Aoyama Apartments (built 1926–7), which long stood on the avenue of Omotesandō toward its Harajuku Station
Harajuku Station
is a railway station in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan, operated by East Japan Railway Company . The station takes its name from the area on its eastern side, Harajuku.-Lines:This station is served by the Yamanote Line...
end. Toward the end of what was by Tokyo standards a long life, the ivy
Ivy
Ivy, plural ivies is a genus of 12–15 species of evergreen climbing or ground-creeping woody plants in the family Araliaceae, native to western, central and southern Europe, Macaronesia, northwestern Africa and across central-southern Asia east to Japan and Taiwan.-Description:On level ground they...
-covered building was increasingly used for ateliers and small independent shops. It was destroyed for the 2005 construction by Mori Building
Minoru Mori
is considered to be Japan's most powerful and influential building tycoon. He joined his father, Taikichiro's, real estate business after graduating from Tokyo University and is now president and CEO of Mori Building, of which he and his older brother Kei's families own 100%...
of "Omotesando Hills
Omotesando Hills
Omotesando Hills was built in 2005, in a series of Tokyo urban developments by Mori Building. It occupies a two hundred and fifty meter stretch of Omotesandō, a famous shopping and residential road in Aoyama sometimes termed Tokyo's Champs-Élysées...
", a conventional shopping mall
Shopping mall
A shopping mall, shopping centre, shopping arcade, shopping precinct or simply mall is one or more buildings forming a complex of shops representing merchandisers, with interconnecting walkways enabling visitors to easily walk from unit to unit, along with a parking area — a modern, indoor version...
. Dōjunkai built one last complex in Tokyo, Dōjunkai Edogawa apāto, between 1932 and 1934.
Dōjunkai was wound up in 1941.
Remarkably, all the apartment complexes survived wartime bombing
Bombing of Tokyo in World War II
The bombing of Tokyo, often referred to as a "firebombing", was conducted by the United States Army Air Forces during the Pacific campaigns of World War II. The U.S. mounted a small-scale raid on Tokyo in April 1942, with large morale effects...
.
After the war, the government sold the land of most of the complexes to real estate companies, notably Mori Building. Thereafter, the combination of desire for greater profits, lack of advance publicity, and government uninterest in this genre of architecture, in addition to inadequate maintenance and the lack of amenities (notably individual bathing facilities) now taken for granted, have led to the destruction of most of the complexes in the name of "site development".
List of Dōjunkai Apartments
| Apartments | Japanese name | Completed | Location (present-day "wards Special wards of Tokyo The are 23 municipalities that together make up the core and the most populous part of Tokyo, Japan. Together, they occupy the land that was the city of Tokyo before it was abolished in 1943. The special wards' structure was established under the Japanese Local Autonomy Law and is unique to... ") |
Demolished (and replaced by) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nakanogō Apartments | 1926 | Sumida Sumida, Tokyo is one of the 23 special wards of Tokyo, Japan. It calls itself Sumida City in English.As of 2008, the ward has an estimated population of 240,296 and a density of 17,480 persons per km²... , Tokyo |
1990 (Setoru Nakanogō) | |
| Aoyama Apartments | 1926–7 | Shibuya Shibuya, Tokyo is one of the 23 special wards of Tokyo, Japan. As of 2008, it has an estimated population of 208,371 and a population density of 13,540 persons per km². The total area is 15.11 km².... , Tokyo |
2003 (Omotesando Hills Omotesando Hills Omotesando Hills was built in 2005, in a series of Tokyo urban developments by Mori Building. It occupies a two hundred and fifty meter stretch of Omotesandō, a famous shopping and residential road in Aoyama sometimes termed Tokyo's Champs-Élysées... ) |
|
| Yanagishima Apartments | 1926–7 | Sumida Sumida, Tokyo is one of the 23 special wards of Tokyo, Japan. It calls itself Sumida City in English.As of 2008, the ward has an estimated population of 240,296 and a density of 17,480 persons per km²... , Tokyo |
1995 (Primēru Yanagishima) | |
| Daikan-yama Apartments | 1927 | Shibuya Shibuya, Tokyo is one of the 23 special wards of Tokyo, Japan. As of 2008, it has an estimated population of 208,371 and a population density of 13,540 persons per km². The total area is 15.11 km².... , Tokyo |
1996 (Daikan-yama Address) | |
| Sumitoshi Apartments (Sarueura-chō Kyōdō Jūtaku) |
1927–30 | Kōtō Koto, Tokyo is one of the 23 special wards of Tokyo, Japan. As of 2008, the ward has an estimated population of 442,271 and a population density of 11,070 persons per km². The total area is 39.48 km². The ward refers to itself as Kōtō City in English.... , Tokyo |
1994 (Twin Tower Sumitoshi) | |
| Kiyosumidōri Apartments (Higashidaiku-chō Apartments) |
1927–9 | Kōtō Koto, Tokyo is one of the 23 special wards of Tokyo, Japan. As of 2008, the ward has an estimated population of 442,271 and a population density of 11,070 persons per km². The total area is 39.48 km². The ward refers to itself as Kōtō City in English.... , Tokyo |
2002 | |
| Yamashita-chō Apartments | 1927 | Naka, Yokohama | 1989 (Reiton House) | |
| Hiranuma-chō Apartments | 1927 | Nishi, Yokohama | 1984 (Monteberte Yokohama) | |
| Minowa Apartments | 1928 | Arakawa Arakawa, Tokyo is a special ward located in Tokyo, Japan. The ward takes its name from the river, the Arakawa, though the Arakawa River does not run through or touch the ward. Its neighbors are the wards of Adachi, Kita, Bunkyo, Taito and Sumida. In English, the ward calls itself Arakawa City.Arakawa has... , Tokyo |
Demolished. | |
| Mita Apartments | 1928 | Minato Minato, Tokyo is one of the 23 special wards of Tokyo, Japan. As of 1 March 2008, it had an official population of 217,335 and a population density of 10,865 persons per km². The total area is 20.34 km².Minato hosts 49 embassies... , Tokyo |
1988 (Shanpōru Mita) | |
| Uguisudani Apartments | 1929 | Arakawa Arakawa, Tokyo is a special ward located in Tokyo, Japan. The ward takes its name from the river, the Arakawa, though the Arakawa River does not run through or touch the ward. Its neighbors are the wards of Adachi, Kita, Bunkyo, Taito and Sumida. In English, the ward calls itself Arakawa City.Arakawa has... , Tokyo |
1999 (Rīdensu Tower) | |
| Uenoshita Apartments | 1929 | Taitō Taito, Tokyo is one of the 23 special wards of Tokyo, Japan. In English, it calls itself Taito City.As of April 1, 2011, the ward has an estimated population of 168,909, with 94,908 households, and a population density of 16,745.86 persons per km². The total area is 10.08 km².-History:The ward was founded... , Tokyo |
Standing | |
| Toranomon Apartments | 1929 | Chiyoda Chiyoda, Tokyo is one of the 23 special wards in central Tokyo, Japan. In English, it is called Chiyoda ward. As of October 2007, the ward has an estimated population of 45,543 and a population density of 3,912 people per km², making it by far the least populated of the special wards... , Tokyo |
2000 (Daidō Seimei Kasumigaseki Biru) | |
| Ōtsuka Joshi Apartments | 1930 | Bunkyō Bunkyo, Tokyo is one of the 23 special wards of Tokyo, Japan. Situated in the middle of the ward area, Bunkyō is a residential and educational center. Beginning in the Meiji period, literati like Natsume Sōseki, as well as scholars and politicians have lived there... , Tokyo |
2003 | |
| Sumitoshi Apartments (Higashi-chō Apartments) |
1930 | Kōtō Koto, Tokyo is one of the 23 special wards of Tokyo, Japan. As of 2008, the ward has an estimated population of 442,271 and a population density of 11,070 persons per km². The total area is 39.48 km². The ward refers to itself as Kōtō City in English.... , Tokyo |
1994 (Twin Tower Sumitoshi) | |
| Edogawa Apartments | 1934 | Shinjuku Shinjuku, Tokyo is one of the 23 special wards of Tokyo, Japan. It is a major commercial and administrative center, housing the busiest train station in the world and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, the administration center for the government of Tokyo.As of 2008, the ward has an estimated population... , Tokyo |
2003 | |
Links and further reading
- Pompili, M (2001). Dojunkai Apartments: Tokyo 1924-1934. Rome: Editrice Librerie Dedalo. Based on scholarly and empyrical reseach, the book examines the Dojunkai Apartments in the context of the development of housing in Japan during the early 20th century and provides an original interpretation of the uniqueness of this paradigmatic example of Japanese moderninsm. [ISBN88-86599-53-6]
- Design of Doujunkai. (Japanese title ). Tokyo: Kenchiku Shiryō Kenkyūsha, 2000. ISBN 978-4874606438 A book of new photographs of the buildings, with (minimal) text in both Japanese and English. "Dōjunkai apāto" in Japanese-language Wikipedia Hashimoto Fumitaka, et al. Kieyuku Dōjunkai apātomento . Tokyo: Kawade Shobō Shinsha, 2003. ISBN 4-309-72734-4. Informative book about all the buildings but concentrating on Edogawa Apartments (where Hashimoto lived), with plenty of plans, historic photographs, and new photographs taken by Youki Kanehira.
- Kanehira Youki. Photographs of Dōjunkai Aoyama apāto. Dōjunkai Aoyama apāto chronology. Miscellany about Dōjunkai Aoyama apāto. Ueda MakotoMakoto UedaMakoto Ueda , professor emeritus of Japanese literature at Stanford University, is an author of numerous books about Japanese poetry, including haiku, tanka and senryū. He earned a Ph.D...
. Shūgō jūtaku monogatari . Tokyo: Misuzu, 2004. ISBN 4-622-07086-3. This historical survey of collective housing in Japan (whose content was previously published within TokyojinTokyojinis a Japanese-language monthly magazine about the history and culture of Tokyo, and culture and leisure in the city. The title is a little-used term, almost a neologism, for somebody from, in or of Tokyo....
) has sections devoted to the Aoyama, Kiyosumidōri, Uguisudani and Ōtsuka Joshi Apartments, with new photographs by Hiroh KikaiHiroh Kikaiis a Japanese photographer best known within Japan for three series of monochrome photographs: scenes of buildings in and close to Tokyo, portraits of people in the Asakusa area of Tokyo, and rural and town life in India...
and some archival photographs. - Wijers-Hasegawa, Yumi. "Dwellers bought off; ball to fall on Aoyama flats". Japan Times, 19 April 2002.