Tange, Ōe and the Design Governor — The World at Takamatsu

Bancho, Takamatsu — one of a series of shore days Japan Royal Service builds for residents and guests of The World.

In 1958 a prefectural governor in a small province on Shikoku hired a thirty-something architect nobody outside Japan had heard of, and told him to build a government office that would prove a defeated country could still make something.

The architect was Kenzō Tange. The building is still there, still in use, and in 2022 it was designated an Important Cultural Property — the formal recognition of a post-war building as national heritage.

What Kagawa did that nowhere else did

The governor was Masanori Kaneko, who held office for twenty-four years and is remembered by a nickname: the design governor. His conviction was that a poor rural prefecture could not out-spend anyone, but it could out-think them — and that public buildings, public furniture and public craft were where a population meets the idea that it is worth something.

So he commissioned Tange for the government building. He brought in Isamu Noguchi. He commissioned the painter Genichirō Inokuma. He put the designer Isamu Kenmochi on the furniture. For roughly two decades this small prefecture was the place where post-war Japanese design was being worked out in public, at full scale, with real budgets.

Almost none of it is on a tourist route. All of it is ten minutes from the berth.

The Government Building East Wing

Tange's problem was that reinforced concrete had no Japanese vocabulary. His solution was to make concrete do what wood had always done: the beams project and layer at the eaves in the rhythm of a temple bracket, and the whole frame is exposed rather than clad.

The ground floor was designed as a citizens' hall, open to the street, with a mural by Inokuma at the back. A government building that begins with a room for the public was not a normal proposition in 1958 and is not an entirely normal one now.

The Culture Hall, and the lacquer inside it

A short distance away stands the Kagawa Prefectural Culture Hall, built in 1965 by Hiroshi Ōe — an architect of the same generation as Tange who was arguing the opposite case: that modern and traditional Japanese building should be allowed to sit side by side in one structure rather than one being translated into the other.

Inside the same building is the Kagawa Prefectural Urushi Lacquer Research Institute. It is not a shop and not a museum. It is where the prefecture teaches its lacquer techniques to the next generation of makers, over a course of years.

Kagawa lacquer is not one technique but several that were developed or refined here — among them kinma, where the design is incised into the lacquer with a curved blade and the lines filled with colour, and chōshitsu, where dozens of coloured layers are built up and then carved down into so the colours appear in section. Several holders of Important Intangible Cultural Property status — what Japan calls Living National Treasures — have come out of this one prefecture's lacquer tradition.

The institute can be viewed on weekdays, by prior arrangement. That weekday-only window is the real constraint, not the building.

Why we would put these together

Because they are one argument, and because it is one building after another within a few minutes — which for an older guest matters more than distance does. Getting in and out of a car is the tiring part of a day in Japan, not the driving.

A morning here is: the concrete that had to invent its own grammar; the hall that refused the same problem; and, inside it, a craft the same governor decided was worth keeping alive. The performance hall in the Culture Hall has a wheelchair space, so a private performance can close the same visit in the same building without anyone returning to the car.

Two things to settle ahead

The lacquer institute admits visitors on weekdays only, roughly nine to four, and asks to be contacted in advance — which means it cannot be added on the day. The government building's public floor depends on what the prefecture has scheduled. Both are worth settling before the call rather than during it.

What we arrange

A guide who can actually read these buildings — an architect, or a former curator of the collection — rather than a general guide reciting dates. The lacquer institute visit, arranged ahead. Entry to the government building's public floor, subject to the day. And, if you want it, the performance hall in the same building for a private performance in the afternoon.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can the Tange government building be visited inside?

The ground floor was designed as a citizens' hall open to the public, with a mural by Genichiro Inokuma. Access depends on the day and on what the prefecture has scheduled, so we confirm it rather than assume it.

Is the lacquer institute open to visitors?

On weekdays, roughly nine to four, and with prior contact. It is a teaching institute rather than a museum or a shop, so it cannot be added to a plan on the day.

Why does it matter that the buildings are close together?

Because getting in and out of a car is the tiring part of a day in Japan, not the driving. Several things inside one building, or within a few minutes of each other, asks far less of an older guest than the same content spread across a city.

More on this rotation

• A private Noh performance — Takamatsu
• Sanukite, the stone that rings — Takamatsu
• The stonecutters of Aji — Takamatsu

For residents and guests of The World

The ship lies at Takamatsu for days, not hours. That single fact changes more than anything else on this page. A place that opens three days a week stops being a gamble. An artisan can give you a whole afternoon instead of a demonstration. Nothing has to be cut short to fit a gangway.

We are a Japanese company, working in Japanese, with the people who own these places. The arrangements are made by someone the other side already knows.

Enquiries are handled privately and directly, at japanroyalservice.com/contact. We do not publish our clients, our itineraries, or our rates.

Access notes

We asked these questions of each place directly, and the answers are specific to it. Most guests will have no use for them; they are here because somebody will.

The performance hall has a designated wheelchair space. The Japanese room has steps and is difficult. The buildings sit within a few minutes of one another, so a morning here involves getting in and out of a car once rather than repeatedly.