Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and the Making of Japanese Postwar Architecture
Cho, Hyunjung. “Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and the Making of Japanese Postwar Architecture” Journal of Architectural Education 66, no. 1 (September 28, 2012): 72–83. https://doi.org/10.1080/10464883.2012.720915
Cho first highlights the personal context of the architect, Tange, and his own convictions and past projects that centered ideas of Japanese nationalism and superiority before the end of the World War Two. This provides an added dimension with which to view Tange’s post war work as he reformulates Japan’s post war identity, specifically looking at which aspects he draws on and which aspects he discards. Another dimension Cho points to is the debate surrounding how to memorialise ‘peace’ in Hiroshima and the different purposes behind the monument. For example, Tange’s proposal outlined the monument as a hopeful and active one of world peace, looking forward, while others criticised this ‘starting over’ narrative as one that involves amnesia of the wartime traumas of Japan’s colonies. The article outlines how these aspects are represented through specific compositional elements of the monument. A further note Cho adds is the motivations that influence the style of the monument. For example, Tange adopts a modernist style, which is significant as modernism was associated with being anti-Japanese during war times due to its connotations of Western influence. Another way the monument attempts to balance perspectives is by incorporating the imperial Yayoi period with the more naturalistic and pastoral style of pre-imperial Jōmon period Japan. Cho concludes with a reflection on the monument’s legacy – the inventing of the possibility of Japanese tradition and culture that is unencumbered by the imperialist past and has a space in the modern.