The noblest examples of religious architecture in the whole
empire have just been completed; and the great City of Temples is
now enriched by two constructions probably never surpassed in all
the ten centuries of its existence. One is the gift of the
Imperial Government; the other, the gift of the common people.
The government's gift is the Dai-Kioku-Den,--erected to
commemorate the great festival of Kwammu Tenno, fifty-first
emperor of Japan, and founder of the Sacred City. To the Spirit
of this Emperor the Dai-Kioku-Den is dedicated: it is thus a
Shinto temple, and the most superb of all Shinto temples.
Nevertheless, it is not Shinto architecture, but a facsimile of
the original palace of Kwammu Tenno upon the original scale. The
effect upon national sentiment of this magnificent deviation from
conventional forms, and the profound poetry of the reverential
feeling which suggested it, can be fully comprehended only by
those who know that Japan is still practically ruled by the dead.
Much more than beautiful are the edifices of the Dai-Kioku-Den.
Even in this most archaic of Japan cities they startle; they tell
to the sky in every tilted line of their horned roofs the tale of
another and more fantastic age. The most eccentrically striking
parts of the whole are the two-storied and five-towered
gates,--veritable Chinese dreams, one would say. In color the
construction is not less oddly attractive than in form,--and this
especially because of the fine use made of antique green tiles in
the polychromatic roofing. Surely the august Spirit of Kwammu
Tenno might well rejoice in this charming evocation of the past
by architectural necromancy!
empire have just been completed; and the great City of Temples is
now enriched by two constructions probably never surpassed in all
the ten centuries of its existence. One is the gift of the
Imperial Government; the other, the gift of the common people.
The government's gift is the Dai-Kioku-Den,--erected to
commemorate the great festival of Kwammu Tenno, fifty-first
emperor of Japan, and founder of the Sacred City. To the Spirit
of this Emperor the Dai-Kioku-Den is dedicated: it is thus a
Shinto temple, and the most superb of all Shinto temples.
Nevertheless, it is not Shinto architecture, but a facsimile of
the original palace of Kwammu Tenno upon the original scale. The
effect upon national sentiment of this magnificent deviation from
conventional forms, and the profound poetry of the reverential
feeling which suggested it, can be fully comprehended only by
those who know that Japan is still practically ruled by the dead.
Much more than beautiful are the edifices of the Dai-Kioku-Den.
Even in this most archaic of Japan cities they startle; they tell
to the sky in every tilted line of their horned roofs the tale of
another and more fantastic age. The most eccentrically striking
parts of the whole are the two-storied and five-towered
gates,--veritable Chinese dreams, one would say. In color the
construction is not less oddly attractive than in form,--and this
especially because of the fine use made of antique green tiles in
the polychromatic roofing. Surely the august Spirit of Kwammu
Tenno might well rejoice in this charming evocation of the past
by architectural necromancy!