Introduction / Chapter 5
Wooden Buildings
Trees grown in the mountains return to the city as buildings after they are felled. This chapter presents Tokyo's timber buildings in two parts: first, historic timber buildings from the Edo period to the Showa era; then, buildings of today and tomorrow made with wood from Tokyo's forests and from across Japan.
Historic timber buildings
Seeing historic timber architecture: Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum
An open-air museum that opened in 1993 inside Koganei Park in Koganei City. It has 29 relocated or restored buildings, all but one of them originally from Tokyo.[1]
| Building | Built | Type |
|---|---|---|
| Thatched farmhouse | Edo period | Farmhouse of the Musashino plateau[1] |
| Mantoku Ryokan | 1860s–70s | Two-story timber inn[1] |
| Yamato-ya Main Store | 1928 | Three-story timber dried-goods shop[1] |
A mountain home: the Kobayashi House in Hinohara
The finest surviving traditional house in Tama is the Kobayashi House in Fujiwara, Hinohara Village. Built in the first half of the 18th century (mid-Edo period), it was designated an Important Cultural Property in 1978.[2] It is valued as a mountain farmhouse preserved in its original place on the slope.[2]
A hip-and-gable, thatched house about 15.5 m wide and 8.2 m deep. The earthen-floored area is small and the wooden-floored hall large, a layout said to suit charcoal-making work. In the late Edo period the roof was remodeled into the "kabuto" helmet style and used for raising silkworms. Restoration from December 2011 to March 2015 returned it to its original form.[2]
Temple timber: Jindai-ji
Jindai-ji in Chofu is an old temple said to have been founded by the priest Manku in 733.[3]The oldest building in the precinct is the main gate, donated in 1695. It carries a thick thatched gable roof typical of Musashino. The main hall was rebuilt in 1919 and the Ganzan Daishi Hall in 1867.[4] The gate is designated a tangible cultural property of Chofu City, and repairs to its thatched roof are carried out as a city cultural-property project.[5]
A thatched roof is made from grasses such as Japanese silver grass and reeds—a roof of nothing but wood and grass. Thatch needs regular re-thatching and repair, and the gate's roof, too, is repaired as a city project.[5]"Jindai-ji soba," made with the spring water of the precinct, is said to have been a local specialty since the Edo period.[4]
The founding year was also checked on the temple's official website. The dates of the gate, main hall and Ganzan Daishi Hall are from a travel information site, and the wood species used in the gate have not yet been investigated.
Shrine timber: Meiji Jingu
Meiji Jingu was founded in 1920. Its main hall burned during the Second World War and was rebuilt in 1958 using hinoki cypress from the Kiso region of Nagano Prefecture, with a copper roof instead of cypress bark for fire safety.[6]
The great torii gate (second torii) on the approach is also made of wood. The first was built in 1920 of 1,200-year-old Taiwanese cypress but was damaged by lightning in 1966. The current torii, completed in 1975, uses cypress about 1,500 years old from Mount Dandan in Taiwan. It is 12 m tall and 17.1 m wide, with pillars 1.2 m in diameter.[7]
The forest around the shrine is man-made too. About 100 years ago it was planted with the aim of growing, over a century or more, into a forest suited to the land.[8] Its giant trees are introduced in Chapter 4.
When I walked there on a rainy day in February 2024, the shrine's forest was thick with evergreen leaves even in winter, and water flowed through the valleys. About 100 years after it was planted by people, it has become a true forest.
In Meiji Jingu Gyoen, the inner garden within the grounds, signs of care to protect and support the trees also stood out: snow-suspension ropes (yukitsuri) on the pines by the pond, log props for leaning trees, protective wrapping on trunks with wood chips at their feet. On the sloping paths, logs had been set diagonally into the surface—apparently the same device as the water bars on mountain trails, which shed rainwater off the path.
The photos of the pond, the building and the tree care were taken inside Meiji Jingu Gyoen (confirmed with the garden's map). I have not confirmed where the valley stream was, the names of the building and pond, why the stump is covered with a sheet, or the purpose of the trunk wrapping.
Shrine wood: the coffered ceiling of Tokyo Daijingu
Tokyo Daijingu in Iidabashi was founded in Hibiya in 1880 and moved to its present site in 1928, after the Great Kanto Earthquake. It is also known as the first shrine in Japan to hold a Shinto wedding ceremony.[9]
I have not confirmed which building or room this ceiling is in, or what wood was used.
A shoin in the museum garden: Okyokan
Okyokan, in the garden of the Tokyo National Museum, was built in 1742 as the shoin (study hall) of Myogen-in, a temple on the outskirts of Nagoya. Masuda Takashi (Don'o)—first president of Mitsui & Co. and a noted tea master—later moved it to his residence in Shinagawa, Tokyo, and in 1933 it was donated to the museum. It takes its name from the sliding-door paintings by the Edo-period painter Maruyama Okyo (now reproductions). Today, as "TOHAKU Chakan," visitors can enter the building while having refreshments.[10] In this shoin of more than 280 years ago, the woodwork is well preserved: a board ceiling, kumiko transoms (ranma) and wooden shutters facing the veranda.
I have not confirmed what wood was used.
Meiji mansions: the former Iwasaki and Nogi residences
The former Iwasaki residence (Ikenohata, Taito) was completed in 1896 as the main residence of the Iwasaki family, who led Mitsubishi. The Western-style house was designed by Josiah Conder in the 17th-century English Jacobean style. A Tokyo Metropolitan Government document notes that each of its members uses "timber that is hard to obtain today."[11]
| Building | Timber construction |
|---|---|
| Western-style house 1896, designed by Conder | Jacobean style. Its members use timber that is hard to obtain today. The ground-floor veranda is paved with English Minton tiles, and a second-floor guest room has gilded leather-paper (kinkarakawa) wallpaper[11] |
| Billiard room designed by Conder | Built entirely of wood in the style of a Swiss mountain chalet, with log-style (azekura-like) walls, carved posts and a large roof with deep eaves[11] |
| Japanese-style house (great hall) | Based on the shoin style. The master carpenter was Ogawa Kijuro, who built many residences for leading figures in politics and business. The tokonoma alcove and sliding doors keep wall paintings said to have been sketched by Hashimoto Gaho[11] |
The Western-style house and billiard room were designated an Important Cultural Property, "Former Iwasaki Family Residence," in 1961, and the great hall of the Japanese-style house and other parts were added in 1969.[11] On one site stand Western timber construction, chalet-style timber construction and Japanese shoin architecture—a sample book of Meiji timber building.
The ground floor of the Western-style house is laid with parquet, combining woods of different colors to form patterns. According to the exhibit "Designs of the Western House Floors," which I saw inside in January 2024, the woods used differ by room: oak (kashi), zelkova, rosewood (shitan), ebony and mulberry in the guest room; cherry, oak and zelkova in the study; and cherry, oak, zelkova, rosewood and ebony in the large dining room. Domestic oak, zelkova, cherry and mulberry are combined with rosewood and ebony imported from the tropics, drawing patterns in light and dark tones.
The wood species of the parquet are from the exhibit panels in the house (checked by the author in January 2024).
The former Nogi residence (Akasaka, Minato; Nogi Park) was the home of General Nogi Maresuke. The main house was remodeled in 1902 as a three-story building that makes use of the sloping site. The basement ceiling serves directly as the floorboards of the first floor, and the first-floor ceiling doubles as the floorboards of the second—a spare, efficient design.[12] The exterior is plain black-painted board siding, and the basement is built of stacked Oya stone.[13] A brick stable remains on the grounds and is said to be grander than the main house.[12][13] The lavish Iwasaki residence and the plain, board-clad Nogi residence: even in Meiji timber buildings, the outlook of the people who lived there shows in the building itself.
The designer of the Nogi residence is given as "the general himself" in Minato City's guide, but as the navy engineer Kitazawa Torazo on a travel information site; the two disagree. For the Iwasaki residence, apart from the parquet of the Western house's ground floor, I have not confirmed the species of its timber members.
Buildings of the Kiba timber wholesalers
Timber wholesalers lined Kiba from the Edo period to the Showa era, but this research found no surviving wholesaler shop or residence protected as a cultural property. After the timber businesses moved to Shin-Kiba, the site became Kiba Park (Chapter 1).
The Imperial Palace: the zelkova of Matsu-no-Ma
The palace built in the Meiji era burned in the air raid of May 25, 1945. Today's palace was newly built after the war by a joint venture of five major construction firms, which completed the work in October 1967.[14] It used high-quality, long domestic timber from trees 150 to 1,000 years old. The species include hinoki cypress, pine, cedar, hemlock and tamo ash. Lintels (nageshi), head jambs and door frames were faced with thin decorative veneers, and the shoji screens use hinoki or cedar.[15]
At the heart of the palace is Matsu-no-Ma (the Pine Room) in the Seiden State Hall. It covers about 370 square meters, with a ceiling about 8 meters high.[16] The Imperial Household Agency calls it "the most dignified room in the palace"; it is used for the investiture of the Prime Minister and the Chief Justice, the presentation of credentials by foreign ambassadors, and the conferral of decorations and the Order of Culture.[17]
The floor of Matsu-no-Ma is the only wooden-board floor in the palace. It is laid with 87 zelkova (keyaki) boards, each about 80 cm wide, 4.5 cm thick and about 5.4 m long.[17] By calculation, the boards alone come to about 17 cubic meters. A board 80 cm wide requires a trunk thicker than that. Zelkova is heavy, hard and resistant to decay (see the comparison table in Chapter 4). The most important room's floor was made from boards cut from great trees that took a very long time to grow.
| Room in the Seiden | Wood and decoration |
|---|---|
| Matsu-no-Ma (Pine) about 370 m² | The only board floor in the palace: 87 zelkova boards. Walls covered in woven fabric with a young-pine pattern[17] |
| Take-no-Ma (Bamboo) about 182 m² | Entirely Kiso hinoki. Walls covered in fabric with a scattered bamboo pattern[17] |
| Ume-no-Ma (Plum) about 152 m² | Kiso hinoki, as in Take-no-Ma. Decorated with Nakamura Gakuryo's "Red and White Plum Blossoms"[17] |
The three rooms of the Seiden bear the names pine, bamboo and plum, and are decorated with a young-pine pattern, a bamboo pattern and a painting of red and white plum blossoms respectively.[17] Pine, bamboo and plum—which stay green or bloom even in winter—have long been regarded as an auspicious trio. Above all, the pine is an evergreen that never sheds its leaves all at once, a symbol of lasting constancy. Assigning tree names to the rank of rooms, using zelkova for the floor and hinoki for walls and fittings: the palace gives shape to Japan's culture of choosing the right wood for each use.
We have not found an official Imperial Household Agency explanation of why the rooms were named pine, bamboo and plum; the auspicious meaning of the trio is the common explanation. Where the zelkova and hinoki came from (which forests) has not been confirmed.
Timber buildings today
Built with Tokyo's own wood: Tama timber
Wood grown in Tama's forests is called "Tama timber" (Tamasanzai). The Tokyo Development Foundation for Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries obtained international forest certification in March 2016, and wood from its forests was used in Olympic and Paralympic venues.[18]
A familiar example is Togoshi-Ginza Station on the Tokyu Ikegami Line. Its "Ki ni naru Renewal" (a pun on "wood" and "intriguing") was completed in December 2016, using Tama timber equivalent to about 470 logs. Compared with steel construction, it is said to have cut CO₂ emissions during construction by about 100 tonnes, and the timber itself stores about 70 tonnes' worth of carbon.[19]
Tama timber is also used in schools, gyms and parks. Below are some examples used by Tokyo and its municipalities in FY2021.[20]
| Location | Where used |
|---|---|
| Tokyo Metropolitan Shibuya Joint Government Building | Balcony soffits |
| Minato City Takanawadai Elementary School | Ceiling louvers, eaves soffits |
| Minamidaira Gymnasium, Hino City | Arena wall louvers |
| Kameshima Park, Koto City | Benches |
| Seseragi Promenade Park, Fussa City | Stair handrails |
Source: Tokyo Bureau of Industrial and Labor Affairs, Tama timber use cases[20]
A station at the foot of the mountain: Takaosanguchi Station
Takaosanguchi Station on the Keio Line was renovated to a design by Kengo Kuma in April 2015. Cedar is the main interior and exterior finish, and the roof evokes Takaosan Yakuoin temple.[21] The origin of the cedar has not been confirmed. Neither a Keio press release[22] nor an article on the station[23] states the species or origin. Whether it is Tama timber must be confirmed with Keio or the architect.
Gathering wood from all of Japan: the National Stadium
The Japan National Stadium, completed in November 2019, was built by a joint venture of Taisei Corporation, Azusa Sekkei and Kengo Kuma and Associates.[24] It uses about 2,000 cubic meters of timber: about 1,820 in the large roof and about 190 in the eaves around the perimeter.[25]
The eaves use certified cedar and other wood from all 47 prefectures, arranged from the north side of the stadium to the south: Hokkaido, Tohoku, Kanto and so on, ending with Okinawa.[24] The roof structure uses glulam of larch and cedar, and athletes' facilities use domestic CLT.[24]
Wood in Kasumigaseki: the wood stove at the Ministry of Agriculture
The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, which oversees forests and timber, also shows off wood inside its own buildings. On 27 January 2014 a wood stove was installed in the "Consumers' Room" on the ministry's ground floor, and then-minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and others lit the first fire. Wood stoves were eligible products under the "Wood Use Points" program, which rewarded the use of local timber, and the stove was installed to show their warmth.[26] A 2024 document places the Consumers' Room on the ground floor of the North Annex.[27]
Near the building I also saw a banner for "Wood Change," a campaign promoted by the national government. Wood Change refers to actions that use wood to change society toward sustainability—replacing everyday things with wood, building in timber or finishing interiors with wood, and so on. In October 2021 the "Act on Promoting Timber Construction in Cities," which promotes the use of wood in buildings, came into force, and October has been designated "Wood Use Promotion Month."[28]
The MAFF and Forestry Agency library in the main ministry building was also refitted in wood in its July 2011 renovation: floor carpet using domestic oak, wainscoting of thinned cypress, and benches of Kiso cypress.[29]
The stove's model, the origin of its firewood, and whether it is still installed have not been confirmed.
Tokyo Skytree and the pagoda's central pillar
Tokyo Skytree is a steel tower with no wood in it. Even so, it has deep ties to timber architecture: its system for damping earthquake motion borrows the idea of the wooden five-story pagoda.[30]
A thick pillar called the shinbashira runs through the center of a five-story pagoda. It is structurally separate from the body of the pagoda and is said to swing like a pendulum during shaking, counteracting the motion. Following this, Skytree became the first structure in the world to adopt "central-column vibration control," with a central column separated from the tower's body. It is said to reduce earthquake shaking by up to 50%. It was completed in February 2012 and opened on 22 May that year.[30]
Its height of 634 m is often explained as a play on "Musashi," the old name of this region (6-3-4 can be read mu-sa-shi). The seven-story pagoda of Musashi Kokubunji in the Prologue and Skytree are both towers built on the land of Musashi. The wisdom of wooden towers more than a thousand years old supports today's broadcasting tower.
The "634 = Musashi" wordplay is widely repeated, but this site has not confirmed it in official sources.
Wood in a station-front shopping complex: KITTE
KITTE, in front of Tokyo Station's Marunouchi South Exit, is a commercial complex that keeps part of the former Tokyo Central Post Office, completed in 1931, and was reborn in 2012 as the low-rise section of JP Tower. The old post office was designed by Yoshida Tetsuro and was known for horizontal windows that were new for the time. On the 4th floor, the former Tokyo Central Post Office director's room has been restored with original materials, and its windows look out on the restored Marunouchi building of Tokyo Station.[31] Japan Post's theme for the complex is "Japanese character and newness," linking traditional craftsmanship with the present.[32]
When the author walked through in January 2021, wood was used not only in the director's room—its desk and floor—but also widely in shop shelves and goods. There was even a keyboard made of wood. Here wood is chosen not for the structure that holds up the building, but for interiors and objects people touch.
How wood is used inside the complex is based on what the author saw. Whether the corridor floor is solid wood or a wood-grain finish has not been checked.
A completed timber building: COERU SHIBUYA
COERU SHIBUYA in Dogenzaka, Shibuya, is a 13-story office building completed by Tokyu Land in June 2022. The columns and beams of its 10th to 13th floors use wood-hybrid glulam made from Shinshu larch from Nagano Prefecture.[33] From outside it looks like an ordinary building, but timber members can be seen through the windows of the upper floors.
Timber buildings still to come
Plans to build commercial and office buildings with timber continue in central Tokyo. None are built of wood alone; all are "timber hybrids" combined with steel and other materials. As they are planned or under construction, size and timing may change.
| Building | Scale | Use of wood | Schedule |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shibuya Marui (rebuild) Design: Foster + Partners | 9 floors above, 2 below | Fire-resistant timber in about 60% of the structure; about 2,000 t less CO₂ than steel[34] | Opening planned for summer 2027[35] (originally planned for 2026[34]) |
| Nihonbashi Honcho Mitsui Building &forest Mitsui Fudosan | 18 floors, 84 m tall | About 1,100 m³ of domestic timber; about 30% less CO₂ than a similar steel building[36] | Completion planned Jan 2027[36] |
| (Tentative) Nihonbashi Honcho 1-chome Block 5 Project Mitsui Fudosan | 11 floors | Floors 8–11 as all-timber offices; over 900 m³ of wood[37] | Completion planned Feb 2028[37] |
| Tokio Marine new head office (Marunouchi) Design: Renzo Piano Building Workshop | 20 floors above, 3 below; about 100 m tall | Floors 6–18 in mixed timber and steel; columns of four bundled timber posts give 3-hour fire resistance[38] | Completion planned FY2028[39] |
Shibuya Marui is a rebuild of a store that opened in 1971; it closed in August 2022 and was demolished. Marui Group calls it "Japan's first full-scale timber commercial facility."[34] Its opening was originally planned for 2026, but in July 2026 Marui Group announced that it would open in summer 2027.[35] Marui Group explains that the original timing was an estimate that included its eagerness for an early opening, and that construction is proceeding without delay.[40]
When I saw it in July 2026, the exterior was almost finished, with wooden vertical columns and horizontal boards lining the spaces between the windows on each floor. The hoarding at its foot displayed the names of the designers, Mitsubishi Jisho Sekkei and Foster + Partners, and the builders, Toda Corporation and Sumitomo Forestry.
In Nihonbashi, Mitsui Fudosan is developing two timber office buildings. The 84 m &forest was scheduled for completion in September 2026 when announced in 2024.[41] A July 2026 report gave completion as January 2027 and said it is already fully leased.[36]
Tokio Marine's new head office replaces its former head office completed in 1974.[42] When finished it is expected to be one of Japan's largest timber buildings, with a total floor area of about 130,000 square meters.[39] A Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism document describes floors 1–5 as steel and floors 6–18 as mixed timber and steel.[38]
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