![Shukugawa Catholic Church Nishinomiya05s5s2048](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5b/Shukugawa_Catholic_Church_Nishinomiya05s5s2048.jpg)
identifies the
modernist
Modernism is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, an ...
arts, culture, and lifestyle that developed from the region of Japan centered primarily on the Hanshinkan
conurbation
A conurbation is a region comprising a number of metropolises, cities, large towns, and other urban areas which through population growth and physical expansion, have merged to form one continuous urban or industrially developed area. In most ca ...
between
Osaka
is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...
and
Kobe
Kobe ( , ; officially , ) is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture Japan. With a population around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Tokyo and Yokohama. It is located in Kansai region, whic ...
, the ideally terrained area between the
Rokkō Range and the sea (Kobe's
Nada
Nada may refer to:
Culture
* Nāda, a concept in ancient Indian metaphysics
Places
*Nada, Hainan, China
*Nada, Kentucky, an unincorporated community in the United States
*Nada, Nepal, village in Achham District, Seti Zone
* Nada, Texas, United S ...
and
Higashi Nada wards,
Ashiya,
Takarazuka,
Nishinomiya
270px, Nishinomiya City Hall
270px, Aerial view of Nishinomiya city center
270px, Hirota Shrine
is a city located in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 484,368 in 218948 households and a population density of 48 ...
,
Itami
270px, Gogadzuka Kofun
270px, Aerial view of Itami city center
270px, Konoike inari shihi
270px, Arioka Castle ruins
) is a city located in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 197,215 in 83580 households and a ...
,
Amagasaki
file:Amagasaki Castle Tenshu 20181125.jpg, 270px, Amagasaki Castle
file:Amagasaki city center area Aerial photograph.1985.jpg, 270px, Aerial view of Amagasaki city center
file:Amagasaki st03s3000.jpg, 270px, Amagasaki Station
is an industrial Citi ...
,
Sanda, and
Kawanishi) from the 1900s through the 1930s, or the circumstances of that period.
Accompanying the
suburbanization
Suburbanization is a population shift from central urban areas into suburbs, resulting in the formation of (sub)urban sprawl. As a consequence of the movement of households and businesses out of the city centers, low-density, peripheral urba ...
of the
Osaka Bay
Osaka Bay (大阪湾 ''Ōsaka-wan'' ) is a bay in western Japan. As an eastern part of the Seto Inland Sea, it is separated from the Pacific Ocean by the Kii Channel and from the neighbor western part of the Inland Sea by the Akashi Strait. ...
area, which continued to grow after 1923 in contrast to the
Tokyo Bay
is a bay located in the southern Kantō region of Japan, and spans the coasts of Tokyo, Kanagawa Prefecture, and Chiba Prefecture. Tokyo Bay is connected to the Pacific Ocean by the Uraga Channel. The Tokyo Bay region is both the most populous a ...
area where the spread of urbanization was temporarily suspended due to the
Great Kantō earthquake
Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements
* Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size
* Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent
People
* List of people known as "the Great"
*Artel Great (born ...
, the Hanshinkan Modernism cultural sphere spread to
Ikeda Ikeda may refer to:
* Ikeda (surname), a Japanese surname
* Ikeda (comics), a character in ''Usagi Yojimbo''
* Ikeda clan, a Japanese clan
* Ikeda map, chaotic attractor
* Ikeda (annelid), ''Ikeda'' (annelid) a genus of the family Ikedidae
Places< ...
,
Minoh
is a city in northwestern Osaka Prefecture, Japan. Its name is commonly romanized as "Minō" or "Minoo"; however, the city government officially uses the spelling Minoh in English. As of October 2016, the city has an estimated population of 134 ...
, and
Toyonaka
is a city in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. The city was founded on October 15, 1936.
Geography Climate
Toyonaka has a Humid subtropical climate (Köppen ''Cfa'') characterized by warm summers and cool winters with light to no snowfall. The averag ...
in
Osaka Prefecture
is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Osaka Prefecture has a population of 8,778,035 () and has a geographic area of . Osaka Prefecture borders Hyōgo Prefecture to the northwest, Kyoto Prefecture ...
, and to Kobe's
Suma
Suma may refer to:
Places
* Suma, Azerbaijan, a village
* Suma, East Azerbaijan, a village in Iran
* Sowmaeh, Ardabil, also known as Şūmā, a village in Iran
* Suma-ku, Kobe, one of nine wards of Kobe City in Japan
** Suma Station, a railway ...
and
Tarumi wards.
Meaning
"Hanshinkan Modernism" is a concept of regional cultural history that came to be used in works like ''Lifestyle and Urban Culture: Hanshinkan Modernism Light and Shadow''
and events like the Hanshinkan Modernism exhibition
.
It has become the subject of study for the dawning in this region of cultural phenomena related to the 77-years process of Japan's
prewar modernization from the
Meiji Restoration
The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...
to the
end of World War II End of World War II can refer to:
* End of World War II in Europe
* End of World War II in Asia
World War II officially ended in Asia on September 2, 1945, with the surrender of Japan on the . Before that, the United States dropped two atomic ...
, excluding the postwar reconstruction,
rapid economic miracle,
bubble economy
An economic bubble (also called a speculative bubble or a financial bubble) is a period when current asset prices greatly exceed their intrinsic valuation, being the valuation that the underlying long-term fundamentals justify. Bubbles can be ...
, etc. occurrences of contemporary
postwar
In Western usage, the phrase post-war era (or postwar era) usually refers to the time since the end of World War II. More broadly, a post-war period (or postwar period) is the interval immediately following the end of a war. A post-war period c ...
Japan.
History
Following the
First Sino-Japanese War
The First Sino-Japanese War (25 July 1894 – 17 April 1895) was a conflict between China and Japan primarily over influence in Korea. After more than six months of unbroken successes by Japanese land and naval forces and the loss of the po ...
(1894–1895), Osaka became Japan's largest economic center,
[
] and Kobe developed into the largest port city in the Orient. However, due to the industrial expansion of both cities the living conditions in urban areas deteriorated.
At the same time, emulating the example of the United States, the
Kinki Region
The or the , lies in the southern-central region of Japan's main island Honshū. The region includes the prefectures of Nara, Wakayama, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo and Shiga, often also Mie, sometimes Fukui, Tokushima and Tottori. The metropolitan ...
experienced a boom in construction of
interurban
The Interurban (or radial railway in Europe and Canada) is a type of electric railway, with streetcar-like electric self-propelled rail cars which run within and between cities or towns. They were very prevalent in North America between 1900 a ...
railway lines. Starting with
Hanshin Electric Railway
is a Japanese private railway company of Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group that links Osaka and Kobe. It also owns the Hanshin Tigers baseball team.
The first character for Kobe (神戸) and the second character for Osaka (大阪) combine to form the c ...
's
Main Line
Mainline, ''Main line'', or ''Main Line'' may refer to:
Transportation
Railway
* Main line (railway), the principal artery of a railway system
* Main line railway preservation, the practice of operating preserved trains on an operational railw ...
(opened in 1905), and continuing with Minoh Arima Electric Railway (later the
Hankyū Takarazuka Main Line
The is a Japanese railway line operated by the private railway operator Hankyu Railway. It connects Umeda Station in downtown Osaka with Takarazuka Station in Takarazuka, Hyogo.
It has a branch line, the Minoo Line, and the Nose Electric ...
) (opened in 1910), Hanshin Express Electric Railway's
Kōbe Main Line (opened in 1920), and others, the opening of rail lines attracted attention to the undeveloped agricultural areas on the outskirts of Kobe/Hokusetsu, and the development of suburban residential areas aimed at creating a comfortable living environment progressed in areas surrounding the rail lines on the naturally beautiful southern slope of
Mount Rokkō
is the name of a range of mountains in southeastern Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan.
Outline
There is no single mountain or peak called "Rokkō," although the highest peak of the mountains is called , (literally, ''the highest peak of the Rokkō ...
, the so-called Hanshinkan area. The urban and cultural development of this area is inseparable from Kansai private railway capital.
First, during the Meiji Period wealthy merchants in the
Keihanshin
is a metropolitan region in the Kansai region of Japan encompassing the metropolitan areas of the cities of Kyoto in Kyoto Prefecture, Osaka in Osaka Prefecture and Kobe in Hyōgo Prefecture. The entire region has a population () of 19,302,746 o ...
region built luxurious mansions one after the other in the vicinity of Sumiyoshi village (current Higashi Nada ward in Kobe). Development of this area made an opportunity for its expansion from the Taisho Period as a residential area not just for industrialists but also for the then rising college-educated white collar intelligentsia, the non-property-owning middle class. Once the cultural and economic environment was in place, many artists and persons of culture relocated to the area, and hotels and amusement facilities offering a variety of cultural, educational, and social spaces were constructed, forming a major resort area in the one-time vacation home area on the top of Mount Rokko and in the lushly green towns at its base to cater to these wealthy so-called "
Bourgeoisie
The bourgeoisie ( , ) is a social class, equivalent to the middle or upper middle class. They are distinguished from, and traditionally contrasted with, the proletariat by their affluence, and their great cultural and financial capital. They ...
". Then, under the influence of Western culture, these unique lifestyles of enjoyment were born. These have had a great influence on Japanese art, culture, education, food, such as cookies, amusement, and lifestyles to this day. Even today, the area is one of Japan's leading exclusive, brand-name residential areas.
The influence of Hanshinkan Modernism can be seen in Japanese contemporary construction in the
Kantō region
The is a geographical area of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. In a common definition, the region includes the Greater Tokyo Area and encompasses seven prefectures: Gunma, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Saitama, Tokyo, Chiba and Kanagawa. Slight ...
in Western-style resort facilities and high-class vacation home areas like
Karuizawa
is a resort town located in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 20,323 in 9897 households, and a population density of 130 persons per km². The total area of the town is . Karuizawa is one of the oldest and most ...
, and residential suburbs of Tokyo like
Den-en-chōfu
is a residential neighborhood located in western Ōta in southern Tokyo, Japan. It is known as one of the most exclusive neighborhoods in Tokyo.
History
Den-en-chōfu was built based on the " Garden City" idea originally developed by the Briti ...
.
References
See also
*
Taisho democracy
*
Shōwa Modan
{{Modernism
Japanese culture
Modernist architecture in Japan
History of Osaka Prefecture
History of Hyōgo Prefecture
History of art in Japan
Modernism