Japanese Village, Knightsbridge
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The Japanese Village in
Knightsbridge Knightsbridge is a residential and retail district in central London, south of Hyde Park, London, Hyde Park. It is identified in the London Plan as one of two international retail centres in London, alongside the West End of London, West End. ...
, London, was a late
Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the reign of Queen Victoria, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. Slightly different definitions are sometimes used. The era followed the ...
exhibition of
Japanese culture Japanese culture has changed greatly over the millennia, from the country's prehistoric Jōmon period, to its contemporary modern culture, which absorbs influences from Asia and other regions of the world. Since the Jomon period, ancestral ...
which took place from January 1885 until June 1887 in Humphrey's Hall. Japanese art and culture had become extremely popular in Victorian England by the 1880s, and more than a million people visited the Village. The exhibition employed around 100 Japanese men and women in a setting built to resemble a traditional Japanese village. The exhibit burnt down in May 1885 but was rebuilt and expanded. It reopened the following December.


Background

As a result of the opening up of Japan to trade with Britain in the 1850s, an English craze for all things Japanese had developed through the 1860s and 1870s, fed by the British perception of Japan as a mediaeval culture, and it greatly increased imports of Japanese art, design and decorative objects to Britain. The fad resonated particularly with devotees of the
Aesthetic movement Aestheticism (also known as the aesthetic movement) was an art movement in the late 19th century that valued the appearance of literature, music, fonts and the arts over their functions. According to Aestheticism, art should be produced to b ...
of the late nineteenth century.Jones (2007), pp. 688–93 The planned exhibition was announced in the financial section of ''The London and China Express'' on 11 January 1884; it was expected to take a team of Japanese workers seven months to build.Daniels, Vincent. "Some Thoughts on the Japanese Village at Knightsbridge", ''Sir Arthur Sullivan Society Magazine'', No. 114, Spring 2024, pp. 21–24 The exhibition was a commercial venture organised by Tannaker Buhicrosan (c. 1841–1894), who had been organising travelling Japanese exhibitions and performances in Britain for several years beforehand. After performances of his Japanese Troupe, Buhicrosan often gave Japanese objects to each person who attended. He sometimes offered his entertainments to workhouses free of charge, and he was known to contribute money to disaster appeals such as the Tay Bridge disaster. He stated that the goal of the Village was to raise money for a mission, led by his British-Japanese Christian wife, Ruth Otake Buhicrosan (1851–1914), to help women in Japan.


Description

The exhibition was built to resemble a traditional Japanese village, completely contained within Humphreys' Hall (which was south of Knightsbridge and east of what is now Trevor Street). It employed around 100 Japanese men and women, and included segregated sleeping accommodation. According to advertisements placed in the ''
Illustrated London News ''The Illustrated London News'', founded by Herbert Ingram and first published on Saturday 14 May 1842, was the world's first illustrated weekly news magazine. The magazine was published weekly for most of its existence, switched to a less freq ...
'':
Skilled Japanese artisans and workers (male and female) will illustrate the manners, customs, and art-industries of their country, attired in their national and picturesque costumes. Magnificently decorated and illuminated Buddhist temple. Five o’clock tea in the Japanese tea-house. Japanese Musical and other Entertainments. Every-day Life as in Japan.
The Village opened on 10 January 1885 by Rutherford Alcock, a diplomat who had served in Japan and had organised the Japanese stand at the
1862 International Exhibition The International Exhibition of 1862, officially the London International Exhibition of Industry and Art, also known as the Great London Exposition, was a world's fair held from 1 May to 1 November 1862 in South Kensington, London, England. Th ...
in London. It included of a street lined with shops made of bamboo, wood and paper, some with thatched roofs, another row of smaller shops, a Buddhist temple and a garden. It was an immediate success and had more than 250,000 visitors during its early months."Knightsbridge Green Area: Scotch Corner and the High Road"
British History Online, Survey of London, vol. 45: Knightsbridge (2000), pp. 79-88
While
Gilbert and Sullivan Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900) and to the works they jointly created. The two men collaborated on fourteen com ...
were writing their opera ''
The Mikado ''The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu'' is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, their ninth of fourteen Gilbert and Sullivan, operatic collaborations. It opened on 14 March 1885, in London, whe ...
'' in 1885,
W. S. Gilbert Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (18 November 1836 – 29 May 1911) was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his collaboration with composer Arthur Sullivan, which produced fourteen comic operas. The most fam ...
visited the exhibition and engaged Japanese people from the village to teach his cast aspects of Japanese behaviour and dance. London authorities were concerned about the safety of the exhibition, which was lighted at night by gas. Buhicrosan was summoned before the Metropolitan Board of Works for failure to get a safety certificate. On 2 May 1885, Humphreys' Hall burnt down, and a Japanese wood carver was killed in the blaze; the fire spread to the adjoining Humphries Mansions and Sun Music Hall. Buhicrosan announced that the hall and the exhibit would be rebuilt as quickly as possible. The exhibit employees were already committed to appear at the 1885 International Hygiene Exhibition in Berlin. They proceeded to fulfill the engagement. and then toured in Germany. Meanwhile, the hall and the village exhibit were both reconstructed; the exhibition was greatly expanded and re-opened to the public on 8 December 1885 with "several streets of shops ... two temples and various free-standing idols, and a pool spanned by a rustic bridge". Buhicrosan sold his stake in the Village in 1887 but ran other Villages and Japanese troupes around England until 1890.


Closing and legacy

The exhibition continued until June 1887. By February 1887, over a million people had visited it. Prominent references to the exhibition are made in the 1999 film ''
Topsy-Turvy ''Topsy-Turvy'' is a 1999 British musical period drama film written and directed by Mike Leigh, starring Jim Broadbent as W. S. Gilbert and Allan Corduner as Sir Arthur Sullivan, along with Timothy Spall, Lesley Manville and Ron Cook. T ...
'' and the 2015 novel by Natasha Pulley, ''The Watchmaker of Filigree Street''.Skea, Ann
"''The Watchmaker of Filigree Street''"
'' Eclectica Magazine'', October/November 2015


Notes


References

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External links


Cultural Appropriation or Swiftian Satire? Gilbert and Sullivan’s ''The Mikado''
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