Figure (5.10): Cover and pages from Architectural Design May/June 1980
Besides Arata Isozaki, the names of architects Takefumi Aida, Toyokazu Watanabe, Minoru Takeyama and Monta Mozuna also appear in the presentations of Post-Modern architecture. In the following issues: “Post-Modern Classicism” from April/May 1980, “Free-Style Classicism” from January/February 1982, “Abstract Representation” from July/August 1983 and “The Architecture of Democracy” from September/October 1987, all edited by Charles Jencks, the buildings of the mentioned architects are represented as Post-Modernist. Their work is shown as mixture of not only a variety of Western elements, but also traditional Japanese ones with Shinto and Buddhist influences. And although they are wrongly understood as Post-Modern, one text in all of the writings gives a perfect explanation of the discourse in Japan. Minoru Takeyama’s text “Koten and/or Klassik” (1983), gives the essence of the pluralism in the Japanese architectural language. Koten refers to Japanese classicism and looking up to the masters of the past, and Klassik refers to the Western Classicism. Classicism was introduced to Japan with Western influences during the Meiji Restoration; in this period, Japanese architecture was transformed by these influences. In Takeyama’s understanding, the hybridization language of Japanese architecture and hybridity as a Japanese essence open a radical new position where Koten also
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