Exterior view.

From the front

The National Diet Building (国会議事堂 Kokkai-gijidō) is the place where both houses of the Diet of Japan meet. It is located at 1-chome, Nagatacho, Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1600x1200, 390 KB) The main meeting hall of the Diet of Japan in Tokyo. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1600x1200, 390 KB) The main meeting hall of the Diet of Japan in Tokyo. ... Japanese National Diet Building Date: 2003-05-10 Place: View from main entrance Copyright: Copyright-free Photographer: synthetik Enhancements: digitally color corrected File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... This article is about the Japanese legislature. ... Nagatacho (永田町 Nagata-chō) is a district of Tokyo, Japan, located in Chiyoda Ward. ... National Diet Building, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Yasukuni Shrine, Kudan Kita 3-1-1, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Otemon, the Great Gate of Edo Castle (Kokyo) Chiyoda (千代田区; -ku) is a special ward in central Tokyo, Japan. ... Tokyo , literally Eastern capital)   is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, the home of the Japanese Imperial Family, and the de facto[1] capital of Japan. ...

Sessions of the House of Representatives take place in the left wing and sessions of the House of Councillors in the right wing. The House of Representatives (衆議院; Shugi-in) is the lower house of the Diet of Japan. ... The House of Councillors (参議院; Sangi-in) is the upper house of the Diet of Japan. ...

The Diet Building was completed in 1936 and is constructed entirely out of Japanese building materials. 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ...

History

The construction of the building began in 1920; however, plans for the building date back to the late 1880s. The Diet met in temporary structures for the first fifty years of its existence because there was no agreement over what form its building should take. 1920 (MCMXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar) // Events January January 3 - Babe Ruth is traded by the Boston Red Sox to the New York Yankees for $125,000, the largest sum ever paid for a player at that time. ...

Early designs

German architects Wilhelm Bockmann and Hermann Ende were invited to Tokyo in 1886 and 1887, respectively. They drew up two plans for a Diet building. Bockmann's initial plan was a masonry structure with a dome and flanking wings, similar to other legislatures of the era, which would form the core of a large "government ring" south of the Imperial Palace. However, at the time there was public resistance in Japan to Foreign Minister Inoue Kaoru's internationalist policies, and so the architects submitted a more "Japanese" design as well, substituting traditional Japanese architectural features for many parts of the building. Ende and Bockmann's Diet Building was never built, but their other "government ring" designs were used for the Tokyo District Court and Ministry of Justice buildings. Masonry is the building of structures from individual units laid in and bound together by mortar. ... St Peters Basilica (topped with a lantern), Rome A dome is a common structural element of architecture that resembles the hollow upper half of a sphere. ... , Panorama of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo Map of the Imperial Palace and surrounding Gardens Nijubashi Bridge at the Imperial Palace. ... 1880 (Meiji 13) Inoue Kaoru (井上 馨 Inoue Kaoru, January 16, 1836 - September 1, 1915;) was a Japanese statesman. ...

In 1898, Prime Minister Ito Hirobumi interviewed American Ralph Adams Cram, who proposed a more "Oriental" design for the building, featuring tiled roofs and a large enclosure of walls and gates. The Ito government fell as Cram was en route to the United States, and the project was dropped. 1898 (MDCCCXCVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Born in Hagi, Yamaguchi, Prince Itō Hirobumi (伊藤 博文 Itō Hirobumi 16 October 1841–26 October 1909, also called Hirofumi/Hakubun and Shunsuke in his youth) was a Japanese politician and the countrys first Prime Minister (and the 5th, 7th and 10th). ... Cover of Time Magazine (December 13, 1926) Ralph Adams Cram, (December 16, 1863 - September 22, 1942), was an American architect of collegiate and ecclesiastical buildings, often in the gothic style. ...

First building (1890) and second building (1891)

With an internal deadline approaching, the government enlisted Ende and Bockmann associate Adolph Stegmueller and Japanese architect Yoshii Shigenori to design a temporary structure. The building, a two-story, European-style wooden structure, opened in November 1890 on a site in Hibiya. 1890 (MDCCCXC) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar). ...

An electrical fire burned down the first building in January of 1891, only two months later. Another Ende and Bockmann associate, Oscar Tietze, joined Yoshii to design its replacement. The second building was larger than the first, but followed a similar design: it housed the Diet until 1925. 1891 (MDCCCXCI) was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... 1925 (MCMXXV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ...

Current building

In 1910, the Finance Ministry started a commission in an attempt to take control over the new Diet Building design from the Home Ministry. Prime Minister Katsura Taro chaired the commission, which recommended that the new building emulate an Italian Renaissance architectural style. This recommendation was criticized by many who thought that choice to be too arbitrary. 1910 (MCMX) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Sunday of the 13-day slower Julian calendar. ... Katsura Taro Marquess Katsura Taro (桂 太郎 Katsura Tarō), (1848-01-04–1913-10-10) was a Japanese soldier, politician and Prime Minister of Japan. ...

The ministry sponsored a public design competition in 1918, and 118 designs were submitted for the new building. The first prize winner, Watanabe Fukuzo, produced a design similar to Ende and Bockmann's. 1918 (MCMXVIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. ...

The Diet Building was eventually constructed with a floor plan based on Watanabe's entry. The roof and tower of the building were inspired by another entrant, third prize winner Takeuchi Shinshichi, and are believed to have been chosen because they reflected a more modern hybrid architecture than the purely European and East Asian designs proposed by other architects.

Further reading

• Reynolds, Jonathan M. "Japan's Imperial Diet Building: debate over construction of a national identity." Art Journal, September 22, 1996.