Tracing historic Japanese architecture

The TU Wien is planning a photogrammetric survey of historically important models of traditional Japanese buildings. One of them will be on display at the Weltmuseum Wien from October 25. There are still some secrets to be unveiled about those remarkable models of traditional Japanese buildings, which were crafted for display at World Exhibitions and the like from the middle of the 19th to beginning of the 20th century. One of them, a large-scale (3,03 x 4,58m), meticulously detailed model of a daimyô mansion (buke hinagata) made for the Vienna World Exhibition in 1873, has been restored with support from the TU Wien and will be exhibited at a newly conceived showroom dedicated to Japan at the turn from a feudal system to a modern state. The TU Wien has formed a research team of experts in architecture and photogrammetry to scientifically investigate this model using cutting-edge photogrammetry survey techniques. The aim is to measure and then compare it with another outstanding example of Meiji period Japanese model-making, the Taitokuin Mausoleum Model (Royal Collection, UK), made for display at the Japan-British Exhibition of 1910 and now on long-term display at the temple of Zojoji in Tokyo. Daimyô and Shogun - "The models in question are the residence of a daimyo (feudal lord) and the mausoleum of a shogun", explains Iris Mach, head of the Japan Austria Science Exchange Center (JASEC) at TU Wien.