PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS

Page 41 – JAPANESE GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS

JAPANESE GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS.—From the very inception of the idea of the Columbian Exposition, the Japanese Government showed a hearty good will toward the United States in the movement, and was one of the earliest nations on the ground engaged in the erection of its buildings. A site on the Wooded Island was given the old empire, it being the only country occupying space in that picturesque locality. The sum of over $630,000 was appropriated by the Japanese government, the famous Hooden Palace was erected at a cost of $100,000, and was surrounded with an area of Japanese landscape gardening at an additional cost ot $20,000. The palace, consisting of three separate buildings connected by wide corridors, was built after the general plan of the famous historic temple of Hoo-do, erected eight hundred and forty-three years ago and still existing. The three structures were of unpainted wood, roofed with sheet copper, with interiors wonderfully paneled and decorated and indicative of the style of construction in Japan at different periods. The south wing was in the style of the Ashikaga period, about four hundred years ago; the main hall that of the Tokugawa period, about one hundred and fifty years ago, and the north wing that of the Fujiwara period, about eight hundred and fifty years ago. Very charming were the Japanese buildings and the scenery about them, and no locality in all the grounds aroused more delighted and curious interest in all visitors. The buildings, it is pleasant to consider, will remain the permanent attractions of the park.

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