Buildings in Okinawa Prefecture (Meiji – Taisho Period)
Since I have not updated my pop-up card recently, I looked up buildings in preparation for making some cards.
Let’s take a look at buildings in Okinawa Prefecture built in the late Meiji and Taisho periods.
First, I will quote a few photos from “Okinawa Prefecture Photo Album No. 1” (Chotaku Oyadomari, ed., Ozawa Shoten) published in 1917.
(1) The first building is the Okinawa Prefectural Assembly Hall, built in December 1915 in Naha Ward.
Later, in 1920, a prefectural office building was built next to the assembly hall.
Both the prefectural office and the assembly hall were destroyed in an air raid on October 10, 1944.
(2) The next photo is the Okinawa Prefectural Library.
It was opened in 1910 on the premises of the prefectural office in Naha Ward. The reading rooms were divided into a men’s reading room, a women’s reading room, and a children’s room. The three-story section was probably a storehouse and the walls covered in mud, called a 'dozo-zukuri’.
The library moved to Kume-cho, Naha in 1940, but was destroyed in an air raid in 1944.
(3) This is Ishigakijima Weather Station.
The weather station was founded in 1896, and was rebuilt in 1908 as a two-story brick building.
Then it was rebuilt with reinforced concrete in 1926, so it must have been demolished at that time.
The weather station was headed by Takuji Iwasaki (1869-1937), a native of Sendai. After the establishment of the weather station, he requested to work at the Ishigakijima Weather Station in 1898 and became its director the following year, serving for more than 30 years until his retirement in 1932, conducting meteorological and natural observations as well as research on the geography and folklore of Ishigakijima and educating islanders. After retirement, he continued to live in Ishigaki-jima Island for the rest of his life.
(4) The Hyaku-sijushichi (147th) Bank, Okinawa Branch. (Naha Ward)
The first building was constructed in 1883 as the Okinawa Branch of the 147th National Bank.
In 1907, the bank converted to a private bank and built the building in the photo.
It was damaged during the Pacific War, but was repaired around 1950, and was then used by the Bank of the Ryukyus.
(5) Okinawa Electric Power Company was the first electric power company in Okinawa.
The company was established in 1910 and began transmitting electricity in December of the same year.
The building in the photo is probably a power plant because of the chimney, the power plant was located in Kumoji, Naha Ward. The head office was located in Nishi, Naha Ward.
Okinawa Electric was integrated into Kyushu Electric Distribution in 1943.
(6) Taisho Theater was a two-story reinforced concrete theater completed in 1915.
It was built on reclaimed land in Nishi-shinmachi, Naha Ward. It has a seating capacity of over 1,000.
The building was destroyed by fire in an air raid on October 10, 1944.
The next two photos were taken from “Okinawa Prefecture Guide” (Chotaku Oyadomari / 1920).
(7) The Naha Ward Office was completed in March 1919. (Naha City records say that it was completed in October 1917, but this is apparently a mistake.)
The building was designed by Goichi Takeda. There were two buildings: a tower building and a one-story building.
Naha Ward, established in 1896, became a city in 1921 and was renamed Naha City. So the office had been called Naha City Office since then.
The building was damaged in an air raid on October 10, 1944, and the remaining burned parts were later demolished.
(8) Okinawa Sugar Trader’s Association.
The association was established in 1899, but I could not determine when the building in the photo was built. It is located in Nishihonmachi, Naha Ward (or Naha City).
The union was dissolved in 1942 because it could no longer function due to the implementation of the official price and brown sugar collection control regulations.
I could not find any information about the building after that .
(9) The last photo shows Naha Baptist Church built in 1916.
It was located in Kume-cho, Naha Ward. The sign “Train platform: Kume” can be seen on the left side of the photo.
It was designed by William Merrell Vories.
This building was also destroyed by fire in an air raid on October 10, 1944.
Looking at the buildings in this way, we can see that many were lost in the war.
I’m thinking of making a few pop-up cards modeled after some of these buildings. I’ve been slacking on updating the main site a bit too much.
[Postscript] (2024-10-16)
There was a mistake in the year in the explanation given by Naha Ward Office, so it has been corrected.
[Reference] (written in Japanese)
“Okinawa Prefecture Photo Album Vol. 1" (Edited by Chotaku Oyadomari / Ozawa shoten / 1917)
“Okinawa Prefecture Guide“ (Chotaku Oyadomari / 1920)
“Okinawa Industry Handbook" (Okinawa Prefecture Department of Domestic Affairs/1920)
“Missionary Journey: 80 Year History of Okinawa Baptists" (edited by the Okinawa Baptist Convention / Christ Newspaper Company / 1973)
“History of Okinawa Prefecture, Volume 6" (Edited by Okinawa Prefectural Board of Education / Okinawa Prefectural Board of Education / 1975)
“History of Okinawa Prefecture, Supplementary Volume" (Edited by Okinawa Prefectural Board of Education / Okinawa Prefectural Board of Education / 1977)
“Encyclopedia of Okinawa, Volumes 1 and 2" (Edited by Okinawa Encyclopedia Publishing Office / Okinawa Times / 1983)
“Features of Public Architecture in Okinawa Prefecture during the Taisho Era" (Kawashima Tomoo / Kobe college Studies Vol.54 No.2 / 2007)