Mita Public Speaking Hall

2025-05-27

When I saw that Keio University’s Mita Public Speaking Hall was included among the buildings to be opened to the public at the Tokyo Architecture Festival 2025, I decided to take this opportunity to visit the building and take a look inside.

Since there was a line of people waiting to enter the building, I photographed only the upper part of the building to avoid people from appearing in the picture.
The exterior of the building looks Japanese-style with Namako walls, but the interior is Western-style. It could be called a pseudo-Western-style building.

In 1874, Yukichi Fukuzawa established the Mita Speech Club in Keio Gijuku, adopting Western speeches. Initially, it was a study group of oratorical skills with only members, but they decided to build this public speaking hall. Because they believed it was necessary to popularize the method of speech for the sake of the enlightenment.
it was deemed necessary to popularize the method of oratory to the public in order to enlighten people.

In May 1875, the Mita Public Speaking Hall, the first speech hall in Japan, was opened. The speeches were open to the public.
The building was originally located elsewhere, but was damaged in the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, and was moved to its current location the following year.

Photos of the interior are also taken facing upward so as not to show people.
Entering the building, we see a podium in front of the building and a picture of Yukichi Fukuzawa’s speech behind it. The wall behind the podium has a curved surface, which is said to have excellent acoustics.

There was a line of people who wanted to stand on the podium and take pictures, so I took photos avoided them.

Above the entrance, a frame was put on. It reads, “Origin of the Japan Speech,” and contains Yukichi Fukuzawa’s thoughts on the speech and the actual speech he gave in June 1874. （The frame was made in 1947.)

There are galleries on both sides of the second floor, where the audience can also go up.

Chairs lined up in the hall. A photo from the Meiji era shows that there are benches, not this chair, at that time.

I took this photo from the side while the podium was empty.

This is the door next to the podium. The red floor on the left is the podium.

The side of the building.

There is a stone monument by the entrance, which was erected in 1947. According to the monument, the building was in disrepair and was restored by volunteers during this period. Also the frame inside, which reads “Origin of the Japanese Speech,” was probably installed at that time.