THE CHARACTERS OF THE STRUCTURE FOR THE MAIN BUILDING OF THE TREASURE MUSEUM OF MEIJI JINGU

The Meiji Jingu Treasure Museum building, built in 1921 to commemorate Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken, is known to architectural historians as the first example to try to express “Japanese-style” with the then modern technology of reinforced concrete. In this paper, however, delving into its original 87 structural working drawings in the shrine, the authors show its importance in technological history pointing out the reasonable structural modeling and adroit setting of the structural elements in it to make the design feasible with a long-spanned exhibition space (14.5 meters by 29 meters) poised by pilotis. The building can exemplify the highest level of the reinforced concrete technology in its early stage in Japan.