#35 Municipal Hall

Numbered 35 in a series, this oban woodblock print by Kishio Koizumi depicts the Municipal Hall, a modern civic building that represented the architectural face of Showa-era Tokyo. While most shin-hanga artists gravitated toward temples, bridges, and natural scenery, Koizumi's inclusion of contemporary municipal architecture in his series reflects a commitment to documenting the full range of Tokyo's built environment, not just its picturesque historical remnants. The Western-style institutional building, with its symmetrical facade and modern construction materials, presented a different set of formal challenges than traditional Japanese architecture. Koizumi adapts the woodblock medium to render concrete, glass, and steel, materials far removed from the wood, tile, and thatch that the technique was developed to depict, proving the medium's versatility in capturing the modern city.