New Diet Building

The National Diet Building, completed in 1936 in Nagatachō, served as Japan's parliamentary headquarters and a public symbol of state modernization. As a [meisho-e](/glossary/meisho-e) subject from One Hundred Views of Great Tokyo (Dai Tokyo Hyakkei), the composition would emphasize the building's pyramidal central tower and granite-clad mass, applying the famous-places format of Hiroshige's tradition to modern civic architecture. Koizumi's self-carved blocks register the architectural geometry through flat color planes and sharp keyblock lines, with [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) gradations likely rendering the sky behind the imposing facade. This subject typifies the series' documentary impulse: cataloging the new Tokyo of ferroconcrete public buildings alongside surviving temples and bridges. The print represents the synthesis Koizumi pursued throughout the 1928-1940 series, combining [shin-hanga](/glossary/shin-hanga) topographic interest with [sosaku-hanga](/glossary/sosaku-hanga) authorial control. By including a structure barely complete at the time of carving, Koizumi positioned himself as a chronicler of Tokyo's contemporary urban identity rather than a nostalgic recorder of vanishing tradition.