Teikoku Shin-Gijido - New Imperial Diet

This 1932 woodblock print depicts the New Imperial Diet Building in Tokyo, a monumental structure that housed Japan's parliament. The building, completed in 1936 after seventeen years of construction, was one of the most ambitious architectural projects of its era, blending Western neoclassical design with Japanese granite and marble. Narazaki Eisho's print, dated four years before the building's completion, may depict the structure during construction or show an earlier version of the parliamentary building. The title uses the Japanese term "Teikoku Shin-Gijido," emphasizing its status as the "new" Diet building, distinguishing it from the provisional wooden structures that previously housed the parliament. Narazaki treats the building as an architectural subject in the shin-hanga tradition, framing the massive structure against the sky and surrounding cityscape to convey its scale and civic importance.