World’s Columbian Exposition

The Exterior of the Ho-o-Den⁹

The World’s Columbian Exposition was held in Chicago in 1893 in celebration of Columbus’ discovery of the New World. (Of course, at this time, Columbus was still viewed as the one who “discovered” this land mass, disregarding the millions of people already living there.) The Japanese government invested $500,000 to participate in this Expo, even though the rising price of rice was causing people to starve to death in Tokyo and rice riots were taking place in many parts of the country.¹ Japan dispatched engineers, carpenters, steeplejacks, and construction supervisors to build a series of three pavilions called Ho-o-Den modeled after the Byodoin Ho-o-Doh in Kyoto on the allotted Jackson Park site. The Ho-o-Den was the first authentic Japanese building constructed in America. Japan began construction of The Ho-o-Den on October 19, 1892, and held the completion ceremony on March 31 of the following year.² They sang traditional Japanese songs during the ground-breaking ceremony and the completion ceremony, surely making for a strange experience for Westerners to encounter an unknown culture. It was important that the cultural exchange took place not only in the Expo's exhibits but also on such meaningful occasions.³ Japan displayed a large number of exhibits in the special Japan section of the Crafts Pavilion. These exhibits weighed 1,350 tons and could no longer be displayed, prompting the call for an expansion of this special section.⁴ In addition to these exhibits, Japanese artists and dancers came to Chicago for business. One artist made as much as $30 an hour for an impromptu painting on silk, and dancers performed traditional Japanese dances.⁵ These exhibitions and their presence played an important role in disseminating Japanese culture and art. It is well known that the famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright was fascinated by the Japanese architecture and culture he was exposed to at this Expo.⁶

The Japanese Pavilion was donated to Chicago after the closing of the exposition, but it deteriorated due to a lack of care. In the early 1930s, the city spent $22,000 to repair the pavilion, but two fires in 1946 destroyed the building. The garden, however, was restored in the 1970s.⁷ Osaka City, the sister city of Chicago, helped repair the garden to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their sisterhood, and was named Osaka Garden in 1993.⁸ The garden is now known as the Garden of the Phoenix and offers a beautiful Japanese garden available to the public.⁷