The Former JR Nara Station Building

Table of Contents

Nara’s Modern Face

The former JR Nara Station building has the appearance of a giant temple. It was built in 1934 (Showa 9), and one of its defining features is a design that evokes the sorin, the finial at the top of a Buddhist pagoda.

Although the Showa era spanned roughly 60 years, the early Showa period when this building was constructed was a time when nationalism was on the rise in Japan. It was the period that ran from the Manchurian Incident to Japan’s withdrawal from the League of Nations, and then on toward the Second Sino-Japanese War.

A style that was popular at the time was the Imperial Crown Style, which layered Japanese or castle-like design elements onto reinforced-concrete buildings. It was an architectural style that sought to express Japan’s dignity and distinctiveness by combining Western-derived modern architecture with Japanese design.