June, 1919 
JAPANESE HOMES OF TODAY 
39 
Interiors Decorated and Furnished in the European Manner in 
Houses of Traditional Japanese ArchitecUire 
EUGENE CLUTE 
The architecture of Baron Sumitomo’s home at Kyoto is in perfect harmony with the 
romantic landscape. The exterior is typically Japanese, though several of the rooms are 
furnished in the European manner. Yutaka Hidaka, architect 
It stands in a beauti¬ 
ful garden twenty acres 
in extent and forms an 
harmonious part of in¬ 
numerable charming 
landscapes. Though the 
'"house is large, having an 
area of 28,800 square 
feet, it blends perfectly 
with the garden, for it is 
composed of a number of 
semi-detached pavilions 
arranged on an irregular 
plan so that only pictur¬ 
esque bits of the house 
are seen at a time among 
the trees. The garden 
interlocks with the house, 
forming small gardens 
between the pavilions 
and providing pleasant 
views from all the rooms. 
The exterior is purely 
Japanese in architecture 
to realize that he is in Japan, beyond question. 
The lace curtains and the plate glass of the 
windows are, by the way, the only things in the 
drawing-room of this house that were imported. 
The woodwork and furniture of teak wood in a 
medium brown finish, the silk wall covering 
that shows a small diamond pattern in tan and 
blue-gray, the chair covering, the hand-tufted 
rugs patterned in tan and dull old rose, the 
silken hangings draped at the windows, and 
the electric lighting fixtures in antique silver 
finish, were not only designed by the Japanese 
architect of the building, Yutaka Hidaka, but 
were made by Japanese artisans in Japan. In 
the dining room the woodwork and furniture 
are of teak wood in a rich dark brown finish, 
the walls are covered with a gray-green silk 
material, the chairs are 
upholstered in brown 
leather and there are 
brown silk draperies at 
the windows. 
Lighting and Heating 
There is a glass-en- 
closed verandah, fur¬ 
nished with chairs, set¬ 
tees and small tables, all 
in the latest European 
style. Not only is the 
whole house supplied 
with electric light, gas, 
water and modern plumb¬ 
ing, but it has an indi¬ 
rect steam heating sys¬ 
tem. Before passing over 
the steam coils, the air 
is washed with a water 
spray to remove dust and 
other impurities. In the 
summer the air circulated 
by the ventilating system 
passes over ice to cool it. 
Baron Sumitomo also has 
interesting residences in 
Tokyo and Kyoto. 
E ast and West meet in Japan, old national 
traditions and the latest Occidental ideas 
are found side by side, for the Japanese have 
endeavored to hold fast all that was good and 
especially well suited to their needs in the old 
order and to assimilate and develop all that 
seemed desirable in Western civilization. No¬ 
where is this more clearly evident than in the 
homes of some of Japan’s representative men, 
which are, in the main, true to the Japanese 
style, while such conveniences as electric light, 
gas and modern plumbing have been intro¬ 
duced and certain rooms have been furnished 
in the European style for the reception of 
foreigners. 
An especially good example is the residence 
of Baron Sumitomo at Osaka, for it is not only 
one of the finest homes 
in Japan but is also one 
of the most up-to-date. 
and the greater part of the interior is in the 
Japanese style. In the native portion of the 
house the partitions are formed of sliding 
screens or fusuma. Other sliding screens, shoji, 
covered with translucent paper, serve instead 
of windows. The floors are covered with thick 
mats, or tatami, and there is no furniture in 
the European sense of the word. 
The contrast between the Japanese portion 
of the house and the section devoted to the 
reception of foreigners is startling. Here the 
ceilings are high, the woodwork, furniture and 
all the details of decoration are so thoroughly 
Occidental that it is difficult to believe that 
half the world lies between these rooms. It is 
only necessary, however, for the visitor to part 
the lace curtains and look out upon the garden 
A house that is European both inside and out (at the left of the 
picture) has been built on Baron Sumitomo’s Tokyo estate. Yutaka 
Hidaka. architect 
Close incorporation with the gardens has been achieved by arranging 
the semi-detached pavilions of the Osaka residence on a somewhat 
irregular plan 
