World Observation explores the archives and architecture of Itō Chūta (1867–1954), the eminent architectural thinker of the Japanese empire, who traveled across Asia, Europe, and North America to create the first world history of architecture in Japanese from a truly global set of encounters. In his mission to integrate Japan into existing world histories, legitimate Japanese colonial expansion, and train observers to see the world in the way that he did, Itō theorized new kinds of “observation” (kansatsu) in writing and drawing that strategically blended epistemological values from European science, philosophy, and anthropology with Japanese Buddhism, folklore, and naturalism. World Observation presents close readings of Itō’s writings, sketches, and designs to cast new light on a key figure in the architectural history of Imperial Japan and situate his contributions within the sweep of global architectural history across the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
