ABSTRACT
This chapter shows that in the context of the expositions, the Hooden expressed neoclassicism "in Japanese," proof that Japanese civilization, shared the West's idealized heritage and thus enjoyed a natural and inevitable rise as a world economic and political power. Partnered with Kuru Masamichi's neoclassically inspired configuration for the Hooden in Chicago, it neatly fit into the exposition movement's ideological cosmos that entwined architecture and fine art as the identity aesthetics of political stature and entitlement. The 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, to date the grandest and most comprehensively ideological in architectural vision, offered the perfect opportunity to advance Japan's cultural, economic, and political distinction through the placement and form of a true national pavilion. The Hooden, venue for nihonga's debut had to embody the vital political actuality and commercial intentions of "modern Japan": an ancient imperial civilization whose distinctive products for the international market were the world's best.
