Japan - Expo Saint-Louis 1904

It should be called the Japanese Village, because there were no less than four separate buildings. In a beautiful amphitheatre garden, with streams, waterfalls, dwarf trees in bronze vases, large ibises placed here and there, one had the impression of being suddenly transported to the Far East.

At the very top was the reception hall, a Japanese-style wooden construction with a low, wide roof and a veranda surrounding the house.

Inside the large room, four corner showcases contained beautiful old costumes: warriors, court women, actresses, from the Fujiwara period (around 900), other warriors armed with bows and arrows, actresses with sumptuous costumes in brocade and silk woven with gold and silver from the Creme period (around 1100); finally, one of these showcases was devoted to modern national costumes.

In the garden, nicely scattered: the Grand Bazaar filled with cheap objects, in porcelain, basketry, bronzes, etc., the tea houses with their facades where the little mossy girls, graceful and minaudière, fluttering in their pretty costumes, trotted like mice, serving tea and cakes: a true vision of the Far East.

©Exposition internationale de Saint Louis 1904. Rapport général