Ryōunkaku Tower: Japan's First Skyscraper
An 1890 promotional flyer for the Ryōunkaku Tower, featuring the building’s lifts and stairs, as well as the roof terrace. The roof terrace allowed the public to experience their surroundings from above, which was a novelty at the time.
This is Ryōunkaku, Japan’s first western-style skyscraper, designed by W.K. Burton. Built in 1890 in the Asakusa district of Tokyo, Ryōunkaku is a twelve-story wood-framed structure faced with red brick. The building resembles a lighthouse, with an octagonal plan and a slight taper, topped with two setbacks and a pointed roof. The name Ryōunkaku translates to Cloud-Surpassing Tower, which indicates the importance of verticality for the building’s landmark status. This is further reinforced by the drawing below, which shows the building with kites soaring behind it, as if to say Ryōunkaku is so tall, it brings you up into the sky to be among the kites.
Two 1890 drawings of the Ryōunkaku Tower, showing the human uses of the building. On the left, a standard perspective of the building, showcasing its height compared to kites. On the right, a cutaway view showing the internal uses, including lifts, stairs, and structure.
Ryōunkaku is notable for its function as a leisure destination. The bulk of the tower housed stores that sold goods from around the world. The upper levels housed exhibition spaces and an observation deck, which allowed the public to view the surrounding city from above. The result is a building where the public could shop, browse an exhibition, and view their city from above, all within the same structure. In addition, the building’s use of electric lifts was a first for Japan, which no doubt made it a popular place to visit. Shortly after opening, the tower became a symbol for the Asakusa district of Tokyo, and it was a popular landmark and destination up until it was destroyed by the Great Kanto earthquake in 1923.
An 1890 postcard showing the Ryōunkaku Tower in the context of Asakusa Park, with two people in the foreground admiring the structure from across a pond.
Ryōunkaku’s status as a symbol for Asakusa was due to its height and its use of verticality. The tower allowed the public to ascend up to the sky and be among the clouds, and it offered views of Tokyo from above. These are experiences that we take for granted today, but when they were first introduced, it was a profound thing to be able to do.