Mosaic on the Miyakezaka Building 三宅坂ビル (1965) – Takeo Terada 寺田竹雄 (1908-1993)

Wonderful public art on the exterior of the Miyakezaka Building 三宅坂ビル, built in 1965. The building is located in Nagatacho, Tokyo (map) in a government-heavy district, just across the street from the National Diet Library 国立国会図書館 and close to the National Diet Building 国会議事堂 (Kokkai-gijidō).

(As a side note, this era of architecture in Japan is among my favorites, another example being the Shin Tokyo Building 新東京ビルヂング in Marunouchi. Both the architecture and the art noted below, convey a sense of optimism and modernity that is consistent with the post-war Japanese economic miracle 高度経済成長, circa 1955-1973).

A multi-tenant building, it is known for being the headquarters of the Democratic Party of Japan 民主党. (Note: I know very little about Japanese politics, but here’s what I can tell: there are various versions of the “democratic” party which dissolves and re-forms. But from what I can tell, multiple versions of the “democratic” party have used this building as their headquarters.

This tiled mosaic (タイル画 ) is named 「躍進」 (“Leap Forward”) and is the work of Takeo Terada 寺田竹雄 (1908-1993). Terada was born in Fukuoka Prefecture and moved to the United States in 1922 as a teenager (source).

He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 1928 and graduated from the San Francisco Art Institute in 1932 (source). In the United States he is known as Edward Terada (or Edward Takeo Terada).

Of note, he painted one of the mural’s inside San Francisco’s iconic Coit Tower. The Coit Tower Murals were part of the Public Works of Art Project, starting in 1933. Terada’s mural, titled ‘Sports’, was completed in 1934.

Photos of the mural (source 1; source 2):

Takeo Terada also contributed murals at the old National Stadium (旧国立競技場). From what I can tell, the murals were removed and stored, and appear to have been put on display at the new National Stadium in 2022, but I’m not sure where they are currently located.

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