“Tokyo Review 041″ Ueno area-4
The First Park in Japan and Dr. Baudwin’s Statue
Defeating the former shogunate forces through the series of “Boshin War”, the new Meiji Government promoted a radical modernization policy and begun to study urban planning from the advanced examples of the Western countries.
At that time, there was an urgent need for a medical school and a university hospital. They formed a team to select the suitable site for these facilities, and the Ueno Hill was selected as the candidate of the site. Nevertheless, Dr. A.F. Baudwin, a Dutch doctor of medical science who had been participating in the site selection, visited Ueno Hill and said, “Tokyo as such large city must have parks, and this hill must be reserved for a park.” The Doctor persuaded the Government saying “Reserving the public space would be the right thing to do for the expecting international city like Tokyo”. Even in such times of civilization when many modern facilities were needed, the new government discussed internally based on the Doctor’s proposal and issued a notice regulating that they should create parks in each prefecture.
Tokyo City Government designated Ueno (Kan’ei-ji) and other four locations such as Asakusa (Senso-ji Temple), Shiba (Zojo-ji), Fukagawa (Tomioka Hachimansha) and Asukayama as city parks. Following the results of the Ueno War, Kan’ei-ji Temple, once used to own almost all the area of Ueno Hill, was reduced to a small part in the back and most area of the Ueno Hill had been opened to the public. Ueno Park then opened as the first park in Japan in 1873.
Without Dr. Baudwin’s recommendation, there might be no Ueno Park now. As the 100th anniversary of the opening of the park, the Ueno Tourism Federation thought the first thing they had to do was to make a statue of the Doctor. The Dutch government kindly made a bust and donated and installed it on the west side of the Central Fountain Square in 1973.
There is an episode following this story. After thirty years from the installation, the bust there turned out not to be Dr. Baudwin’s. It was made based on a picture of Dr. Baudwin’s younger brother who have served as the Consul General of the Netherlands in Kobe! The mistake was discovered by a resident of a temple in Osaka where Dr. Baudwin was staying for a while, and the monk stood up and collected 4 million yen donations from all over the country to create the correct statue of the doctor. The real bust was replaced in 2006. The brother’s bust, finally came home to a park in Kobe Port Island. Isn’t it a beautiful story?
