Chuta Ito was born in 1867, the same year as the great novelist Soseki Natsume -- whom he outlived by four decades. Like Natsume, too, Ito -- who pioneered the historical and theoretical study of architecture in Japan -- had a wry sense of humor, and from 1914 until his death in 1954 he produced no fewer than 3,717 satirical cartoons, as well as a vast number of sketches of the mythical and fantastical creatures that inhabited his vivid and whimsical imagination.
Many of these sketches and postcards are among a treasure-trove of Ito-related materials recently discovered at the University of Tokyo, from which some 300 items have been selected for display in "The World of Architect Chuta Ito," an exhibition running at the Watari-Um museum in Jingumae, Tokyo, till Aug. 31.
The exhibition is nothing if not a testament to the astonishing breadth of Ito's interests. University of Tokyo professor Hiroyuki Suzuki, a supervisor of the exhibition, says of Ito: "He is a very difficult person to grasp. The impression we get is that though his interests and activities were wide, his style looks old. Nevertheless, there appears to be something deep and interesting about him."