A Romanesque Library on a Former Imperial Campus
The bell-shaped copper roof of a small tower is the first thing many visitors notice when they walk up the main avenue of Tohoku University's Katahira Campus in Sendai. It belongs to a two-story reinforced concrete building completed in 1926, originally the reading room of the Tohoku Imperial University Library. Today the building houses the Tohoku University Archives, and in 2017 it was registered as a National Registered Tangible Cultural Property of Japan.
The design came from Tsuyoshi Ogura, then an engineer at the Ministry of Education who later became a professor of architecture at Tohoku University. Ogura is remembered in Sendai for two other reasons: his pioneering research on traditional farmhouses of the Tohoku region, and his role in rebuilding Zuihoden, the mausoleum of the feudal lord Date Masamune, after it burned in the wartime air raids of 1945. His library reading room predates both of those achievements.
Look closely at the windows and you can read the building's logic from the street. The ground floor is faced with decorative brick above a stone-clad base, and its windows carry shallow segmental arches. The second floor, finished in white plaster, switches to full semicircular arches, the signature of the Romanesque revival style. One level for administration, one for reading; the wall treatment announces the change before you ever step inside.
From Reading Room to University Archives
When it opened in 1926, the first floor held the director's office, administrative rooms, a guest room, and a reading room reserved for faculty. Students climbed to the second floor, where a single large hall served as the main reading room. A five-story book stack once stood attached to the east side.
The library moved to the new Kawauchi Campus in 1973, and the building could easily have been demolished. Instead, it was renovated in 1986 in a way that preserved its original atmosphere, reopening as a memorial resource room and later as the Tohoku University Archives, the first institution of its kind at a Japanese university. Further repair campaigns in 2013 and 2014 have kept the structure sound.
The registration citation praises the building as a work of library architecture unified by Romanesque-inspired design, and credits it with contributing to the historic scenery of the nation. On a campus where roughly half of Sendai's surviving prewar buildings are concentrated, that phrase is not an exaggeration.
Visiting the Archives
Unlike many registered properties in Japan, this one welcomes the public. The Archives opens on weekdays from 10:00 to 17:00, with free admission. The former student reading room on the second floor now serves as exhibition space, and period photographs displayed there let you compare the ceiling and wall details with their 1926 appearance.
The second floor also contains the Lu Xun Memorial Exhibition Room. Lu Xun, the writer often called the father of modern Chinese literature, studied at the Sendai Medical College, a forerunner of Tohoku University's medical school, from 1904 to 1906. The exhibition traces his student years in Sendai through documents and photographs, and draws a steady stream of visitors from China.
Katahira Campus itself operates on an open-door principle, so you can wander the grounds freely. The Archives building stands along the avenue leading from the old main gate, itself a registered cultural property, and a short walk connects a dozen more registered buildings from the Meiji, Taisho, and early Showa eras. Access is easy: about ten minutes on foot from Aoba-dori Ichibancho Station or Itsutsubashi Station on the Sendai subway, or 25 minutes on foot from Sendai Station.
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Q&A
- Can anyone enter the Tohoku University Archives building?
- Yes. The Archives is open to the general public on weekdays from 10:00 to 17:00, excluding national holidays, the summer closure, and the year-end and New Year period. Admission is free.
- What was the building originally used for?
- It was built in 1926 as the reading room of the Tohoku Imperial University Library, with administrative offices and a faculty reading room on the first floor and a large student reading room on the second.
- Who designed the building?
- Tsuyoshi Ogura, an engineer at the Ministry of Education who later taught architecture at Tohoku University. He is also known for rebuilding the Zuihoden mausoleum in Sendai and for his research on Tohoku farmhouses.
- What is the Lu Xun connection?
- The second floor houses the Lu Xun Memorial Exhibition Room, which presents documents on the Chinese writer's years as a student at the Sendai Medical College, a predecessor of Tohoku University, between 1904 and 1906.
Basic Information
| Name | Former Tohoku Imperial University Library Reading Room (Tohoku University Archives) |
|---|---|
| Location | 2-1-1 Katahira, Aoba Ward, Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture |
| Designation | National Registered Tangible Cultural Property (registered October 27, 2017; registration no. 04-142) |
| Registration Criterion | Contributing to the historic scenery of the nation |
| Structure | Reinforced concrete, two stories with partial basement and third floor, tiled roof, tower; building area 569 square meters |
| Year Built | 1926 (Taisho 15); renovated 1986, 2013, and 2014 |
| Owner | Tohoku University (National University Corporation) |
| Visiting | Open to the public weekdays 10:00 to 17:00; admission free |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, National Cultural Properties Database — Former Tohoku Imperial University Library Reading Room
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00011847
- Tohoku University — Registered Tangible Cultural Properties
- https://www.bureau.tohoku.ac.jp/somu/bunkazai/kenzobutsu/
- Tohoku University Archives — Official Website
- https://www.archives.tohoku.ac.jp/
Last verified: 2026.07.02