In May 1954, Ise Gropius (1897–1983) embarked on a three-month trip to Japan together with the famous architect Walter Gropius. Their tightly timed tour, organized by the International House of Japan and financed by the Rockefeller Foundation, brought both of them into exchange with architects, artisans, artists, journalists, and university lecturers. In addition to promoting and writing speeches for her husband, Ise Gropius proved to be a gifted chronicler.

In detailed reports – her only known cohesive texts from the postwar period – she vividly describes the country and its people. She comments on lectures, discussions about reconstruction, evening parties, or the Bauhaus exhibition in Tokyo with as much humour and understanding as she does on the role of Japanese women, Zen Buddhism, or the local cuisine.

Extensively annotated by the editor and supplemented by contributions from Anne Hultzsch and Shuntaro Nozawa, this volume publishes Ise Gropius’s travelogues, in facsimile, for the first time.

In May 1954, Ise Gropius (1897–1983) embarked on a three-month trip to Japan together with the famous architect Walter Gropius. Their tightly timed tour, organized by the International House of Japan and financed by the Rockefeller Foundation, brought both of them into exchange with architects, artisans, artists, journalists, and university lecturers. In addition to promoting and writing speeches for her husband, Ise Gropius proved to be a gifted chronicler.

In detailed reports – her only known cohesive texts from the postwar period – she vividly describes the country and its people. She comments on lectures, discussions about reconstruction, evening parties, or the Bauhaus exhibition in Tokyo with as much humour and understanding as she does on the role of Japanese women, Zen Buddhism, or the local cuisine.

Extensively annotated by the editor and supplemented by contributions from Anne Hultzsch and Shuntaro Nozawa, this volume publishes Ise Gropius’s travelogues, in facsimile, for the first time.