Hishō Monument (モニュメント「飛翔」)

Visitors to the Nagoya Station area will be familiar with the spiralling silver spire that is the Hishō (飛翔, 'Flight') monument, in the middle of the roundabout outside the east, Sakura-dōri, side of the station. For those only acquainted with the station after the monument's installation, the 23-meter tall stainless steel feature may seem a permanent fixture, a familiar face to greet you when you step outside the station after a trip to other parts of Japan.

It was decided that a monument that would both impress visitors and be appreciated by residents should be installed in 1989, as Nagoya City commemorated its centenary and hosted the World Design Exposition, the Subway Sakura-dori Line came into operation and the rotary at the front of Nagoya Station was updated. Designed by architect Ii Shin (伊井伸, 1947-2020) and selected from among 109 entries, Hishō was inspired by rope motifs found on Jomon-period pottery, its design symbolizing the people of Nagoya coming together to create a new urban environment, and Nagoya transmitting information to the world.

Hishō is currently scheduled to be removed as part of plans to redevelop the areas outside the east and west sides of Nagoya Station, in preparation for the commencement of the superconducting maglev Linear Chuo Shinkansen service between Shinagawa (Tokyo) and Nagoya, tentatively scheduled to begin in 2027 (and extension to Osaka tentatively scheduled for 2045).

According to the Nagoya Station Plaza Redevelopment Plan interim report (January 2019), the current roundabout intersection and the location of the pick-up / drop-off area and taxi rank limits the space outside the east side of the station, and development of the surrounding area has led to a lack of spaces for people and connections to the surrounding community.

The removal of Hisho and the roundabout intersection is planned as part of efforts to develop a 'Terminal Square' that will give station users a better view of the city beyond, and improve visibility and ease of access to transfers to other transport services, aiming to create a plaza more befitting of the 'super terminal' that Nagoya Station is becoming.

Nagoya Station in the Meiji Period (明治の名古屋駅)

Scene outside Nagoya Station, with streetcars awaiting passengers, late Meiji period.
Image: Nagoya Urban Institute Digital Archive

The Meiji government's original plan in 1883 for construction of a major railway route connecting Tokyo and Kobe was to follow the old Nakasendō route through the mountains of central Honshu to Kanō (now Gifu), a route which would not have included Nagoya. A branch line to transport materials for the main route began operating between the port of Taketoyo (on the Chita Peninsula) and Atsuta on 1 March 1886 (the Taketoyo Line, the first stretch of railway to operate in Aichi Prefecture), extending eventually to Kanō on 25 April 1887.

The mayor of Nagoya Ward (Nagoya was yet to become a city), Yoshida Rokuzai (吉田禄在, 1838-1916) is said to have arranged a stop on the Taketoyo Line to be built on reclaimed swampland at Sasashima in Hiroi village, adjoining the western edge of Nagoya Ward, a site just northwest of the current Sasashima Intersection. Yoshida managed to extend the Hirokōji-dōri main street through donations from the community, connecting the rice paddy-surrounded site to commercial areas to the east such as Hisaya-machi (Sakae).

The station began operation on 1 May 1886 as 名護屋 (Nagoya), changing to the current 名古屋 (Nagoya) on 25 April 1887. Locals, unaccustomed to English, variously referred to the station as Sasashima Sutensho (ステンショ) or Sutenshon (ステンション, which was also published on maps), and even Sutenshaba (an amalgam of 'station' and teishaba [停車場], or 'stop'.)

The difficulty and expense of having the proposed Nakasendō main line pass through mountainous terrain led to the official pronouncement on 19 July 1886 that the Tokyo to Kobe route would follow the more cost-effective Tōkaidō route. When the section connecting Ōbu with Hamamatsu opened on 1 September 1888, the section north of Ōbu (including Nagoya) was incorporated into the Tōkaidō main line, and Nagoya was designated a major stop when the completed route from Shimbashi (Tokyo) to Kobe came into service in 1889.

A single-storied wooden structure with two platforms and two lines at the time it opened, the station building collapsed in the Nōbi Earthquake of October 1891. The second station building, similar in appearance to the first, was completed by 1892.

Rickshaws were on standby at the station to take passengers to other parts of the city. With some 3,207 rickshaws operating in Nagoya City in 1897, there was undoubtedly some opposition to the introduction of streetcars in 1898. Nagoya Denki Tetsudō's initial streetcar route took passengers from Sasashima along Hirokōji-dōri street, terminating at Kenchō-mae (県庁前), where the Aichi Prefectural Government offices were located at the time.

The wooden building at Sasashima served as the gateway to Nagoya until the station relocated to upgraded facilities in 1937.

References:

• 徳田耕一「名古屋駅物語」交通新聞社、2016年
• 溝口常俊（編）「名古屋の明治を歩く」風媒社、2021年