Arata Endo 1889 - 1951
In 1917, Arata Endo, a 27-year-old architect and Wright enthusiast, was hired as Wright's chief draftsman
on the Imperial Hotel project. The men found they shared a kindred spirit. Just as Wright had an unorthodox
Unitarian upbringing, Arata was Christian with a nonconformist bent. He, too, had an infectious wit,
no tolerance for mediocrity, and a belief in the sanctity of architecture.
Arata studied at the Imperial University (now the University of Tokyo), and handpicked many of the
hotel's draftsmen from the school. He spent 1917-1918 at Taliesin, working on the hotel drawings and
several other projects being designed for Tokyo, then oversaw completion of the Imperial and the Jiyu
Gakuen School — for which he shared design credit — when Wright returned to America in 1922. He also
codesigned the Tazaemon Yamamura House with Wright, and supervised its construction.
