Tokuma Katayama

1854–1917

From the Chōshū domain (now Yamaguchi Prefecture). One of the first graduating class of the Imperial College of Engineering, where he studied under Josiah Conder.

As an engineer of the Imperial Household Ministry he worked on court architecture, designing what is now the State Guest House, Akasaka Palace, built as the Crown Prince's Palace. In 2009 it became the first structure built since the Meiji era to be designated a National Treasure.