engineering

Kiyoshi Mutō

Kiyoshi Mutō is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Kiyoshi Mutō rather than just read about it. In short: Kiyoshi Mutō (武藤清, Mutō Kiyoshi; 29 January 1903 – 12 March 1989) was a Japanese architect and structural engineer. He is considered the "father of the Japanese skyscraper" for his contributions to earthquake engineering.

Key takeaways

Kiyoshi Mutō belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Kiyoshi Mutō to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Kiyoshi Mutō from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Kiyoshi Mutō (武藤清, Mutō Kiyoshi; 29 January 1903 – 12 March 1989) was a Japanese architect and structural engineer. He is considered the "father of the Japanese skyscraper" for his contributions to earthquake engineering.

Earthquake engineering research Mutō was born in Toride, Ibaraki, Japan. He entered the Department of Architecture at Tokyo Imperial University (now the University of Tokyo) in 1922 and graduated in 1925. He was immediately appointed Lecturer, and obtained a Dr of Engineering degree in 1931. In 1935, he was appointed Professor of Structural Engineering, a post which he held for almost 30 years, developing and teaching the principles of earthquake-resistant design. Among his best known contributions was the development of a simple but accurate method for routine structural analysis of a moment resisting frame under lateral loading. Known as the "D Method", it replaced tedious, time-consuming calculations with numerical tables, and was widely used for many years throughout the world. It was adopted into the Calculation Standard of the Architectural Institute of Japan in 1933.

Work as structural engineer After retiring from the University of Tokyo in 1963, Mutō became executive vice president of Kajima Corporation, a major construction company. He also founded his own company, the Mutō Institute of Structural Mechanics, in 1965. At Kajima, he led the team that designed Japan's first high-rise building, the 36-story Kasumigaseki Building. Among his innovations for this building was first energy dissipation system used in Japan, a slit wall system consisting of precast reinforced concrete strips that stabilized the building under strong winds and small earthquakes and absorbed the energy of strong earthquakes.

Works

Mutō was the structural engineer for many of Tokyo's tallest and best-known buildings, including the following.

Kasumigaseki Building (1967) World Trade Center (1970) Keio Plaza Hotel (1971) Shinjuku Mitsui Building (1974) Sunshine 60 (1978) Grand Prince Hotel Akasaka (1982) Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building (1991)

Notes

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Kiyoshi Mutō

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Kiyoshi Mutō claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Kiyoshi Mutō before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Kiyoshi Mutō ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Kiyoshi Mutō

In research: Kiyoshi Mutō appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Kiyoshi Mutō in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Kiyoshi Mutō is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1903 births, 1989 deaths, 20th-century Japanese architects, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Kiyoshi Mutō outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Kiyoshi Mutō in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Kiyoshi Mutō means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Kiyoshi Mutō out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Kiyoshi Mutō in simple terms?

Why does Kiyoshi Mutō matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Kiyoshi Mutō?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Kiyoshi Mutō.