Togo Murano was one of the older generation of Japanese architects practising after World War II. His buildings were stylistically diverse, indicating an eclectic appreciation of modern, traditional and expressive form. Born in 1891, he studied architecture at Waseda University, before being apprenticed for eleven years in the Kansai office of Setsu Watanabe. In 1929, he established his own office. Buildings of the 1930s like the Ube City Public Hall (1937) and Osho Town Hall (1938) indicate Murano’s interests in the humanistic aspects of Nordic modernism. In 1949, he went into partnership with Tiuchi Mori, and rose to prominence with the Memorial Cathedral for World Peace at Hiroshima (1947-54). Later works like the New Kabuki Theatre, Osaka (1958) with its multiple pagoda-like roofs demonstrate Murano’s interests in a modern, even exuberant interpretation of Japanese temple and castle architecture, while the Kasuien annex at the Miyako Hotel, Kyoto (1959) exhibits his expertise in the Sukiya style. Murano’s most individualistic works were the free-form Gaudi-like expressions of the theatre in the Nissei Kaikan Building, Tokyo (1963) and the Takarazuka Catholic Church, Takarazuka (1967).

Robin Boyd profiled Murano in New Directions in Japanese Architecture, and photographed the New Kabuki Theatre in Osaka during his first visit to Japan in 1961.