Special places and things at Waseda
Find "octagon stars" in Building 2.

Do you know that there are some designs called Hachibousei (designs based on an octagonal pattern) in Building 2 on the Nishi-Waseda campus (the old Library)? It is said that the octagon is a figure between the square (this world) and the circle (eternity), and the late Kenji Imai, who was the architect of the old Library, took in this pattern to symbolize eternity and imply the universe.

Now, let's go to find the eight-pointed stars! First, you can find a big eight-pointed star when you pass by the side entrance next to the main gate! We usually pass by without noticing it, but surely it is an eight-pointed star. This is the front entrance of Building 2 (the old Library), which is now usually closed. There is an eight-pointed star carved on the big bronze gate, and some stars, shells, clouds, flowing water, and the sun are designed in arabesque patterns on the wrought metal openwork. It seems that a microcosm is expressed in the eight-pointed star. There might be other eight-pointed stars somewhere else! Let us know if you find one!

The big bronze gate in front of Building 2 on the Nishi-Waseda campus (the old Library)

Stars and shells carved on the big gate

Besides, there are other patterns of the eight-pointed star carved in the floor tiles of the entrance hall, on a part of the ceiling in the permanent exhibition room on the 2nd floor, in the Okuma Memorial Hall and on the gable of the project exhibition room.

The floor with tiles in which various kinds of eight-pointed stars are carved
The gable of the Okuma Memorial Room
The octagonal all-night light	The Professor Yaichi Aizu Memorial Museum in Building 2 A part of the ceiling in the permanent exhibition room

The patterns of eight-pointed stars or octagons can be found everywhere in Building 2. Now, why don't you find one?