The Meiji Shrine (Meiji Jingu) in Tokyo was built as a dedication to Emperor Meiji, the first emperor of modern Japan and his wife, Empress Shoken. I found this shinto shrine situated next to Hara…
The relationship between society, dress and the body has always been complicated throughout history. For Japan, this became prevalent during the Meiji Restoration Era (1868-1912). Before, the Japan…
Full Title and Caption Coming Soon Ca.1892-95 Large "Yokohama Album" print from an old souvenir photo album. Photographed by T. ENAMI and sold directly to tourists visiting his T.ENAMI PHOTOGRAPHIC STUDIO at No.9 Benten Street in Yokohama. www.flickr.com/search/?s=int&w=all&q="Enami+... The paper was coated with egg-whites from regular chicken eggs, then painted with silver nitrate. Sandwiched together with a large glass negative, it was slowly printed out under the sun on a nice day -- then fixed and washed in water. When dry, it was hand-tinted as you see above. Customers could buy them loose like that, or pasted into beautiful albums. Enami's albums were usually lacquered Cherry Wood with an inlaid work of art. Enami took a picture of this photo-tinting and album manufacturing process -- the best such image known -- and you can check it out here : www.flickr.com/photos/24443965@N08/2494892753/ This is one of his first commercial images as a young photographer starting out on his own in Yokohama, after having been both a student of, and assistant to, the already famous K. OGAWA of Tokyo. With some nice exceptions, there is generally nothing ground-breaking or spectacular in his early work. However, his production values quickly improved, and in just a few short years he began surpassing the old masters in the world of small format glass images, and with unsurpassed images in three dimensions. www.t-enami.org/services
Snowy Meiji Jingu (2022)
Meiji Shrine is Japan's most visited and celebrated shrine. Dedicated to Emperor Meiji who united Japan and opened it to the world, Meiji Shrine will be
Portrait of three people of Meiji Era - Japan - October 1911 Source : blogs.yahoo.co.jp/dokidoki_puck
"Illustration of Flowering Cherry Blossoms at Ueno Park." (Right-hand plate.) "Illustration of Flowering Cherry Blossoms at Ueno Park." The politics of Japan - both internal and international - were complicated and very troubled at the time of the Meiji Emperor's accession in 1867. According to the Nihon Shoki, the classical history of Japan, the nation has had an emperor since 660 BC, but for almost seven hundred years prior to the Meiji Restoration, Japan was actually controlled by a Shogunate, the emperors revered but virtually powerless. But with the forced opening of trade with the United States in the 1850s, the old systems of government had proved unequal to Western aggression, and the power of the Shogun was under attack. Finally, in 1868, after more than a decade of unrest, the new Emperor - still only fifteen years old - made a formal declaration of the restoration of his power, a restoration of practical imperial rule in Japan. In the following years, he oversaw radical changes in the country's political, military, and social structures, as Japan transformed itself from a feudal and isolationist society into a modern international power. "A Mirror of Japan’s Nobility - The Emperor Meiji, His Wife, and Prince Haru." Chikanobu's images of the Emperor, the Empress, and ladies of the Imperial court are a vivid example of the ruler's push to Westernize Japan. Court dress and uniforms for men, based on European models, were decreed only three years after the Restoration. Soon, too, fashionable, upper-class ladies, inspired by the Empress, took up wearing Western dress in public. And in 1886 - just prior to the images here - the court set out rules for ladies' formal wear. (None of these examples are of formal wear.) Ironically, Chikanobu, who so brilliantly described the lavish European fashion in his work here, came to greatly regret the changes in his country, the ever-escalating Westernization, the loss of its traditional culture. "Blooming Chrysanthemums in an Autumn Garden." "Excursion to View Cherry Blossoms by the Sumida River." "Meiji Emperor, Empress, Crown Prince, and Court Attendants in Western Clothing." "Meiji Emperor Prepares to Leave the Palace in the Phoenix Carriage." "Meiji Emperor and Empress - Autumn Colors." "Illustration of the Garden Refreshed after the Rain." "A Scene of the Japanese Diet." "A Contest of Elegant Ladies among the Cherry Blossoms." "Children Playing in the Snow under Plum Trees in Bloom." "Procession Outside Tokyo Imperial Palace with Meiji Emperor and his Consort." "Meiji Constitution Promulgation." "The Emperor, Empress, Crown Prince, and Court Ladies on an Outing to Asuka Park." "Illustration of Singing by the Plum Garden." "Visit of the Empress to the Third National Industrial Promotional Exhibition at Ueno Park." "Meiji Emperor, Empress, Crown Prince, and Court Attendants in Western Clothing/Royal Couple with Chrysanthemums." "The Emperor Enjoys A Cool Evening." *** Toyohara Chikanobu (豊原周延, better known to his contemporaries as Yōshū Chikanobu 楊洲周延, the name with which he signed his work: 1838–1912), woodblock artist of Japan's Meiji period. Born in Niigata Prefecture as Hashimoto Naoyoshi (橋本直義), he was the eldest of two children, his father a retainer of the powerful Sakakibara clan of samurai in Echigo Province. He showed artistic abilities as a young child and was given lessons with respected teachers. He also trained in the martial arts, and after the collapse of the Tokugawa Shogunate, he joined the Shōgitai, an elite fighting corps, and became famous for his bravery in battle. In 1871, three years into the Meiji era, he established himself in Tokyo as a professional artist. He had studied several genres of art making, but was most drawn to ukiyo-e. His subject matter displayed great variety, ranging from Japanese mythology to battle scenes to ladies' fashions, from scenes of natural disasters to actor portraits. He illustrated events both contemporary and historical. He was very successful, but by the last decade of the century, he and much of his audience were becoming dismayed by the rapid changes taking place in Tokyo and were increasingly nostalgic about the lost world of the Shogunate, and his later work reflects this nostalgia. His last works featured retrograde images of the brave samurai and heroic women of Japan's past, and by 1905 his production of work had dwindled. He died of stomach cancer at the age of seventy-five.
Ca.1890s Plain Paper "Salted Print" by an unknown photographer. The Salt Print was the simplest and softest of the many photographic processes. Plain paper was dipped in salt water and dried. A coating of sliver nitrate was then brushed on. The picture was clamped together with the negative (in this case, full size glass album-view dimensions) and it was "printed out" directly under the sun. After fixing, drying and hand-tinting, it was placed in souvenir albums for sale to tourists. Because the tints immediately soaked into the paper fibers, the color is literally "saturated". In the case of these prints, the color has kept very well for over 100 years. Originally popular in the 1840s and 50s (using a WAXED PAPER NEGATIVE called a CALOTYPE) only a handful of Japanese photographers revived the process in the late Meiji era, thus making these images somewhat rare. I have heard salt prints referred to as Calotypes, as well as hearing remarked that salt prints made from glass negatives are not really salt-prints. Both of those statements (made without malice, of course) are technically incorrect based on a lack of understanding of the processes involved. Strictly speaking, the CALOTYPE NEGATIVE and the SALT PRINT POSITIVE were made by two separate chemical processes. For those so inclined to historic details, here is is one of the better links (avoiding the Wikipedia entry for "Calotype" in this case is a good idea)... special.lib.gla.ac.uk/hillandadamson/calo.html I myself grew up hearing Stereoscopes and Stereoviews both referred to as STEREOPTICONS, and walked around mimicking this error until I knew better. ("Stereopticon" is a type of 2-D Lantern-slide Projector). Anyway, to this day, I never pick fights over mistaken terminology, knowing that the world of photography is filled with generally accepted terms, even if they are technically in error. But, I do point things out when I get the chance. The main thing is to have an appreciation of the image itself as a work of either "ART" or "DOCUMENT", (and sometimes both all in the same picture).
Manju Netsuke Japan. Meiji period. 1 3/4'' - 4.5cm An extremely fine manju netsuke, decorated with a gold lacquer cherry tree, with mother 'o' pearl blossom and coral fruit. Brandt Asian Art
Walk amongst a grove of irises at Meiji Shrine in Tokyo in springtime.
meiji shrine / syunsune1206 / flickr
From a rare series of ca.1880s-90s full-plate images printed by sunlight on simple "salted paper", and hand-tinted with transparent water colors -- but not by me. These large photos are all over 110 years old. The above image I attribute to SHINICHI SUZUKI [The Younger], circa 1885-95. The process harks back to the very beginning of photography when Fox Talbot of England introduced the first commercially viable paper based photographic process to the world (but held himself and the world up with his jealously guarded patents). Although the first prints were made from waxed PAPER NEGATIVES called CALOTYPES, these "Revival Salt Prints" seen in the 11 prints posted here were made with GLASS NEGATIVES. The print paper had no emulsion layer (no collodian, albumen, or gelatin), and was developed right into the fibers of the PLAIN PAPER they used. As the tinting was applied, it soaked immediately into the paper, living up to the literal meaning of SATURATED color. As you can see here, both the photograph and color that saturated the paper have remained rich and vibrant. However, a few photographers who also went down the salt print road were not so lucky, as poor processing and underexposed images tended to have fading problems. That being said, a well done Salt Print is a beauty to behold.
55maiko.net Geiko, February 11, 2021 Geiko is Mamefuji. Shooting location is Seirai-in Temple.
The MFA’s public collections search function, which is handled by an external vendor, is currently offline.
Asabuki Isoko 朝吹磯子 (1877-1955) at 13 years old - Miss contestant & beauty of Meiji era - She won the All Japan Tennis Championships women’s doubles - 1890
