One of my favorites. This was originally a 3-D photo, but Enami printed only half of the stereoview negative on a piece of glass, and tinted it to make this lantern-slide. It's about 110 years old. A difficult lighting situation to say the least. He had no flash, but got the exposure just right, hitting on a nice balance using the available light coming through the windows and door. Not bad ! Notice the steam coming off the tea leaves being "dry stirred" on the stove. From a Sample Set of Classic Meiji and Taisho-era Japan Stereoview and Lantern-Slide images by Japanese Photographer T. ENAMI (1859-1929). See www.t-enami.org

It's maddening to think it's already a week and a half into Spring... my, my, my where did the time go? Image Source

This picture (courtesy of Okinawa Soba) is a shot of three young gentlemen on vacation in Japan in 1890 something. The casual kimono they wear are the same as today’s, disregarding the patter…

Circa 1890. Japan. Hand-colored image. Soba Attribution to Shinichi Suzuki the Younger (asso called Shinichi Suzuki II). Text and image via Okinawa Soba on Flickr

A hand-tinted gelatin silver print from old Japan, ca.1910 to 1920.

Explore Okinawa Soba (Rob)'s 10078 photos on Flickr!

A blossoming stick in one hand, while observing some tree bark with the touch of another. An uncommon composition of a very young girl as she takes care of her even younger sibling. Ca.1900-05 toned gelatin sliver print. Photographer unknown.

[From a OKINAWA SOBA flickr set of 19 Meiji-era Photographs (and a few from the Taisho era) depicting real Geisha Girls looking at old Photograph albums, images, and stereoviews. Posted in response to flickr member SignFire who said we should sign these girls up for a flickr account. Apparently, these girls don't have computers where they are, so we'll have to make do with posthumously awarding these PHOTO-LOVING GEISHA with an honorary membership in flickr.]

This CDV portrait was taken in Naha City, Okinawa, during the 1880s; said to be by a Japanese photographer visiting the Ryukyu Islands for the purpose of taking "ethnic photos" for sale back in the Japanese mainland. I have a few original photos from the series. This is my favorite. Of particular note is her asymmetrical "Bee Hive" hair style. While modern day Japanese education has taught the individualist-minded Okinawans to think in terms of uniformity (and thus come up with things like modern-day re-enactments that place the old Okinawa Bee Hive at the exact same symmetrical peak on top of every woman's head), the reality was quite different. Just as there were many styles of Nihon Gami [traditional Japanese hairstyles] for women in the mainland of Japan, Okinawan women also experienced their own variety of expression, and a much greater freedom of every-day style and dress. The "Bee Hive" took many shapes and positions on the head, from front to back, and side to side, including the interweaving of flowers, and a variety of long hair pins to secure it all. And it wasn't always a "Bee Hive" either. It could be a "Bun", or just a tasseled twirl of hair. Another obvious reason that shows us the error of placing the Bee Hive on top in every historical scenario is the fact that Okinawan women carried almost everything on top of their heads while going to and from the fields, the well, and the public market place -- including little bundles of squealing piglets ! Most classes of women arranged it on the back or to the side, leaving the top of the head free for the daily chores of life in old Okinawa. It was only the upper classes, and the JURI [a nebulous mix of the Geisha and Prostitute professions] who kept things consistently towards the top. Yet, even those girls all had their freedoms of style and positioning, the above photo being just one example. Going to see a modern Okinawan play where the farm girls all have their hair up in classic Bee Hive Buns on top of their heads is a testament to the ridiculous influence the Japanese have had with their revisionist history lessons, forcing the Okinawans to abandon reality and logic of their own culture in favor of uniform meaninglessness. Back to the real thing... Having the Bee Hive cocked a little to one side with the asymmetrical swirl of hair swooshing up to it was considered a very sexy thing, and the girl in the photo probably had men swooning. She might possibly be a JURI --- yet without the heavy make-up, and (unlike her Japanese mainland counterparts), completely frank and honest with her customers. Actually, like many other things in Okinawa, this style originated with exposure to other cultures of Asia. In this case, it seems as though the old Okinawan traders liked the hairstyles of the women of BURMA, and brought back the basic styles, ties, and pins that evolved into the Bee Hive hair of Okinawa. If she was smiling, you would notice a beautiful set of healthy, straight teeth --- unlike the stereotypical overbite and crooked "Yaeba" teeth of mainland Japanese girls. Read the bloogers short observation, and the comments that follow here: japanese.about.com/b/2008/07/16/about-japanese-teeth.htm Another blogger wrote that he thought Japanese "Yaeba" teeth were a genetic trait introduced into Japan from Okinawa ! Not so !!!!!!!. In fact, the straight-teeth Okinawans didn't know what yaeba were until the Japanese started showing up with their wives, Japanese TV started broadcasting their singing "Idol" programs into Okinawa. Many of the 19th Century explorers of Japan and Okinawa commented on the HEALTHY STRAIGHT TEETH of the Okinawans, comparing them with the OVER-BITTEN, CROOKED, "YAEBA" CAT-AND-EYE TOOTHED poor dental condition of the Mainland Japanese. One of the reasons for the poor dental condition of many mainlanders was that the Japanese were more inbred than Appalachian Hillbillies at an I-Married-My-Sister Convention, while the Okinawans understood the basics of healthy breeding, allowing romance, inter-marriage and sexual liaisons with hardy Asian strains, as well as with the officers and gentlemen of the occasional shipwrecked sailing ships. The above situation of in-breeding in Mainland Japan also led to a huge population of idiot-savants who could memorize the value of pi to 50,000 decimal places, but not know how to tie their own shoe-laces (so to speak). In fact, I have met more than my share of these folks. Fortunately, the modern mobility of the Japanese --- allowing more breeding with others from outside their own villages --- as well as (at last) lots of screwing around with visiting foreigners, has helped correct a lot of the in-breeding problems that plagued the Nation for 1000s of years. However, just when the Japanese seemed to be getting their in-bred goofiness under control, they decided to stop making babies !!! www.flickr.com/photos/24443965@N08/2351021278/ Anyway, it's amazing what crap the poor Okinawans have had to put up with for the past 150 years, with the Japanese telling them how to think, how to speak, and what they can and cannot do. Imagine Albert Einstein getting pushed around by a hundred mindless thugs on a subway. No matter how smart he is, he's going to go down. That's what happened to Okinawa when the Japanese decided to take over. Yet, during their long-suffering association with a belligerent Japan, the Okinawans did their best to maintain a heritage of individualism, and international relations based on friendship and trade with all those around them. For a look at the "Japanized" or "stage" version of the Okinawan Bee Hive (and what most Okinawans think has ALWAYS uniformly been this way), PLEASE CHECK OUT ONE OF MY OWN DAUGHTER'S SEIJIN-SHIKI PHOTOS ! www.flickr.com/photos/24443965@N08/5963039435/in/set-7215... www.flickr.com/photos/24443965@N08/5963039389/in/set-7215... www.flickr.com/photos/24443965@N08/5951092272/in/set-7215...

Circa 1905 hand-colored lantern slide made by T. ENAMI, printed on glass from one half of a stereoview negative. Catalog No. S-798 Upon enlargement, the image appears a bit speckled and spotted --- even after old Soba touched it up quite a bit. Many of Enami's commercial images that left the studio back in the 1890s and early 20th Century didn't bear close scrutiny, but looked great once you backed off for the "total impression". No matter what, he sold tons of images in all formats, with little or no complaint from his fans. And his fans included many professional and amateur photographers of the day. www.t-enami.org/

From a Sample Set of Classic Meiji and Taisho-era Japan Stereoview and Lantern-Slide images by Japanese Photographer T. ENAMI (1859-1929). Woman in view would be a Geisha hired to model as a "housewife". See www.t-enami.org The MOTHER-LOAD of T. ENAMI images is found HERE : www.flickr.com/photos/24443965@N08/collections/7215761388... RANDOM SOBA : www.flickriver.com/photos/24443965@N08/random/

From an original half-stereoview print photographed by British photographer HERBERT PONTING in 1902 for the stereoview publisher C.H. GRAVES.

By T. ENAMI, ca.1895. A Farmer and his Wife. Detail from a half-stereoview, studio composition : S 476 - PEASANTS COMING HOME FROM THEIR WORK. Besides being sold on Enami's own mounts, variants of this session were also sold by George Rose of Australia, and George Griffith of Philadelphia, USA. This is one of two classic ENAMI images chosen for inclusion in the monumental book -- Odyssey: The Art of Photography at National Geographic (1988). Enami shot various poses during this session, both with and without the "farmer's wife" included in the view. Enami was a member of that special alumni of photographers whose credited photographs appeared on numerous pages of National Geographic Magazine—in Enami’s case, at least four issues. Further, in 1988 the Corcoran Gallery of Art and the National Geographic Society posthumously honored him by selecting another of his half-stereoview images to be the sole inset photograph on the first-edition cover of the100th anniversary exhibition book mentioned above (Odyssey: The Art of Photography at National Geographic). HERE IT IS : www.flickr.com/photos/24443965@N08/4131625287/ A hand-tinted lantern-slide version titled JAPANESE JUNKS is here : www.flickr.com/photos/24443965@N08/2311925788/ For an interesting " sexual take" on the subject of DAIKON [Radish] in Japan, see the introduction to a series of T. ENAMI views on Alan Griffiths' LUMINOUS-LINT website, and then "enter" for seven 2-D and 3-D images around this theme. www.luminous-lint.com/app/vexhibit/_PHOTOGRAPHER_T__Enami... * * * RANDOM SOBA : www.flickriver.com/photos/24443965@N08/random/

The Pied Piper of Pectoral Poking and Muscular Manipulations. ***************************************** This is one of another group of halftones I'm posting --- twelve studio views this time --- to illustrate some of the 198 images you'd get if you bought one of the cheaper "Brinkley Sets" back in 1897. The originals were all printed in Boston, Massachusetts for the J.B. Millet Co.'s 1897 publication, JAPAN - DESCRIBED AND ILLUSTRATED BY THE JAPANESE. Many of these photos were by famous Japanese photographers, and appeared in the various "cheaper" 10, 12, and 15-volume folio-sized sets. However, the better 10 and 12-volume sets were illustrated entirely with real, hand-colored albumen prints. The actual size of the images are about 3 1/2 x 5 inches. For flickr, I copied the images straight out of the 1897 book with a hand-held digital camera...under a cheap desk light. Converted to SEPIA in Google's PICASA with a touch of a button, and added the border with MS PAINT.

Ca. 1870s-80s. From my box of Early Meiji-era Scenes and People of Japan, by Japanese Photographers.