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PHOTOGRAPHY IN JAPAN
The history of Japanese photography is necessarily
understood in relation to Western developments, yet
it is important to avoid being overwhelmed by the
seemingly endless stream of images that flow from
Japan. As well, it is important to decode long-stand-
ing Western fantasies about Japanese representa-
tion. Yet the preeminence of Japanese photography
in areas such as equipment manufacturing during
the second half of the twentieth century and the
Japanese love of the photographic medium stand
as unique features in world photographic history.
Photography was brought to Japan by Dutch
travelers between 1839 and 1840; in other words,
photography was introduced to Japan virtually
from the beginning. In 1848, at the beginning of
the Tokugawa period (1848–1868), photographic
equipment is mentioned in a document written by
a Nagasaki merchant named Toshionojo Ueno. At
that time, Nagasaki was the only city where Dutch
and Chinese ships were allowed. Soon after, Japan
was shaken by violent political and military con-
flicts, rendering photographic experimentation dif-
ficult. The first recorded Daguerreotype was
realized by Eliphalet Brown, Jr. in 1854 at the
time of the second expedition of Admiral Perry,
who had been sent by the United States govern-
ment to force commercial exchange between Japan
and the United States. Brown had been mandated
to create an illustrated report, but unfortunately
most of these photographs disappeared in a fire in
the United States two years later.
The Meiji Restoration of 1968 saw the nation’s
capital moved to Tokyo (renamed from ‘‘Edo’’),
and for the first time, Western ideas and products
were freely allowed into Japan. Thus, for this per-
iod of Japanese photography, it is not surprising
that the most renowned photographers are Wester-
ners. Felice Beato, who had been the first European
to work in China, exploited the growing market for
Japanese art in the West and created many deli-
cately hand-colored works published in two
albums:Views of Japan with Historical and Descrip-
tive NotesandNative Types.Baron Raimund von
Stillfried-Ratenicz, originally an Austrian painter
and direct competitor to the Italian Beato, set up a
studio with a number of Japanese assistants, ulti-
mately buying out Beato’s studio. The native pio-
neers of Japanese photography, Hikoma Ueno in
Nagasaki, Renjo Shimooka (1823–1914) in Yoko-
hama, and Kimbei Kusakabe (1841–1934) are less
well known. Hikoma Ueno is credited with setting
up the first native-run studio. Kimbei Kusakabe
had trained with both Beato and Stillfried, and he
founded his own studio in 1877. It is Renjo Shi-
mooka who is often dubbed the ‘‘father of Japa-
nese photography.’’ Although their studios catered
to a great extent to Western tourists, they allowed
the diffusion of photography in the Japanese
society. Landscapes proved popular subjects aside
from the portraits that were their main trade, and
they largely combined Western conventions while
enhancing some details with color. Because most of
these productions were intended for the Western
market, they fulfilled Western expectations of the
Land of the Rising Sun as a place of pastoral
beauty and elegant, exotic people. The misty moun-
tainscape, gentle geisha, or the fierce Samuri were
popular images.
At the turn of the nineteenth century, there were
well over a hundred photography studios operatingJANAH, SUNIL