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Ha sido una gran sorpresa leer detalles del IRORI japonés. Curiosamente en el sur de Chile existe el denominado fogón tradicional chilote, fogón ancestral o fogón mapuche; que tiene notables similitudes con el irori. Se trata de un recinto mucho más “humilde”, más sencillo con piso de tablas y una hoguera hundida en la tierra.
Lo interesante es que las culturas a pesar de ser tan distintas, guardan elementos similares, y no solo desde el punto material. El fogón chilote es un lugar de encuentro familiar y social, y es es más, vive en la memoria colectiva de las personas que habitan la ruralidad de Chile. Felicitaciones por tan detallado artículo. Un abrazo desde la Patagonia Chilena.

Could this photo really be from the opening of the Shinbashi Station in the 1872?

I had seen pictures/depictions of komori but didn’t understand the cultural context. I really appreciate this article laying it out so clearly, especially with the more realistic black and white photos.

I think for now I will leave it as is. I guess one would need to get his hands on some newspapers or municipal documents of the time to investigate the case thoroughly.

Thank you for bringing the Kanazawa post-completion photo to my attention. I do have it in my digital archive, but up till now I’ve never looked at it so closely.

I’ve recently finished analyzing the visual evolution of the Hyakudan area and the Railway Station came next. The photogrpahs in the “The Far East” (1872) show the surroundings of the station as highly underdeveloped. There aren’t many images taken from the Bentenbashi perspective or showing that side of the station, which makes the visual verification more difficult. There are two photos taken after 1873 (the arch-shaped corridor connecting the second floors of the two station buildings is visible) – one might be by Suzuki Shinichi, the other probably by Usui Shusaburo – that don’t include any utility poles, just gas lamps. The other available images are most likely from the 1880s, but are quite similar to Uchida’s, therefore it might suggest the area didn’t progress significantly during those years. These are just some random ideas of mine.

Then I came up with another aproach – the Bentenbashi leads to Honmachi-dori, so the telegraph lines seen in the photo should be connected to the utility poles on that street. I found literally one example that might be pre-1880. The other photographs of locations on Honmachi-dori that feature any single-line utility pole are certainly post-1875, most of them from the 1880s-1890s.

To summarise – this photograph is giving me a headache.

Ten years later and I’ve returned to raise some doubts about the provenance of the article’s main photo. I know it is a popular image of the Yokohama Railway Station, featured both in Terry Bennett’s book, as well as in the Nagasaki Database, which states it is part of a Uchida Kuichi’s Album. But is it really Uchida’s work? He died in 1875, however isn’t the area captured in the photo a little too much “electrical”? Especially the multi-level utility poles to the right. I thought that electrification of Yokohama was around mid-1880s.

While in the Marines I had the opportunity to visit Peace Park. It was a heartbreaking place to see and witness what war does ! What humans are capable of doing to each other!

雲は咲き 森に流れる 湊川
葵は巡り 緑に灯る

kumo wa saki
mori ni nagareru
minatogawa
aoi wa meguri
midori ni tomoru

the harbour’s stream runs
with clouds flowering away
over the trees’ tide
and carries the mallow float
like a lantern in the green

de havenstroom loopt
met de bloeiende wolken
boven de bossen
en draagt de malvedrijver
als een lantaarn in het groen

朧雲 竜の幻 うねる道
震える木陰 明日を描く

oborogumo
ryu no maboroshi
uneru michi
hurueru kokage
ashita wo egaku

a dragon’s blue ghost
winds and rolls along the path
of uncertain clouds
if the pensive trees tremble
with tomorrow’s memory

een blauwe draakgeest
windt en rolt langs de paden
van twijfelwolken
als de peinzende bomen
van de oude toekomst trillen

晴れの橋 葵の衣 返り咲く
侘び茶の調べ 川面に踊る

hare no hashi
aoi no koromo
kaerizaku
wabicha no shirabe
kawamo ni odoru

On the blissful bridge
mallow’s dresses with spirits
blossom once again
and follow the grey pavane
or the brevity of tea

Op de heldere brug
bloesemen de malvejapon
opnieuw met geesten
en volgen de grijze pavane
of de bondigheid van thee

My grandfather had vivid memories of watching young women coal his troop ship in Nagasaki while on their way to the Philippines in 1915. He also spoke about how little food their lunches contained, a small box of rice with vegetables, and how it would sustain them. He was raised on a farm and he knew something about hard labor, and it created a lifelong memory for him.