A crowded festival day on the approach to Ikuta Jinja, a shinto shrine in Kobe’s Sannomiya district.
This road was a beautiful rural sand-road, lined on both sides with plum and cherry trees and countless stone lanterns, when Kobe opened its port for trade in 1868 (Meiji 1).
In the 1870s, the trees and lanterns were removed and the country road became a bustling shopping street. See Kobe 1910s • Sannomiya for a photo of the same street closer to the sea, taken in the 1910s.
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Old Photos of Japan aims to be your personal museum for Japan's visual heritage and to bring the experiences of everyday life in old Japan to you.
To enhance our understanding of Japanese culture and society I track down, acquire, archive, and research images of everyday life, and give them context.
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Kjeld Duits
Reference for Citations
Duits, Kjeld (). Kobe 1890s: Ikuta Jinja Matsuri, OLD PHOTOS of JAPAN. Retrieved on August 22, 2026 (GMT) from https://www.oldphotosjapan.com/photos/123/ikuta-jinja-matsuri
Kjeld Duits (Author)
This place is impossible to recognize today. There is a huge Tokyu Hands store and it doesn’t feel as open any more with all the big buildings.
#000329 ·
Tim Morrill
I would have liked to have seen it when it was still a country road with a lot of trees and lanterns. It’s a facinating picture with all the people in traditional clothing. Also interesting is the uniformity of the wooden shops and houses with their tiled roofs.
#000528 ·
Kjeld Duits
@Tim Morrill: Me, too. I haven’t been able to find a good photo of it yet…
#000531 ·
Courtney Halcomb
I have an excellent print of the Ikuta Temple for sale.
#000601 ·