help save Japan’s visual heritage of daily life

70319-0008 - Sanmaibashi on the Tokaido, 1890s

Hakone 1890s
Rural Road

Artist	Nobukuni Enami
Publisher	Nobukuni Enami
Medium	Albumen Print
Period	Meiji
Location	Hakone
Image No.	70319-0008
Purchase	Digital File
Author	Kjeld Duits

A beautiful view on a rural road near Sanmaibashi (三枚橋) in Yumoto (湯本), Hakone.

The photographer (Nobukuni Enami) has caught the attention of a group of children, women, farmers and travelers standing on the road. They are clearly very curious.

70319-0008 - People on the Tokaido, 1890s — This detail of the above image shows the different kinds of people on this rural road.

Located in Kanagawa Prefecture, not too far from Yokohama, Hakone was—and still is—a popular spa resort. Sanmaibashi was a wooden bridge that crossed the river Hayagawa (早川). It was an important stage on the Tokaido, connecting Odawara with Hakone.

This image, numbered 20, is one of a series of 46 photographs¹ that Nobukuni Enami shot in the Hakone area. There is another photograph by Enami titled Sanmaibashi with the number 21:

210121-0047-OS - Sanmaibashi, 1890s — No. 21 Sanmaibashi by Nobukuni Enami, ca. 1890s.

see current map

The Google Map shows the location of the current Sanmaibashi bridge. I have not yet been able to locate the actual spot where this photograph was taken. Reliable suggestions are extremely welcome.

Notes

¹ After I wrote this article, the world’s foremost Enami specialist, Rob Oechsle, contacted me on December 9, 2010 with some additional information: Enami’s HAKONE & MIYANOSHITA view series from the 1890s was numbered from 1 through 40, plus 302, 303, 304, 305a and 305b (Ashi-no-Ko lake panorama), and 308.

² Rob Oechsle used to run T-Enami.org, a site with an enormous amount of information on Nobukuni Enami. The site is no longer online, but can be accessed through the Internet Archive. Rob’s flickr account also contains lots of information on Enami.

Published July 30, 2008
Updated November 24, 2021 6:23 PM

Reader Supported

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.

I share what I have found for free on this site, without ads or selling your data.

Your support helps me to continue doing so, and ensures that this exceptional visual heritage will not be lost and forgotten.

Thank you,
Kjeld Duits

support

Reference for Citations

Duits, Kjeld (November 24, 2021). Hakone 1890s: Rural Road, OLD PHOTOS of JAPAN. Retrieved on September 16, 2024 (GMT) from https://www.oldphotosjapan.com/photos/308/rural-road

Explore More

Kobe 1880s
View from Yamate

Kobe seen from a location in the mountains, close to where Shin-Kobe Station is located today.

Kobe 1870s
View on Kobe from Mt. Takatori

A beautiful view of a yet very rural Kobe from Mount Takatori (高取山) in the early 1870s. Very soon after the city was opened to foreign trade on January 1, 1868 (Keiō 4). This is Kobe in the cradle.

Arashiyama 1910s
Togetsukyo

Two Japanese women in kimono, protecting themselves from the rain with paper umbrellas, cross the Togetsukyo bridge in Kyoto’s Arashiyama.

Add Comment

There are currently no comments on this article.

Hakone 1890sRural Road