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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 25, 2021 3:23 AM

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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.

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

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Reference for Citations

Duits, Kjeld (November 25, 2021). Hakone 1890s: Rural Road, OLD PHOTOS of JAPAN. Retrieved on April 25, 2026 (GMT) from https://www.oldphotosjapan.com/photos/308/rural-road

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Hakone 1890sRural Road