The Kamogawa river and the area around Shijo bridge in Kyoto, Japan.
The photo is taken from Higashiyama-ku facing south towards Shimogyo-ku. Seen from this vantage point, the area still looks remarkably similar today.
The building being built is the Yaomasa (now called Tokasaikan). It was designed by US born architect William Merrell Vories (1880-1964) and finished in 1926, which effectively dates this photograph. The building still stands and now houses a restaurant.
US born architect William Merrell Vories, who also designed such famous buildings as the Daimaru Shinsaibashi Department Store (1922-1933), Kwansei Gakuin University (1929) and Osaka Medical College (1930), came to Japan in 1905 (Meiji 38) as an English teacher in the Hachiman Commercial High School in Shiga. He was a very active Christian and supported his many social action programs with an architect’s office and a drug company.
Vories was incredibly active. By the time he died, his company had constructed 1,091 buildings and he had prepared 392 designs for others to use.1
Notes
1 Lyon, William H (March 2003). An American in Japan : William Merrell Vories (Hitotsuyanagi), 1905-1964, Doshisha Amerika Kenkyu: 37-60
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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 (). Kyoto 1926: Kamogawa River, OLD PHOTOS of JAPAN. Retrieved on August 22, 2026 (GMT) from https://www.oldphotosjapan.com/photos/51/kamo-river
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