What distinguishes Old Photos of Japan from other sites is that in addition to writing about vintage images and the history behind them, I collect and conserve the original prints for future generations. It is a form of individual activism.
It is almost completely self-funded. But over the past year and a half, for the first time, I have also received donations. These help to compensate some of the time that I put into research and writing. They also help with the acquisitions.
I would like to express my thanks for this support by showing you some of the latest acquisitions. In total, some 1,000 items were added to the collection since the relaunch of Old Photos of Japan in January 2022.
Thanks
Several people helped make this possible. I especially want to thank (in alphabetical order): Ruth Ammon, Celio Barreto, Jeff Baskin, Beertje van Beers, Wendy Bigler, Glennis Dolce, Jim Hoare, Lupo Mulder, Jay Lazarin, Bruce Rubin, and David Tea. Other people offered support by purchasing art prints and licenses.
I am deeply grateful. Even the smallest gift helps. More importantly, it encourages and inspires me to continue this mission.
I am particularly grateful to Wendy Bigler. She assisted me with several important purchases, and even donated lots of items directly. Two gestures stand out. One is her donation of five glass slides by the Takagi Studio of the construction of a “middle class” house in Kobe in the 1900s. These are part of a series of twenty.
#8 original text: The incessant work of ten of the carpenters for two months has so progressed that every pole and railing is properly planed and skillfully shaped, measured and holed so that each piece fits the other so as to complete the building or framing of the house. Here they are making the preparation for building or framing work.
#9 original text: The building or framing work should be completed in a whole day. This is the most important day for the carpenters; for, has there been even the slightest error in measuring or making holes, the building work will become impossible.
#11 original text: After hard labour taken by the carpenters and coolies, employed specially for the day of building, under an earnest management of the head carpenter, the building or framing work is completed at sunset. The celebration poles are made each bearing three fans indicating type of rising sun, fastened together and decorated with green leaves, five coloured hemp threads and white paper cut in the way indicating sacredness. And they carry them, making a procession together with the coolies singing songs celebrating the success. Then they stop first at the gate of the owner of the new building and leave there, one of the decorations, and the family gives them a feast and “sake” for the celebration.
#13 original text: Now the tile men commence roofing and coolies make walls with bamboo which shall be plastered afterward, by the plasterer.
#16 original text: Both inside and outside works are nearly finished and the mat-men are to take their parts trimming the mats to fit each room. They have to manage more than 60 “Tatami” or mats for this house.
The other gesture by Wendy that stands out is her donation to help me purchase 89 gelatin silver prints photographed in the 1910s by Japanese photographer Nobukuni Enami (江南信國, 1859–1929).
These are from a series of 733 photos. They are exceptional because Enami used a handheld film camera to shoot everyday scenes, often in a modern and candid way.
Three of these prints you may recognize. They were used in Headman, Hunter, Fox, The Way of the Kiseru, and The Burden of Youth.
Last December I purchased 488 additional prints from this series. As a result, the Duits Collection now has almost 600 prints. Enami specialist Rob Oechsle—who first discovered Enami’s connection to these photographs—believes that it is the world’s largest collection of this series.
Additionally, I received a scan of a 1920s catalogue of this series from a museum in the U.S. Hopefully this helps with the research.
Please Support!
If you are not a supporter yet, but would like to help with the mission to preserve and research Japan’s visual heritage of everyday life, you can donate here. Please only do so if you can afford it.
Sharing the site, specific articles, or the newsletter also helps.
To keep going, Old Photos of Japan needs a few hundred monthly supporters (now there are five…). Please help me get there!
Thank you very much,
Kjeld Duits
Your history friend in Tokyo
This is the first of two articles about new acquisitions. Continue to Part 2.
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