carmencita is an 1894 american short black-and-white silent documentary film directed and produced by william k.l. dickson , the scottish inventor credited with the invention of the motion picture camera under the employ of thomas edison .

the film is titled after the dancer who features in it .

this video is one of a series of edison short films featuring circus and vaudeville acts .

it features a dancer going through a routine she had been performing at koster and bial 's music hall in new york city since february 1890 .

according to film historian charles musser , carmencita was the first woman to appear in front of an edison motion picture camera and may have been the first woman to appear in a motion picture within the united states .

in the film she is recorded going through a routine she had been performing at koster and bial 's music hall in new york city since february 1890 .

carmencita ( film )

carmencita ( 1894 ) directed by william k . l . dickson , william heise • reviews , film + cast • letterboxd
carmencita ( 1894 ) - 1st female star in a movie - william k . l . dickson | thomas edison
carmencita ( 1894 ) - 1st female star in a movie - william k . l . dickson | thomas edison - youtube
she is also referred as carmencita in the dvd extra from the japanese version of starship troopers : invasion blu - ray dvd .
since our doors have been open here at carmencita film lab we’ve seen nearly every mishap that can occur with film and the results of those film mishaps . now sometimes these mishaps are intentional and sometimes they’re not . either way , today we’re going to tackle some of the most common unlucky ( or lucky , depending on…
we’ve written on how exposure affects film . that post visually demonstrates the latitude of color film and should aid in understanding the important role exposure plays in shooting film .
music in any sound film . as the spellbinding , bittersweet coda fades , the film ' s impression convincingly continues .
a short film ( about 21 seconds long ) titled carmencita ( 1894 ) was directed and produced by edison ' s employee william k . l . dickson . she was filmed march 10 - 16 , 1894 in edison ' s black maria studio in west orange , nj . spanish dancer carmencita was the first woman to appear in front of an edison motion picture camera , and quite possibly the first female to appear in a us motion picture . in some cases , the projection of the scandalous film on a kinetoscope was forbidden , because it revealed carmencita ' s legs and undergarments as she twirled and danced . this was one of the earliest cases of censorship in the moving picture industry .
valencia , spain · we ' re a film lab based in spain dedicated to delivering outstanding quality processed and scanned film to our awesome clients .
, but three of which are now a staple to film photographers like those of us at carmencita and yourself . we’re gonna cover some ground on those three that take the cake when it comes to kodak’s portra line : portra 160 , portra 400 , and portra 800 iso .
but actually it doesn’t need to be as complicated or in depth as that . some other companies like carmencita offer simpler approach . as part of the ordering process with them , you make some basic specifications about colour , contrast and brightness which they work to when they process your film .
performing on what looks like a small wooden stage , wearing a dress with a hoop skirt and white high - heeled pumps , carmencita does a dance with kicks and twirls , a smile always on her face .
one of our reasons of being is to help you shoot film , and we are happy to find other people that share this leit motiv . the film foundation is a little collective of young film shooters that against all odds are willing to make film photography go places in belgium . that’s why we decided to partner up to bring you this little workhshop ! carmencita will fly up north , all the way to antwerp , to teach you all we know about developing b & w so you can do it on your own !
the first woman to appear in front of an edison motion picture camera and possibly the first woman to appear in a motion picture within the united states . in the film , carmencita is recorded going through a routine she had been performing at koster & bial ' s in new york since february 1890 .
from almeria , spain came carmencita , born in 1868 and becoming the firts woman to appear in front of an edison motion picture camera and , speculation has it , the first woman to appear in a motion picture in america .
carmencita is the first woman to appear in front of an edison motion picture camera and possibly the first woman to appear in a motion picture within the united states . wow . i find her dancing routine to be very mesmerizing to be honest . . .
though i would like to purchase a lumu power , my sekonic l - 358 fits my needs . my shooting is 99 % film thus when needed i do have a 80a filter balancing daylight film to tungsten , and a fl - d filter for daylight film used with fluorescent lights .
thomas edison is credited for building the first film production studio nearby his home and lab in west orange , new jersey in 1893 . it was called black maria , or the
doghouse
by edison himself . that is where he shot the short film the edison kinetoscopic record of a sneeze ( otherwise known as fred ott ' s sneeze ) in january 1894 , which became the first film to be registered for a copyright . two months later , edison ' s employee william k . l . dickson filmed carmencita , a spanish dancer and maybe the first woman to appear on film . in some places , her projection was not allowed to be shown due to it revealing her legs and undergarments as she twirled . perhaps the earliest case of film censorship .
as most photographers don´t really have the possibility to drop off the film themselves we will explain to you the 3 simple steps of how to send you film with the minimum hassle . let’s go !
ahhhhhhhh portra 400 . what is there not to love ? this film stock is one of the most used and most comprehensive films on the market when it comes to changing light situations . it is shot by nearly everyone from established well - known film photographers to film photographers who are new to the scene . this film stock is a staple to your film stash and frankly , there is not a single thing to not love about this film stock . portra 400 offers excellent colors ; is fast enough for the vast majority of purposes ; and is fine grained enough that the speed will rarely betray itself .
did you know the first woman to star in a film was a latina ? neither did i .
such a useful post this hamish . i’m sure it saved me from getting my first roll of film back as an undexposed ‘fail’ . should be mandatory reading for anyone shooting their first roll of film !
gathering all the inspiration from every meet we’ve had so far we couldn’t help to perfect the concept with our experiences and your valuable feedback . we are super happy to bring you a new concept for carmencita meets , and we couldn’t be in better company than with our old friends from brancoprata .
it’s here again ! a “ carmencita meets” in valencia , our home and our headquarters . after moving from l’alcúdia to the city and handling the overwhelming work we were so lucky to have this summer , we feel it’s time to hold a “ meets ” in this little corner in the mediterranean .
a growing source of silent era film information . this listing is from the progressive silent film list by carl bennett . copyright © 1999 - 2018 by carl bennett and the silent era company . all rights reserved .
i’ve known about colour film being forgiving towards over exposure for a while , but nine stops… . wow !
the work of muybridge , marey and le prince laid the groundwork for the development of motion picture cameras , projectors and transparent celluloid film - hence the development of cinema . american inventor george eastman , who had first manufactured photographic dry plates in 1878 , provided a more stable type of celluloid film with his concurrent developments in 1888 of sensitized paper roll photographic film ( instead of glass plates ) and a convenient
kodak
small box camera ( a still camera ) that used the roll film . he improved upon the paper roll film with another invention in 1889 - perforated celluloid ( synthetic plastic material coated with gelatin ) roll - film with photographic emulsion .
the motor - driven camera was designed to capture movement with a synchronized shutter and sprocket system ( dickson ' s unique invention ) that could move the film through the camera by an electric motor . the kinetograph used film which was 35mm wide and had sprocket holes to advance the film . the sprocket system would momentarily pause the film roll before the camera ' s shutter to create a photographic frame ( a still or photographic image ) .
carmencita film lab is a lab made by photographers for photographers . we created the place we would love to send our negatives to , not only for the quality but also for the human relationship and involvement during the process . we have all the ingredients in place and now all we need is for you to create amazing pictures . we want to be your local lab even if we are some kilometers away from your home .
welcome to our monthly selection of film work . warning , you may be exposed to fatal levels of inspiration .
blacksmith scene ( 1893 ) - 1st staged narrative in film - william k . l . dickson | william heise
we’ve found with this stock the preference is split ; those who have tried it either passionately love it or passionately hate it . however the general consensus tends to be that this is an excellent film stock for portraits . skin tones ( whether light skinned or dark skinned ) are soft and natural looking and the grain of the film is extremely fine . however those of us here at carmencita have found that the window is narrow on how much you can overexpose or underexpose it . if you expose it too much it lends to look much like
kodak made some noise a few years ago when it introduced a new version of the portra 400 film which replaced the nc ( “natural color” ) and vc ( “vivid color” ) versions in late 2010 . the new film incorporated a
carmencita rockefeller - princess of japan is being staged as a collaborative production with malmö opera and helsingborg city theatre , where it had its first performance in winter 2013 . in skåne too , the title role was played by anna - maria hallgarn , who made a special appearance here in the musicals grymt ! and guys and dolls .
the launch of h . m . s . albion ( 1898 ) - early disaster film - robert w . paul
in case you missed it , traveling light film is happening this year again ! we ' ve been very very close to the project and for us , we can say without a doubt this is the film event of the year .
today , few use reversal colour film , but if you buy one to try , don’t under any circumstances follow the comments in this blog . you will be surprised at how much just 1 stop of overexposure will ruin it . reversal film has a very limited exposure latitude , but a far wider dynamic range than negative film . unintentional overexposure was the bane of the reversal film user , and most would set their meters to 1 / 3 or 1 / 2 stop faster iso setting to give a corresponding degree of underexposure . this is one area where digital sensors and film behave almost the same .
merely watches but soon demonstrates her natural inherited talents as a matador . through this nostalgic transitioning , the film achieves something faintly
the kiss ( 1896 ) ( aka the may irwin kiss ) was the first film ever made of a couple kissing in cinematic history . may irwin and john rice re - enacted a lingering kiss for thomas edison ' s film camera in this 20 - second long short , from their 1895 broadway stage play - musical the widow jones . it became the most popular film produced that year by edison ' s film company ( it was filmed at edison ' s black maria studio , in west orange , nj ) , but was also notorious as the first film to be criticized as scandalous and bringing demands for censorship .
in the 1970s , a hairdresser from malmö thoroughly took in south swedish society by putting herself forward as carmencita rockefeller – diplomat , cancer research scientist , member of the famous american oil and banking dynasty , and grandchild of the japanese emperor . the deceit was staged with the help of her spouse who posed as her brother and said he was a cia agent .
what’s important here is that once again there are options . whichever path suits you best will come down to your own experimentation . try having a conversation with a company like uk film lab , try using the carmencita ordering system , and try using someone like ag to get your scans back as tiff files so you can process them a bit if you feel the need . it’s your photography , you have to make it work for you in a way that feels most comfortable to you !
monkeyshines , no . 1 ( 1890 ) - 1st usa film - william k . l . dickson | heise | thomas edison
as a film photographer , we feel it’s good to know the ins and outs of your craft and the tools and techniques available to you . that being said , don’t get cray - cray , good light is worth it’s weight in gold ( or in this case film ) and it will render incredibly in almost all film stocks . this doesn’t mean that because you choose one film stock over another all your images will be great . it is highly dependent on the quality of light you have to work with .
presumably , the first woman ever to appear in a kinetoscope film and possibly the first woman to take part in a motion picture in the united states , the spaniard dancer , carmencita , performs her appealing high - kick dance in front of the camera of william k . l . dickson and william heise , for thomas edison . in this segment of her new york music - hall act , she spins and twirls , exhibiting an admirable talent , a fashionable dress , and a really charming smile .
in 1889 or 1890 , dickson filmed his first experimental kinetoscope trial or test film , monkeyshines no . 1 ( 1889 / 1890 ) , the only surviving film from the cylinder kinetoscope , and apparently the first motion picture ever produced on photographic film in the united states . it featured the movement of laboratory assistant sacco albanese , filmed with a system using tiny images that rotated around the cylinder .
back in the “olden days” each box of film came with a little sunny 16 guide in pictures inside when you ripped it open .
the 1st woman to appear in front of an edison motion picture camera and possibly the 1st woman to appear in a motion picture within the united states . in the film , carmencita is recorded going through a routine she had been performing at koster & bial ' s in new york since february 1890 . urltoken change before going productions : urltoken urltoken urltoken urltoken urltoken more classic silent films added to the channel daily . we hope you enjoy these movies and cartoons from early cinema , some of which contain new musical scores !
presumably , the first woman ever to appear in a kinetoscope film and possibly the first woman to take part in a motion picture in the united states , the spaniard dancer , carmencita , performs her appealing high - kick dance in front of the camera of william k . l . dickson and william heise , for thomas edison . in this segment of her new york music - hall act , she spins and twirls , exhibiting an admirable talent , a fashionable dress , and a really charming smile . written by nick riganas
this is perhaps the second most important step . there are many ways to pack you film , some of them are terribly right and some are terribly wrong . we’ve build a small guide on how to pack your film in a manner approved by our logistic experts with 50 years of experience .
well done , hamish , writing up what many of us have started to suspect : film latitude gives yer , erm , shed loads of latitude .
if i want to overexpose , should i alter the iso say from 400 to 200 in the camera and then tell the lab that i’ve pulled the film . if not should i keep the film at 400 and adjust the exposure manually with the shutter speed to get the equivalent 1 stop ? thanks nick
hi there everyone ! in our continuing effort to bring film photography education to everyone in the world we came up with a bunch of new strategies . one of the many ideas that came to mind was creating a repository of images associated with a couple of the more used currently available film stocks . needless to…
survival status : print exists in the library of congress film archive ( gordon hendricks collection ) [ 35mm preservation positive , 35mm viewing positive ( fec 8116 ) ] .
i had a minolta and we would put this in the back of the film door as a guide to refer to easily . here is a good one … .
carmencita morena , with semi - fresh management , who had been working steady at the 23rd street concert hall and had been traveling around the country all decade , stopped by the edison lab’s in new jersey to immortalize herself . she’s an old maid here at 26 . by the end of the year , she will have sold her possessions and moved to london , to showcase her spanish - style dancing to the english patrons over there . she died in 1910 at age 42 .
the manner in which the film dynamically sways between life and death may initially intimidate or disorient some viewers , primarily because many of the catastrophic incidents feel like they ' re falling through a psychological sieve ; likely to reduce running time , much of the film ' s first half briskly transitions from one estate and one mood to the next .
in march 1897 , james corbett and bob fitzsimmons boxed one another in carson city , nevada . it was watched live by thousands of fans , but it was soon going to be seen by many more . encoh rector had filmed it on 11 , 000 feet of film and , two months later , the film premiered in new york . with a run time of over hundred minutes , the corbett - fitzsimmons fight was the the first documentary and feature film ever . it would eventually be shown in ten different cities over an eleven month period . now , prizefighting was illegal in every state in the country besides nevada at the time , but it wasn ' t necessarily illegal to show prizefighting , hence , the popularity of the film . in response to this new technology circumventing the rules , seven states ( including new york ) all passed a law fining those who showed the film . while most of the fines were ignored , this was one of the first instances of governing bodies monitoring what people watched on film .
thanks for taking the time out to write that terry . i did quite a lot of film development but haven’t for around three years just because of really not being inspired .
they say an image is worth a thousand words and we couldn’t agree more . that’s why we love to showcase the most interesting images we see at the lab every month in our best of . so everyone can see what’s being done with film photography today and we can perhaps turn our little spotlight on many amazing film photographers that are not always featured online .
what’s important in this process is having a good idea of the scale of the room for error . the size of the room for error is – at least for the sake of this post – determined by the exposure latitude of the film and the capability and quality of the scanner used to scan the negatives . as mentioned i use portra 400 film . alongside the use of this film i use a commercial noritsu scanner . up until recently i was outsourcing my scanning , though since i’ve just bought a noritsu of my own , i shall soon be scanning my own negatives . that said , regardless of by whom and where my negatives are scanned , through experimentation i have found the limitations of the scanner and film .
i tried a roll of tri - x once stand developed in rodinal and it came out awful ! i’d love to use it as people rave about both the film and the developer but that experience put me off sadly . i had some great results with neopan but it’s expensive and i found the ilford film easier to load onto the reels for some reason .
father , antonio , towards the climax that is simply a summary of scenes that are presented in the film some fifty minutes prior . this device is used to craft a stronger sentimental tie rather than devoting screen time to character development for the film ' s sizable cast . in the abundance of visual embellishments , the music instead carries the journey from revelry to catharsis .
colour negative film is so forgiving of exposure , but unlike b / w film , is not amenable to some correction at the development stage , so it is indeed fortunate that it can be abused , so long as one errs on the side of overexposure . but if one wants colour accuracy and the greatest tonal range , it is best not to overdo it .
ultimately , some negative film has lot of overexposure latitude , you’ll either be well aware of this and be in on the trick , or you won’t . if you’re not , you really must give this sort of experimentation a go . it will help you understand the properties of negative film better , open up some creative possibilities and methods of shooting that give a sense of freedom like little other . but more than anything else – as it has in me – it should help you find a path to consistently better results in your negative film photography .
the beauty of all this is that unlike most of my posts where i’m extolling the virtues of x - camera or y - lens – or something else that can involve considerable investment on your part – in this case the only investment i’m recommending is in film and time . you don’t even need to change the film you shoot , or even the scanner you use .
hmm , yes , i can see why you’d get scratched negatives , but i bet the beach shots of the family on holiday at the seaside looked great . under - exposure and push processing to compensate does lead to an increase in grain and contrast , and the visual impact has a lot to do with a particular film’s latitude to such treatment . i suspect it was the double whammy of added grain and contrast that you found objectionable . in my own experience i found that the problem was greater with slow to medium speed films than it was with my choice of fast film , tri - x , and i put this down to a number of reasons . generally speaking , the slower the film speed , the more contrast a film has and a film like panatomic x , for example , needs processing very carefully to avoid excessive contrast , and so it responds badly to push processing . by comparison tri - x , with its large grain structure , can handle push processing better .
as of yet , there isn’t a film we’ve met that we haven’t loved and portra’s line is no different . between portra 160 , portra 400 , and portra 800 you have a variety of options for different looks and lighting conditions . each film stock from portra’s line is versatile , unique in its own way , and compliments each other . if you’ve not tried one ( or any ! ) from the portra line
according to the internet movie database the film was made in a 35 mm format with an aspect ratio of 1 . 33 : 1 . the movie was intended to be displayed through means of a kinetoscope .
in 1909 , new york city , by order of mayor george b . mcclellan , closed 550 theaters because the police chief claimed that
most movie material was reprehensible .
in response to this , the national board of censorship was formed as
the first formal attempt by the film industry to ward off legal film censorship through quasi self - regulation .
for a small fee , the board would recommend cuts .
the film was produced by the edison manufacturing company , which had begun making films in 1890 under the direction of one of the earliest pioneers to film william k . l . dickson . it was filmed entirely within the black maria studio at west orange , new jersey , in the usa , which is widely referred to as
america ' s first movie studio
. it was filmed on september 7 , 1894 .
a few notable cases threatened this status quo . the mppda would not approve howard hughes ' film the outlaw because it was deemed that there were too many shots that emphasized jane russell ' s bosom . hughes was insistent that the film and russell ' s chest needed to be seen , so in 1946 ( five years after the film was shot ) , he signed a distribution deal with a non - mpaa signatory ( name changed to motion picture association of america in 1945 ) , united artist ( a studio originally founded by actors charlie chaplin , mary pickford , and douglas fairbanks ) . this began to erode the mpaa ' s power .
like the sioux appearance in
buffalo dance
, it probably gave americans a brief glimpse of foreign customs ( here it ' s spanish dancing ) ; it was also one of the earliest appearances of a woman on film .
first i want to share two interesting facts about my negative film photography . the first is that in the last year i have used a light meter less than i have before . the second is that in the last year i have taken fewer accidentally underexposed film photos than i have ever before – in fact 9 rolls out of 10 i don’t get a single murky underexposed frame on a roll at all , and when i do , it’s not unexpected .
very good and interesting article . here is some of my thoughts on exposures : in other blogs i have read that film manufactures list the iso for mimum light , thus over exposing may be a consideration . one of the issues folks may not realize is our older film cameras are spring and gear operated , over time the shutter speed can be off by a large margin . also leaving the shutter cocked will lessen the tension ability of those springs . all that to say , have a cla on the film camera , make sure the shutter speeds are as they indicate on the dial . if we do not know if the shutter is accurate , we will not be working with true values .
so you can see just how flexible this film is in low light situations . the portra line has not only made some incredible improvements in technology , but additionally the color palette has made this series popular for portraiture and editorial work .
portra 800 has a higher saturation and it’s slightly grainier than its counterparts , but it kicks butt when it comes to tough lighting conditions and bright colors . the colors in portra 800 have a wonderful intensity and the blacks are very rich . it is ideal in capturing vivid colors and renders skin tones so creamy that this film stock will just melt like butter on your screen . many photographers love this film stock , with its only downside being the cost of it .
uk film labs have a couple of useful blogs about overexposure with numerous examples at different + / - ev values from portra 160 , 400 and 800 , fuji 400h and tri - x 400 . this link shows the various posts urltoken
but why follow my path ? i’ve chosen the path i have as i just happen to like what overexposed porta 400 looks like when it’s noritsu scanned specifically by ag . you might not . that being the case , you just need to experiment with the film / films that you do like . try overexposing . shoot a film a different levels of under and overexposure and see what results come back when you either send your scans off or try and scan them yourselves .
in the early 1890s , edison and dickson also devised a prototype sound - film system called the kinetophonograph or kinetophone - a precursor of the 1891 kinetoscope with a cylinder - playing phonograph ( and connected earphone tubes ) to provide the unsynchronized sound . the projector was connected to the phonograph with a pulley system , but it didn ' t work very well and was difficult to synchronize . it was formally introduced in 1895 , but soon proved to be unsuccessful since competitive , better synchronized devices were also beginning to appear at the time . the first known ( and only surviving ) film with live - recorded sound made to test the kinetophone was the 17 - second dickson experimental sound film ( 1894 - 1895 ) .
the sound has been found in the form of an old edisonian recording cylinder . the cylinder was repaired , then walter murch ace mpse synced the film to the correct music in ( i believe ) 2002 . total running time is approximately 17 seconds .
backdrop of bullfighting , the film does have a tendency to feel like it ' s coasting as a series of expositions , as several characters are simply relegated to their black - and - white karmic alignments of the source material . the legendary bullfighter antonio
the interesting thing about negative film photography is that poor exposure doesn’t always result in a poor outcome . in fact , with some films , a touch of over exposure not only doesn’t do any harm , but it can actually help ensure good results .
imo , over - exposing unnecessarily is simply wasting the films ability to record fine detail and colour properly . used with caution and understanding , though , it avoids the pitfall of potential under - exposure in colour negative film , and which is worse .
let me know how you get on . it’s more grainy than portra , and more “fuji” , but its a nice film in my experience . kodak 400 ultra max is another one i keep meaning to try … i’m just suckered into portra now 🙂
hi hamish , thank you for the excellent advice . i shot two rolls of portra 400 metered at 200 and will see what happens . by the way , how would you overexpose pushed film , say hp5 400 to 1600 during daylight ? thanks !
just wanted to say thanks for this article . i’ve been overexposing my film now for a few months and i’m so pleased with the results i’m getting back from the lab . like other people who had commented i wish i’d have known this before .
great post . today i began to shoot my 2nd roll of film in the past 17 or so years in the aperture priority or almost auto exposure om - 10 . a couple of years ago i shot a roll in my yashica t - 4 , but still havent developed . todays roll really felt like my first roll during all this time . i was nervous even though it was aperture priority . maybe i had good reason to be as after 6 or 7 shots i heard a horrible sound when trying to advance the film . even my unschooled film ears knew what that meant . you have to be kidding , i thought to myself . ended up having to yank it , and when i later labelled the canister i named it ‘nightmare productions’ .
a 1915 united states supreme court landmark decision firmly established that censorship could be applied to film . mutual film corporation was a newsreel company that was getting annoyed by the fees and slow turn around time on what they could show and couldn ' t show . they insisted that film should be protected under the first amendment , freedom of speech , and should not be subjected to censorship . the supreme court disagreed . in mutual v . ohio industrial commission , chief justice edward white wrote ,
the exhibition of moving pictures is a business , pure and simple , originated and conducted for profit like other spectacles , and not to be regarded as part of the press of the country or as organs of public opinion within the meaning of freedom of speech and publication .
the formal introduction of the kinetograph in october of 1892 set the standard for theatrical motion picture cameras still used today . it used a film strip that was 1 1 / 2 inches wide . this established the basis for today ' s standard 35 mm commercial film gauge , occurring in 1897 . the 35 mm width with 4 perforations per frame became accepted as the international standard gauge in 1909 . however , moveable hand - cranked cameras soon became more popular , because the motor - driven cameras were heavy and bulky .
on top of all this , it’s fun , it’s easy , and not the least because the latitude for over and underexposure is remarkable . you can do everything with it . overexposing this film stock by two stops looks amazing ( bright and colorful ) and under exposing it a stop also looks good ( moody and contrasty ) . keep in mind , if you expose portra 400 more than two stops the film may be a little more yellow - ish than usual , so overexpose with care . this film stock also loves to be pushed . in fact , if you have to choose between using portra 800 and portra 400 in a setting we recommend using portra 400 , and pushing it if need be . it will just love it and in return we love it for it .
there is good reason for this too , it is in fact under exposure that is the main cause of slightly shitty looking murky results . aiming for some degree of overexposure is a great way to avoid that problem – especially when you’re new to film photography .
herself experiences as a young girl who then becomes a teenager in the film ' s latter sections ( eloquently transitioned through some clever editing ) . after escaping a near - deathly encounter with one of her stepmother ' s servant - henchmen in the darkly deep woods ,
the reason for this is quite simple . firstly the huge overexposure latitude of the film i chose to shoot gave me massive room for error . secondly , i know that any “mistakes” i make in exposure will be compensated for when the film is scanned . and thirdly , through experimentation , i now have the experience and understanding of the length , breadth and width of the room for error the combination of latitude and mistake - compensation the scanner gives me to know what i can get away with in what light . let me explain…
in the late 1880s , famed american inventor thomas alva edison ( 1847 - 1931 ) ( and his young british assistant william kennedy laurie dickson ( 1860 - 1935 ) ) in his laboratories in west orange , new jersey , borrowed from the earlier work of muybridge , marey , le prince and eastman . their goal was to construct a device for recording movement on film , and another device for viewing the film . dickson must be credited with most of the creative and innovative developments - edison only provided the research program and his laboratories for the revolutionary work .
regarding color film ( or colour if you prefer ) portra does seem to love “overexposure” , although i would say exposing for shadow detail is just proper technique ( since it is a negative film ) . pro labs always advised us against “gross overexposure” for two reasons : color - crossover and extended print times . the latter was mostly a production - speed issue as a “bullet - proof” negatives take much longer to print . since they were both density correcting as well as color correcting , gross overexposure could lead to some funky color crossover , especially in shadows .
, very bright , punchy , and with not so flattering skin tones . it also requires a well lit scene to shoot in . so if you’ve not tried this film stock and you see some sunny days in your forecast , we recommend picking some up to give it a try
marey ' s chronophotographs ( multiple exposures on single glass plates and on strips of sensitized paper - celluloid film - that passed automatically through a camera of his own design ) were revolutionary . he was soon able to achieve a frame rate of 30 images . further experimentation was conducted by french - born louis aime augustin le prince in 1888 . le prince used long rolls of paper covered with photographic emulsion for a camera that he devised and patented . two short fragments survive of his early motion picture film ( one of which was titled traffic crossing leeds bridge ) .
before i get into this , let me just point out that this article assumes you are shooting film and either digitally scanning your negatives or having them scanned by a lab . this is what i do , and it is within the scope of that practice that i am writing .
i ' m just imagining women saying ,
come on women can be on film , but still can ' t vote ? ! it ' s the year 1894 dammit !
kind of like how people say it ' s 2016 , therefore ( insert cause here ) . . .
i’ve been increasingly following your rule though . i’ve shot a lot of vista , since it’s so cheap for practicing with . but for the last few months i’ve treated it as iso 50 or iso 100 film rather than the 200 it’s advertised as . i’ve had much better results since .
last year , more than + 80 film photographers gathered on a 1930 ' s cinema to share , learn and unwind as big family within the unique surroundings that the north coast of the mediterranean provides . from japan to the us passing through europe , all under the same roof sharing our passion
there are a few possible solutions to the problem of having someone else scan your film . the first is as simple as having a good relationship with the company you use . talk to them , tell them your expectations and desires from your scans – some companies will be more accommodating to this than other . some companies actually offer it as a service . uk film lab and richard photo lab come to mind as two companies that offer a custom service that maps your desires to their process on an ongoing basis . there are many photographers that are quite vocal in their praise of such services .
the meets is something different , think of it as a gathering of photographers who love to share experiences and grow together , rather than learning master tricks # thisisnotaworkshop . only through sharing it’s possible to take european film photography further , plus we can’t wait to show you the little wonders of our city !
i might have to experiment with superia 400 to see how much overexposure that will take , as it’s cheaper than portra and in my experience , a bit less sensetive in terms of storage . i’ve had good results with it in my holga even on days that are really too sunny for 400 film .
the point i’m trying to make is that experimentation and finding what film and level of overexposure right for you is key . most would recommend as a general rule keeping it within about 3 - 4 stops of overexposure . i say they are probably right , but really , what harm is there in experimenting ?
portra 400 at box speed has a very natural and neutral look , but it can also look warm , bright , and saturated when it’s overexposed . this film also handles skin tones , as well as natural landscapes , beautifully and at a 400 iso it’s super handy in changing lighting conditions . portra 400 has a warmer palette , whereas fuji 400h has a much cooler palette . portra 400 tends to be more yellow and fuji 400h leans towards a more green color and turns its blues more turquoise . again , there is a lot of urban tales about how each film looks at the end , and the truth is that nowadays if you add retouching to any film stock you can make it look very different than what it naturally does . so , does that mean you’ll never see a warm picture shot on fuji ? nope , we just mean that the “warmth” might go a bit more towards the magenta tones than the yellow tones .
getting back to your delta100 / ilfosol combination , look at it this way , you have already carried out one piece of advice from victor blackman and you’ve discovered this doesn’t work for you when rating the film at 200 iso . so yes , try it at its nominal speed of 100 and see how that looks , and if you don’t like the result , then clearly this is not a film / developer combination that will ever work for you . ( but see below about choice of enlarger . ) every photographer has his / her own preferred combination of film / developer and their choice won’t necessarily be yours . in my case , especially for 120 and 5×4 it was ilford fp4 / aculux . when i wanted the faster speed of tri - x , from 35mm to 5×4 it was always d - 76 . aculux worked quite well with it , but i just loved the extra punch that came with d - 76 processing .
more than this though it allows – should you choose to embrace it – a very simple approach to shooting some types of negative film . my anecdotal tale of going up against a mates all - singling - all - dancing canon was not a one off . in fact more often than not over the last year i have abused the latitude of my film in this way . really – i’m almost ashamed to say – just because it makes life profoundly easier . in fact as i alluded to at the beginning of the post i’d go as far to say that i’ve become a little lazy ( more on that later ) .
we felt like killing two birds with one stone with this blog post , since besides the obvious interest in having a worker’s photography featured this particular set of photographs involved two not - so - common treats in the work we scan ; artificial lighting and the fact of a high - end fashion production being shot on film .
a pillar of our work philosophy has always been quality . when it comes to developing , scanning film and translating images into paper prints . printing means for us something that completes every image and we are truly passionate about it , not only offering top quality with the best ink jet printers but also a fast and responsive delivery .
disposable cameras don’t get enough love , so we thought we would take a moment to shine our spotlight on one of our favourite disposable cameras : ilford’s black and white single use cameras . ilford currently has two versions of these in either of their c - 41 black & white film ; the xp2 super , or the true black…
but to what degree is over exposure of negative film ok ? well , the answer to that question is as deep as it is long , and as such is way beyond my desire ( or knowledge ) to cover in its entirety . what i do want to talk about is my personal experiences of overexposure of film , how i’ve used that experience to completely remove the problem of accidental underexposure and murky unattractive photos . finally , i also want to make the point that i made it so easy for myself that it felt like cheating . so much so that i am now purposefully making it harder for myself – which ain’t a bad problem to have !
the practical implications of this are obvious . for a start , it puts an end to all that nonsense about the 1 / 1000 max shutter speed of a leica film camera being an issue . it also helps with compact and more basic cameras that have even slower maximum speeds . my voigtlander vito b has a top speed of 1 / 200 . but this isn’t limited to older film cameras . cameras like the konica hexar af for example only have top speeds of 1 / 250th . this is often stated as a disadvantage or limitation , but really – at least in terms of exposure – this can be solved with what i’m talking about in this post .
today , we’re going to talk about something that’s been on our radar for a while now ; the impossible project ! ( now rebranded as polaroid originals after the merge of both companies ) if you’ve not heard of it , the impossible project was founded in 2008 with one sole purpose ; to keep polaroid film alive . this came about…
our process is essentially manual and we spend on average 1h 42min in every film that comes into the lab , from reception to delivery . that’s why our processing time varies with the amount of rolls we are dealing with . the shortest standard delivery time is 5 business days . you can check all the delivery times at / prices .
incidentally , there is a great portrait photographer and latterly film director called anton corbijn… he has been saying for years that he never goes faster than 1 / 30 and he prefers 1 / 15 , in order to get movement , so he must have been doing what you are suggesting , just not explaining it in the same way .
( 2011 ) as an homage to early twentieth century silent cinema in the 1 . 33 : 1 aspect ratio , but it should instead be distinguished by its milieu , movements , and music more than any offhand associations to the success and trend of recent revival . the film also recalls the literary and theatrical realms of the grimm fairy tale ,
understanding when to push film is an incredible tool to have in your bag when you’re in low light situations or when you want a punchier look to your images . in our experience , kodak’s portra line handles pushing magnificently when shot in well - lit environments . so we’re going to break down the results of each when they’re pushed by your lab .


giuseppe chiara ( 1602 – 24 august 1685 ) was an italian jesuit missionary active in 17th century japan .

he entered japan at a time when christianity was strictly forbidden in an attempt to locate fellow priest cristóvão ferreira who had apostatized his christian faith at the hands of torture by the japanese authorities in 1633 .

chiara was also tortured and eventually became an apostate as well .

he later married a japanese woman , taking the name and samurai status of her late husband , okamoto san 'em on ( japanese : 岡本三右衛門 ) , and would live in japan until his death in 1685 .

giuseppe chiara

s . angelo minore , s . maria della misericordia , san giuseppe , santa chiara , san filippo
japan ' s historical records show that only two missionaries from italy had been held at the site , sidotti and giuseppe chiara .
you will receive an email ( no more than once per day ) summarizing any new mentions of giuseppe on nameberry . would you like to follow giuseppe ?
giuseppe chiara ' s last name was changed to okamoto , and he was given a japanese wife . we know that chiara remained at the “christian house” for 40 years until his death in 1685 . ( this fr . chiara is the model for fr . sebastian rodrigues in endo’s aforementioned novel silence ) .
among them was giuseppe chiara , a jesuit missionary who smuggled himself into japan in the 17th century . he lived in this compound for 40 years until his death in his 80s .
wzb - demographic development , social change , and social capital - prof . chiara saraceno
they were then allowed to live in japan under confinement , and given japanese names . giuseppe chiara ' s last name was changed to okamoto , and he was given a japanese wife .
“un comandamento inattuale ? ” , in : laras , giuseppe ; saraceno , chiara , onora il padre e la madre , bologna : il mulino 2010 , voci series , pp . 85 - 130 .
the name giuseppe is a boy ' s name of italian origin . giuseppe and is often added to lists like variations of joseph and discussed in our forums with posts like
build a sibling set together !
.
in june 1643 the second rubino group , consisting of the italian jesuits pedro márquez , alonso arroyo , francisco cassola , giuseppe chiara , and six companions , landed on ōshima in chikuzen and were immediately arrested .
giuseppe chiara was an italian priest who apostatized ( swore off christianity ) in 1643 . he later married a japanese woman , taking the name and samurai status of her late husband , okamoto san ' emon .
among its first occupants were four italian jesuits giuseppe chiara , pedro marquez , alfonso arroyo and francisco cassola who had infiltrated japan on a mission to find cristovao ferreira and convince him to return to the faith .
endo based his novel on historical documents , including a 17th - century diary written by a clerk in a residence in which apostate catholics , including giuseppe chiara , lived . this is especially important for the final chapter of the novel .
compri was surprised to learn that chiara was being honored as a martyr , and not remembered as an apostate .
cristóvão ferreira ( 1580 - 1650 ) , the former teacher whom rodrigues is seeking , was a historical figure who did , indeed , apostasize . the character of rodrigues was based on an italian priest , giuseppe chiara ( 1610 - 1685 ) .
dna analysis on a tooth showed it to be of italian extraction . at the time just two italians were in the country , sidotti and the jesuit missionary priest father giuseppe chiara . the latter was cremated after he died aged 84 so it could not be his skeleton .
the only other italian males known to have come to the kirishitan yashiki were the four missionaries mentioned above : giuseppe chiara , pedro marquez , alfonso arroyo and francisco cassola . the fate of three of the men is unknown , but we know that chiara remained at the kirishitan yashiki until he died at the age of 84 , and his body was cremated ( this scene is depicted in the 2016 movie silence where the main character - - based on giuseppe chiara - - is cremated in an upright sitting position in a wooden barrel - type container ) . the skeleton at the construction site was not cremated , and was of someone closer to sidotti ' s age when he died at the age of 46 .
chiara lived in remorse for renouncing his faith ,
said compri .
but i believe he never really gave it up .
chiara underwent many kinds of torture in captivity . while imprisoned , he was reunited with cristovao ferreira , his former mentor - turned - apostate .
last spring , compri visited chiara ' s hometown in sicily . a portrait of chiara he saw bore a caption that read ,
he worked as a missionary in japan , but was called to heaven when he was fatally stabbed in the neck with sharp bamboo sticks by the locals .
chiara was given a japanese wife and the name of sanemon okamoto , and confined in the christian compound in edo ( present - day tokyo ) .
keck , wolfgang and chiara saraceno ,
grandchildhood in germany and italy : an exploration
, in : leira , arnlaug and chiara saraceno ( eds . ) , childhood : changing contexts . comparative social research , vol . 25 , bingley , uk , emerald 2008 , pp . 135 - 166 .
we ' re excited that you have an opinion about the name giuseppe . to rate names on nameberry , please register for an account or log in to an existing account .
„introduction : intergenerational relations in families - a micro - macro perspective” , in : chiara saraceno ( hg . ) , families , ageing and social policy .
i thought about the inner dignity with which chiara lived into his old age , bearing up under the stigma of
korobi bateren
( fallen priest ) .
the story was based on the experiences of a real - life italian missionary , giuseppe chiara . in the book , he is called sebastiao rodriguez , and he is sent to japan to investigate claims that a senior priest there , father ferreira , has renounced his faith . what he finds is a small community of believers under intense pressure to cave .
officials then urged him to marry , or at least take a woman as his housekeeper . their intention was to take advantage of ferreira ' s psychological depression after his apostasy and , through this marriage , undercut his personality and self - esteem . the marriage helped cause adverse publicity , and the same strategy was later used against giuseppe chiara and his companions .
leira , arnlaug and chiara saraceno ( eds . ) , ¬ childhood : changing contexts . comparative social research , vol . 25 , bingley , uk , emerald 2008 .
rodrigues / chiara remained captive in japan . we do not know what he would have done if given his freedom . historical records attest that the chiara , who died forty years after his apostasy , declared himself always to be a christian , though a silent one , a hidden one . it is in his lowliness that he hears the voice of christ .
lubich , chiara ( 2012 )
paradise ’49 ,
claritas : journal of dialogue and culture : vol . 1 : no . 1 , article 3 . available at : urltoken
with m . olagnero and p . torrioni )
patterns of sociability in the enlarged eu
, in : jens alber , tony fahey and chiara saraceno ( eds . ) ,
as records show that chiara was cremated after his death at 84 , the unearthed remains are almost certain to be of sidotti , who was 47 when he died in 1714 , researchers said .
povertà e politiche contro la povertà in europa . le promesse e i limiti dell’agenda di lisbona
, in : annali della fondazione giuseppe di vittorio 2006 / , ediesse , roma , 2007 , pp . 79 - 102 .
there is an old memorial not far from the kirishitan - zaka . it has a pillar on the right side an old stone marker in the center with faint writing inscribed on it , and over the stone marker is a signboard erected by the local government with information which i have already written here . it mentions inoue masahige as well as giuseppe chiara and giovanni battista sidotti , and says that the place burned down in 1724 . there also a few other small stone memorials on the left .
a : yes , the novel is based on the life story of an italian figure called giuseppe chiara , who in the novel becomes the protagonist – the young portuguese jesuit rodrigues . rodrigues is sent to japan to help the local church and investigate reports that his mentor , the jesuit priest ferreira ( based on the historical figure of cristóvão ferreira ) has committed apostasy [ abandoned his faith ] – a fact which rodrigues finds impossible to believe . endō told me once that his inspirations for the novel were twofold :
chiara is the model for sebastiao rodrigues , a jesuit apostate in
chinmoku
( silence ) , a historical fiction by shusaku endo ( 1923 - 1996 ) . the novel has been made into a film of the same title by american director martin scorsese .
( with antonio schizzerotto ) , “dimensioni della disuguaglianza” , introduzione , in : andrea brandolini , chiara saraceno , antonio schizzerotto , dimensioni della disuguaglianza in italia : povertà , salute , abitazione , bologna : società editrice il mulino 2009 , pp . 9 - 35 .
patterns of family living in the enlarged eu
, in : jens alber , tony fahey and chiara saraceno ( eds . ) , handbook of quality of life in the enlarged european union , routledge , london , 2007 , pp . 47 - 72 .
the japanese writer shusaku endo wrote a best - selling novel based on the life of father chiara , silence , which is currently being turned into a film by director martin scorsese . it will star
spiderman
andrew garfield along with adam driver and liam neeson .
researchers from the national museum of nature and science pieced together the bone fragments and successfully extracted dna from a tooth . analysis revealed that the person was more than 170 centimeters tall , significantly taller than the 156 cm average height for a japanese man at that time . dna was found to match the genetic characteristics of modern italians . sidotti was reported to be 175 - 178 cm tall and he was one of only two italians held in the prison . the other , giuseppe chiara , was a much older man , 84 years old at time of death , and his remains were cremated .
the main character sebastiao rodrigues in the novel silence by shusaku endo was based on giuseppe chiara . in the novel rodrigues comes to japan in search of cristovao ferreira . the book has also been made into a japanese movie in 1971 , and more recently in 2016 directed by martin scorsese . the scorsese movie is well worth seeing . although it is based on a fictional work , it is faithful to historical details , including replicas of some of the fumi - e shown in the above photos . the story also features several real - life characters such as grand inquisitor inoue masashige and apostate missionary cristovao ferreira
( with marco albertini ) , „intergenerational contact and support : the long - term effects of marital instability in italy” , in : chiara saraceno ( hg . ) , families , ageing and social policy . intergenerational solidarity in european welfare states , elgar publishing , 2008 , pp . 194 - 216
we are here publishing a translation of chiara lubich’s talk about her mystical experiences that began in the summer of 1949 . 1 this talk was presented at oberiberg , switzerland , on the feast of st . paul , june 30 , 1961 . the article following this one , entitled “editorial essay : contextualizing ‘paradise ’49 , ’ ” is meant to place this talk in historical context and in the context of the development of lubich’s spirituality as well as to add explanatory comments about the text itself . here , we also present excerpts from the introduction to the original italian publication of this talk written by giuseppe m . zanghí , editor of nuova umanità .
endo ' s original novel , published in 1966 , is a work of historical fiction that draws upon the missionaries who came to 17th century japan during a time when japanese christians were being persecuted and priests were being hunted . that conflict features heavily in silence , which tells the story of two young priests , rodrigues and garrupe , who must hide from japanese authorities while spreading the word of god and searching the country for their mentor , ferreira . historically speaking , neither ferreira , rodrigues , nor garrupe existed , though the character of rodrigues is , in fact , based on the life of italian priest giuseppe chiara , who did missionary work in japan .
it’s no coincidence that endō wrote his novel in 1966 inspired by his country’s own history and the life of the italian jesuit giuseppe chiara , a generation removed from the sharp and forced end to japan’s own imperialist efforts . he’d converted to catholicism at age 10 for his mother and during wwii found himself a lonely practitioner of the religion of japan’s enemies—an outsider in his own country . later he moved to france seeking something closer to acceptance , only to find himself the target of european racism . his book , from this thornily conflicted japanese catholic perspective , reflects a much richer , and much more complicated interrogation into the collision of forces that converged upon and within japan , yielding universal questions from such a specific life .
in the film , ferreira challenges chiara / rodrigues :
don ' t you see that god remains silent while you ( and others ) suffer ?
after an excruciating struggle with his own conscience , he gives in to
fumi - e
- - the act of trampling on an image of christ or the virgin mary in renunciation of the christian faith .
they were later moved to the newly built kirishitan yashiki to live out their days in solitude . apparently they were the first missionaries to live there . nothing more is known of the fate of three of the men , but we know that chiara remained at the kirishitan yashiki until his death forty years later in 1685 . before he died , he stated that he was still a christian .
. the late afternoon procession , after the deposition in the cathedral , end in front of the church of san giuseppe , where the two images of our lady of sorrows and christ are brought before each other . in the evening , four hundred confraternity members , barefoot and hooded , from five confraternities form the religious procession that precedes the carriage bearing the veiled statue of the dead christ , in a ritual that has remained unchanged since the 16th . c .
francesco carraro had a truly visionary taste in art . polymathic in his interests — from italian glass and tiffany lamps to 20th - century works of art and modern furniture — carraro , with his wife chiara , focused their curiosity and connoisseurship on exceptional works of art and design . it was a decades - long creative journey that resulted in a deeply personal collection , one composed of only what he loved .
in 1950 , lino’s father , giuseppe saputo , and eldest brother , frank , immigrated to canada from their sicilian home . by moving to montréal , the family followed a well - established trend for italians immigrating to canada . two years later , lino came to join giuseppe and frank with his mother , maria , and five other siblings . at first , the 15 - year - old lino found the move difficult , and longed to return to sicily . however , by 1954 , his ambitions drove him to encourage his parents to return to cheese making , which had been the family business in sicily . he scraped together $ 500 in savings for equipment and a delivery bike to support his parents , who made cheese in a rented room in the delca cheese factory on rue de rouen . the business quickly benefited from steady demand from fellow italian immigrants , who longed for the products of home . by 1957 , the business expanded into a new factory in montréal’s saint - michel neighbourhood . the company further benefited from the increasing popularity of pizza during the 1960s , since it meant growing demand for mozzarella .
in order for apostasy to be genuine , it must be voluntary and not announced under duress . furthermore , father giuseppe chiara , the missionary priest on whom endo based father rodrigues , “died some forty years after his apostasy , stating that he was still a christian , ” as father william johnston notes in the preface to the new edition of silence . there is compelling , if inconclusive , textual evidence that ferreira likewise recovered his faith , ending his life “ courageously for christ . ” all of which underscores c . r . boxer’s important point , in the christian century in japan : 1549 - 1650 —namely , that “the majority , if not all of these spiritual outcasts , revoked their apostasy in the end and returned to the faith in the evening of their days . ” little wonder , then , that the catholic encyclopedia comments : “there is not in the whole history of the church a single people who can offer the admiration of the christian world annals as glorious , and a martyrology as lengthy , as those of the people of japan . ”
the course was supported by an unrestricted grant from bayer . the authors would like to thank qbgroup spa ( padua , italy ) for its organization and technical expertise in the setup of the course , and dr . selene mogavero ( primula multimedia srl , pisa , italy ) for help in drafting and revising the manuscript . the authors would also like to thank the following physicians for attending the course : albertini patrizia , avilia simona , barbar sofia , battisti laura , baudo francesco , boeri elio , bonetti elisa , brandolin barbara , caimi teresa maria , cantori isabella , carloni maria teresa , catalano alberto , ciabatta carlo , cimino ernesto , coluccia antonella , conca paolo , contino laura , coppola antonio , cultrera dorina , de gregorio angela , delios grazia , di gregorio patrizia , di perna caterina , dragani alfredo , ettore cosimo pietro , franchini massimo , gamba gabriella , giuffrida anna chiara , lapecorella mario , malcangi giuseppe , mancuso giacomo , margaglione maurizio , martinelli marco , mistretta claudia , molinari angelo claudio , mostarda giovanni , musso margaret , passeri walter , piseddu gavino , rivolta gianna franca , rodorigo giuseppina , rossetti gina , santoro rita , sartori maria teresa , sbrighi piero sandro , scarafile rita , scaraggi francesco antonio , schiavoni mario , siboni simona maria , spagnuolo pasquale , valeri federica , zanon ezio . their input and opinion were critical in generating the reported consensus .
the uk international center ( ukic ) leads internationalization efforts at the university of kentucky . the work of the ukic is supported by international advisory council , a group of globally - engaged faculty and administrators representing each of the university’s 16 colleges , plus other key academic units .
i truly believe that what universities are about : the production of knowledge - research and scholarship - cannot be contained by national borders . . . we are in a business that is by nature international .
- dr . sue roberts , associate provost for internationalization .
the story of fr . christovao ferreira , a character in the adapted movie silence by martin scorsese .
we thank fr . thomas onoda , a japanese priest of the society of saint pius x who provided us with this detailed life of father christovao ferreira . fr . onoda’s source is
the case of christovao ferreira
written by fr . walter cieslik , s . j and published in monumenta nipponica in 1974 .
christovão ferreira was born around the year 1580 , in the portuguese village of torres vedras in the archdiocese of lisbon .
ferreira entered the society of jesus in 1596 . after having done his two - year novitiate , he took his first vows at coimbra on december 25 , 1598 .
on april 4 , 1600 , 20 jesuits embarked at lisbon under the direction of fr . pedro de almeida . ferreira was one of the twenty , which include diogo carvalho , future missionary and martyr in japan . they reached goa successfully and on 1 may 1601 , those destined for china and japan sailed to macao .
in macao , the portuguese colonial center in east asia , the jesuits had the central seminary for missionaries destined to work in china and japan : the madre de deus college . ferreira continued his studies at macao . in 1608 he was ordained to the priesthood . on may 16 , 1609 , ferreira sailed for japan and reached nagasaki on 29 june . he was sent to the seminary at arima to learn the japanese language . he learned the language quickly , and already in 1614 , he understood the language well and his sermons in japanese were good .
in 1612 the local daimyo , arima harunobu , who had been one of the patrons of the mission , was banished from his domain and was condemned to death . so , in june 1612 , the seminary and most of the missionaries had to leave the region of arima and took refuge in nagasaki .
in the same year , ferreira was sent from nagasaki to kyoto , then the capital of japan , but in april or may 1612 the jesuits had to leave their residence , under pressure from the local authorities .
on christmas 1613 , the church in kyoto celebrated the liturgy peacefully , with the number of catholics living in the capital and its suburb which numbered 30 , 000 to 40 , 000 . but immediately after christmas , an edict of religious census was issued only for christians unexpectedly . on seeing this dangerous development , the faithful did the 40 - hours devotion , fasting , and other penances .
on february 12 , a government decree was issued ordering all priests , brothers and catechists to proceed to nagasaki and there await further instructions . some missionaries remained in the capital secretly . fr . balthasar de torres chose to remain in osaka , while fr . bento fernández and fr . ferreira stayed in kyoto .
the church and two cemetery chapels in kyoto were dismantled . 70 noble christians of kyoto and osaka were exiled to tsugaru on april 13 , while the nuns were told to go to nagasaki and thence into exile with the missionaries .
in october 1617 , fr . mattheus de couros was assigned as provincial . fr . ferreira , who had been asked to serve as his secretary , returned to nagasaki . fr . de couros , was handicapped by sickness , even at times completely paralyzed , so a great part of his work fell to his secretary . in december 1618 , fr . spinola , the province treasurer , was arrested , and ferreira had also to take over his work of treasurer .
in 1621 , the missionaries learned from the portuguese ambassador the reasons the shogun gave for the persecution . he imagined that catholic missionaries intend to rob him of his kingdom by the preaching of the gospel . this suspicion was constantly being attested by the protestant dutch . this was also supported by fabian , a former apostate jesuit brother , through his publication against the catholics .
a new nomination letter arrived from rome in 1621 , assigning fr . francisco pacheco as provincial . fr . ferreira replaced pacheco ' s mission at central japan . but on february 1625 , pacheco was arrested , and on june 20 , 1626 , he was burned at the stake along with eight other jesuits . fr . couros took over the administration of the province once again and recalled ferreira to act as his secretary until the death of couros in 1632 .
from 1627 to 1632 , ferreira compiled an account of the martyrdom of numerous christians in the region of takaku , and in the sulphur springs of unzen . he wrote a moving description of the torture suffered by the japanese jesuit antonio ishida and his companions , who despite inhuman torments could not be persuaded to apostatize . this was ferreira ' s last report on the martyrdoms .
after fr couros ' s death in 1632 , without the nomination of a successor , sebastião vieira , as the senior professed jesuit in japan , took over the administration of the province until his arrest in 1633 . following that , ferreira succeeded the post as locum tenens exercising authority until a new appointment of provincial .
one of the most violent phase of japan history against catholics took place from march 1633 to august 1634 , especially in nagasaki . the government started a systematic search for priests and faithful together with a new kind of torture , the “ ana - tsurushi , ” the pit . here is an account from a 1633 letter dispatched by a jesuit in the philippines .
they dug a pit some feet deep , and above it they erected a frame from which the body was hung up by the feet . to prevent the blood flowing into the head and causing death too quickly , they tied the body tightly with ropes and cords . the hands were tied behind the back , and the prisoner was lowered into the pit down to his belt or navel or even down to his knees and legs . the pit was then closed by two boards which were cut in such wise that they surrounded the body in the middle and let no light enter . in this fashion , they kept the man hanging upside down without food , poised between life and death and in doubt about the outcome , until the slowly rising blood pressure brought about complete exhaustion , or else hunger entirely sapped his physical strength . or until , worn out by the torment , loneliness and solitude , he finally succumbed to this deadly torture and renounced his faith while there was still life left in him . ”
this torture rendered clear thinking and genuine moral decision quite impossible within a short time . the officials were anxious to exert the maximum psychological effect on the christian faithful by publicizing the cases of these apostate priests .
both psychological and moral pressure was added to the physical torments , and , especially when dealing with women and girls , the officials strove to break the prisoners ' self - respect and reduce them to moral wrecks . apostate priests were then forced to live with women , usually widows of executed criminals .
the list of the priests and religious who died in the pit is long and impressive , with the japanese jesuit nicolas keian fukunaga was the first victim of this new torture . he suffered for three days before dying on july 1633 . during the two following months , 36 priests , religious , and lay people were martyred in the pit and gave their life to christ .
on october 18 , another outstanding group of arrested priests and religious were led to the pit at nishizaka , nagasaki , where the 26 martyrs had offered their lives by crucifixion in 1597 . the band included fr . ferreira , superior of the jesuit mission ; antonio de souza , the superior of the dominican friars ; julian nakaura , japanese jesuit priest ; the japanese brothers pedro and matteo , who had entered the society of jesus while lying in prison ; and francisco , who had become a dominican friar in the same circumstances . all seven died as martyrs except for ferreira .
after hanging in the pit for five painful hours , christovão ferreira gave in . he was pulled out of the pit and released from his bonds amid the exulting shouts of his persecutors , and the bitter tears of his own brethren . he was 53 years old at the time and had spent 37 years as a jesuit .
the disturbing news of ferreira ' s fall from grace arrived in macao . the jesuit visitor palmeiro and other jesuits in macao started to offer special prayers and penances for the conversion of their fallen brother . palmeiro died on 1635 , because of the many fasts and scourgings he undertook after receiving the news about fr . ferreira . most of the jesuits in macao wanted to go to japan and were ready to give their lives for ferreira so that he might reach the heights of martyrdom . ferreira was dismissed from the society of jesus on 1636 .
ferreira ' s apostasy under torture was the greatest success of japan’s anti - christian policy . apostatized priests served as living proof of the alleged evil of the forbidden religion . the government took advantage of this golden opportunity .
soon after his apostasy ferreira appears to have been summoned to edo ( today ' s tokyo ) for a short time and then returned to nagasaki , where he spent the rest of his life .
it seems that both ferreira and the woman , who was supposedly the japanese widow of a chinese merchant , objected to the plan initially , but the portuguese merchants who visited him in 1635 found the woman in his house . according to trustworthy testimony , ferreira never had any intercourse with the woman to whom he was married and he testified that he kept her only to help around the house .
ferreira never persecuted christians in any way , nor participated in other religious ceremony in any way . the city governor ordered a small house to be put at his disposal , where he could recover from the effects of torture . the house in which he lived was very poor and small .
the king of japan will give you nothing , for you have apostatized out of pure weakness ; and so far you have rendered no service , since you have betrayed neither the fathers nor the christians .
he was known as sawano chūan , wore japanese dress , lived in the japanese way , and received from the government a small annuity for his living expenses . as a japanese citizen he was obliged to belong to a family temple .
it is also sometimes asserted that ferreira was the inventor of efumi , the treading on sacred pictures as a sign of rejecting christianity . but this practice was not introduced by ferreira , for it was most certainly in use before his apostasy .
the portuguese and chinese merchants who had met ferreira in nagasaki reported that he regretted his apostasy , preserved the faith in his heart , secretly carried a rosary , recited the gospel over sick people , and never betrayed the hiding places of the persecuted missionaries and christians .
there were three specific attempts to contact ferreira and persuade him to renounce his apostasy . the first attempt was made by the italian jesuit marcello mastrilli ( 1603 - 1637 ) .
on october 18 , 1633 , after hanging in the pit for five painful hours , christovão ferreira denied his god . that same year , far away from asia and japan , when taking out the splendid decorations for the feast of the immaculate conception at naples , a heavy beam chanced to fall upon the head of a jesuit priest , fr . marcello mastrilli , then 30 years old . his father , the marquis san marzano , was a noble of nola , and his mother , a caracciolo , was also of the most illustrious italian blood . this intelligent , virtuous , pious priest , was carried away bleeding and unconscious . brain - fever and delirium succeeded . the doctor declared that his recovery was impossible . the provincial , father de sangro , came to visit and bid him farewell . fr mastrilli was then anointed . on this evening he heard a voice calling to him :
marcello ! marcello !
he saw st . francis xavier in a pilgrim ' s dress , radiant and beautiful , saying :
you are cured . kiss the wounds of your crucifix in thanksgiving ,
bidding him at the same time apply the relic of the true cross to his neck , and consecrate himself entirely to his lord , who had stained that cross with his blood , and beg the grace to shed the last drop of his own blood for his name .
the saint then disappeared , and father mastrilli found himself cured . he got up , went to inform his superior of the event , and said mass next morning in thanksgiving without pain .
when the terrible news of fr . ferreira ' s apostasy reached europe , mastrilli , inspired by the intercession of st . francis , petitioned to be sent to japan . when he went for permission the general replied :
you need scarcely ask me for leave when st . francis himself has given it to you .
fr . mastrilli hastened on to macao and manila , and finally reached satsuma in japan . the few timid christians from manila who had been examined by japanese officers , soon betrayed his coming . after a brief search , mastrilli was found praying in a thicket with his arms in the form of a cross , and much weakened by hunger . he said to them gently :
come , my children , and take me .
they then approached and bound his hands . gagged and chained hand and foot on horseback , fr . mastrilli , was carried through nagasaki , and plunged into the pit . there he remained alive for three days . the governor finding that after repeated inspections that fr . mastrilli was still living and refusing to apostatize , ordered him to be beheaded .
at the third stroke of the blade , when his head fell , the air was darkened and the earth shook , and rocked to and fro , so that all the spectators were appalled . they hacked his body to pieces , burnt and crushed it into dust , which they cast into the air and into the river , so that not a relic might remain .
fr . mastrilli ' s apostolate in japan was only to suffer and shed his blood , without preaching sermons , without baptizing converts , and without even offering masses in japan . but 16 years later , his sacrifice and that of other martyrs will obtained graces for japan ' s persecuted catholics .
the second attempt was made by the japanese jesuit blessed pedro kibe ( kasui ) .
pedro kibe walked to rome from goa , india , to become a jesuit . while at roman college in rome , he witnessed the death of his classmate st . john berchmans and that of st . robert bellarmine . he participated in rome in the canonizations of st . ignatius loyola and of st . francis xavier . with his superior’s permission , he left for japan in 1623 to save the souls of his countrymen . when he arrived at japan , he was already 43 year old . he worked in nagasaki at first , then kyoto , and sendai until being arrested .
condemned to death in the pit at edo in july 1639 , kibe addressed a fervent speech to ferreira on meeting with him in edo and admonished him to repent .
kibe endured the pit torture with two other jesuits : giovanni battista porro and martinho shikimi , who apostatized . the japanese official records read :
kibe pedro did not renounce . ” because he did not renounce the faith , he was beheaded .
in 1638 , after working in the indian mission , fr . antonio rubino was sent to macao at his own request and was nominated visitor in october 1639 . in 1642 , rubino set out to japan with a large group of missionaries , consisting of nine priests , one brother , and several catechists .
the expedition was divided into two groups in order to keep discretion . rubio left for japan with four priests on 1642 , while the second group , under the leadership of pedro márquez , set out in 1643 .
in august , rubino and his companions ' ship reached japan and they were immediately apprehended and brought to nagasaki . there they were closely interrogated , and then led to the prison at ōmura . on march 1643 , they were condemned to the pit torture and died . three of them , who survived the torment for nine days , were pulled out of the pit and beheaded .
rubino had composed an appeal to ferreira in latin and intended to send it to him upon his arrival in japan .
are you that christopher who , forgetting parents , relatives and friends , and despising the things of this world , took the vows of poverty , chastity , and obedience before the provincial , fr . christovão gouvea , in the college of coimbra on the feast of the blessed proto - martyr stephen in the year 1598 ? have you followed in the footsteps of such a great martyr only to deny christ , for whom that saint was stoned to death ?
are you that christopher who joyfully pronounced the four solemn vows before the provincial , fr . mattheus de couros , on october 1 , 1617 at nagasaki ? should you not have preserved this loyalty which was vowed to god and the society in the presence of so many witnesses ? should you not have remembered what we have so solemnly promised and to whom ?
are you that christopher to whom our society committed with great confidence the leadership of the whole japanese province and the duties of bishop on december 23 , 1632 ? have you administered it only that you may turn your back on christ and his order ? what a terrible change ! how you have degraded yourself ! i perish with tears and sighs when i think on this . ”
in nagasaki , marquez was subjected to water torture . there were several types of water torture in use including forcing the victim to swallow great amounts of water with a funnel and then beating his belly with bamboo rods . marquez managed to survive this torture .
by order of the government , all four priests were sent to edo on july 27 for inquisition . the prisoners reached edo on august 27 . there they were frequently questioned by the supreme court and even by the shogun , iemitsu , himself . ferreira was present as an interpreter at the trial . he was ordered to go to edo from nagasaki to be the interpreter for these proceedings .
the priests were condemned to the torture of the pit , where , according to the report of the inquisitor , they all apostatized . they were then allowed to live in japan under confinement in a “christian house” and given japanese names . ( the location of this infamous “christian house” ( kirishitan yashiki ) is near the sspx mass center in tokyo . )
though they had apostatized from the christian faith , yet declared publicly to the interpreters that they did not freely apostatize ; but the insufferable torments which had been inflicted upon them , had forced them to it . the council asked them at large concerning their opinions , and the power of god ; on which one answered faintly , but the rest were much more resolute .
the japan council not well experienced in the romish religion , wanted questions to ask them , and therefore called for syovan [ ferreira ] , the apostate priest , who was there ready for that purpose . so soon as he saw the jesuits , he looked very fiercely upon them , notwithstanding he had formerly been one of their order . ”
then follow reproaches to the missionaries for misleading the japanese people with their religion , accusations of bringing them under the spanish empire and of provoking the deaths of thousands of japanese . then , after a long theological discourse about the idols of the pagans and buddhism , montanus closes his account of the interrogation as follows :
to these blasphemous discourses the wisest of the jesuits said notwithstanding these words come from syovan , yet they ought to be reproved ; and i tell you , that we believe , that without god’s permission none can hurt one hair of our heads , neither is there salvation for the immortal soul without god ; and to forsake him , either for worldly ends , or cruel torments , must upon necessity be a great sin : meanwhile god denies not mercy to those , that in the last hour beg it , if they are penitent , and depend on their savior jesus christ .
it seemed as if the jesuit would have said more , but that the councellors sackay sammoccysama , and matsodairo ysosamma gave a sign that the four jesuits should be led from thence . afterwards the dutch heard that two of the jesuits had retracted their apostasy and had refused to join a buddhist sect . ”
in 1652 , news about ferreira reached the outside world . it was said that he had recanted and had been condemned to death in the pit as a result . fr . joseph franz schütte , s . j . ( 1906 - 1981 ) made a critical investigation about ferreira’s martyrdom using original european documents preserved in rome . he is inclined to believe that the substance the reports are trustworthy and he summarizes the various accounts of fr . ferreira’s death as follows :
fr . ferreira was already more than 80 years old , and for years had been confined to bed by sickness and weakness . a great change took place in his soul and his deed now appeared to him in a completely different light . he abhorred his action as a cowardly betrayal of god and expressed his inner convictions in a loud voice . his neighbors heard him talking and finally informed the soldiers of the governor . they visited the house of the sick tsūya and asked him the reason for his grief . the father explained to them with all frankness and firmness his sorrow and his inner conversion . the soldiers joked and made fun of him , saying that he was out of his mind , but he contradicted them firmly . on the contrary , he showed himself ready to die for his faith .
the soldiers then reported this to the governor , who hesitated for a while but , after he had ascertained the facts , condemned christovão to death in the pit . the sentence , however , was to be carried out in all secrecy so as to avoid causing excitement in the city . the soldiers returned to ferreira ' s house , and seeing that he remained constant in his intention , they dragged him off to the torture of the pit . however , they were not able to prevent many japanese , both christian and non - christian , as well as non - christian chinese , from attending the martyrdom . the soldiers bound ferreira and hanged him head downward into the pit . with this torture ferreira ended his life courageously for christ . ”
some scholars consider this second - hand account optimistic and remark that the martyrdom of fr . ferreira is reported neither in the dutch sources nor in the japanese records , although his name can be found in the death registers of the zen temples in nagasaki . this silence is not proof against martyrdom . the government would never have recognized a retraction of his apostasy and might well have tried to cover the matter up .
regardless of how fr . ferreira chose to leave the world , what should be central to this recollection are the heroic attempts of his fellow jesuits to save his soul when news of his apostasy spread throughout east asia and western europe . not content to see anyone lost , ferreira’s compatriots sought him as the lost sheep in the hopes of bringing him yet again into christ’s fold . although many japanese catholics and missionaries succumbed to apostasy after enduring unimaginable tortures , many more persevered in the faith through the prayers and sacrifices of fellow catholics . may their heroic witness , and the prayers they now offer before the throne of christ in heaven , sustain us today and preserve us from all temptations to renounce our lord .
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vox populi , vox dei is a daily column that runs on page 1 of the asahi shimbun .
a stone monument , so inconspicuous that passers - by can easily miss it , stands in a residential neighborhood of tokyo ' s bunkyo ward . its inscription reads :
kirishitan yashiki ato
( site of christian compound ) .
back when christianity was anathema to the tokugawa shogunate ( 1603 - 1867 ) , foreign catholic missionaries who renounced their faith under torture were brought to this compound to live in confinement .
i saw the movie recently . i gasped at the scenes of brutal torture of missionaries and believers .
his gravestone stands in a corner of a catholic church in chofu , a city in the west of the tokyo metropolis .
there is a small museum nearby run by gaetano compri , 86 , a salesian who came to japan more than 60 years ago .
vox populi , vox dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics , including culture , arts and social trends and developments . written by veteran asahi shimbun writers , the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary japan and its culture .
this page takes a closer look at wasabi ( japanese horseradish ) , a condiment originating in japan that has influenced food culture around the world .
the page features videos of variety of animals . you can view the videos as interactive images that allows you to pan and zoom in to them .
the asahi shimbun has recorded the entire picture of the tsukiji fish market before its relocation to the toyosu district , and also introduces a variety of sushi .
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shusaku endo’s masterpiece , the film adaptation of which will soon be in theaters , can be by turns profoundly moving , disturbing , and challenging . here are some points to bear in mind while reading the novel .
in a few weeks , martin scorsese’s long - awaited adaptation of the novel silence will go into wide release . scorsese’s interest in the story of 17th - century jesuit missionaries in japan goes back decades , and the questions it raises for him are spiritual ones : “endo’s novel confronts the mystery of christian faith , and by extension the mystery of faith itself , ” scorsese wrote in an essay contributed to a volume of silence criticism . trailers hint at a compelling film , and it will undoubtedly inspire many to tackle shusaku endo’s novel for the first time . what will they find ?
silence is the story of a young portuguese priest named sebastian rodrigues who travels to japan from macao to confirm the impossible news that his mentor , father christovao ferreira , has apostasized .
rodrigues arrives in japan , his trusting faith nourished by the memory of a treasured face of christ , full of “vigor and strength , ” an image that expresses the certainty of god’s presence in his mission .
but events quickly turn . rodrigues is disturbed by the simplistic faith he finds among peasant converts and stunned by the brutality of suffering they endure when discovered by their persecutors . as he attempts to make his way to nagasaki , avoiding the authorities , alternately guided and betrayed by a judas - like figure named kichijiro , his questions mount , and where once he had found certainty , he increasingly hears only silence .
god’s silence continues when rodrigues is captured . he can hear nothing but his own crashing spirit and the cries of his suffering fellow prisoners , cries he is assured he can bring a stop to by a simple external act , one that he discovers beyond doubt his mentor had , indeed taken : he can apostasize by trampling on a fumie , an image of christ , no longer serenely triumphant , but “ugly…worn down and hollow . ”
silence is not lengthy , but it is intense , sometimes disturbing , and coursing with painful mysteries , powerful questions , and paradox . i’ve taught this novel in high school theology classes and led adult education sessions on it , so i know both how fruitful the book is as a source for discussion but also how challenging it is not to interpret it in a reductionist way , in one direction or the other . so i’m offering a few suggestions to help new readers out .