Record of the International Symposium:
Photography in Bakumatsu Japan
Panelists“Photography in the Final Two Decades of the Edo Period”

Takahashi Hidenori
Professor, Nihon University College of Art“Yokosuka Shashin: Émile de Montgolfier in Japan (1866-1873)”

Christian PolakGuest Professor, Meiji University, School of Political Science and Economics“Under Eagle Eyes: Photographs from the Prussian Expedition to Japan, 1860-61”

Sebastian Dobson
Independent Scholar“Shimizu Tokoku and the Japanese carte-de-visite: Redefining Yokohama Photography”

Luke Gartlan

Senior Lecturer, University of St Andrews School of Art History“Bakumatsu Photographs: Japan and Taiwan as seen by Foreign Photographers”

Fan Juwan

Assistant Professor, National University of Tainan Graduate Institute of Animation Media Design“A Swiss Photographer in Bakumatsu Japan: New Discoveries on Pierre J. Rossier”

Philippe Dallais
Researcher, University of ZurichModerator

Mitsui Keishi

Curator, Tokyo Photographic Art Museum

Record of the International
Symposium:
Photography in Bakumatsu Japan
Panelists

Takahashi Norihide
Christian Polak
Sebastian Dobson
Luke Gartlan
Fan Juwan
Phillipe Dallais

Moderator

Mitsui Keishi

Kasahara Michiko: I would like to explain that I am the Chief Curator forthis museum. My name is Kasahara. We opened in 1990. In 1995, weformally opened our doors to the public in this building. After about 2 yearsof renovation we reopened in September of last year. We have spent 1 year
in commemorating our anniversary by organizing series of exhibitions andsymposia. Now before, we commemorated our opening, we had 2 years ofrenovation. There were some people who said that it seemed to be a wasteof public money because the building itself looked quite new. However, theresponse that we had to think of what the function of the museum was. The
Photographic Art Museum covers historical photography of the 19th century
and goes through to contemporary in the 21st century. And exhibitions,education and outreach projects are very much visible to the audiences,which is why they are very easy to understand. However, the most importantfunction of a museum is in fact being the custodian and the transmitter ofculture to future generations.
So a very important aspect of our renovation was to provide a better
environment for the conservation of our holdings. Looking at humidity,
temperature and also the other conditions, that was a very important aspect
and very much the focus of our renovation. Of course, we have improvedon the actual galleries and the lobby but the most important aspect of ourrenovation was the function of the museum. And when we thought aboutthat we had to implement the series of renovations.
I spoke earlier about how we cover the 19th century, 20th century
photography. People often think that because the Japanese name of ourmuseum is ‘A Museum of Photography’ and that we handle everythingwhich can be described as photography; that is actually a misunderstandingthat we need to correct. The Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography
was original English title but now it’s the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum
because we look at not just the photography but also at the photographic arts.
In other words, we do film and other forms of moving media, moving images.
So really we look at serious photography, photography as art and that’s
the emphasis that we have when we carry out our activities as a museum.
However, the 19th century happens to be a field where we cannot apply thatyardstick.
That is a period when the commercial and art photography were still
not separated and where photography itself is an art and technology was
still in development. So, we have a fantastic lineup of guest speakers for the
symposium and we think that we are going to be able to address many of thedetailed aspects of this.

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As for the 19th century photography, we have continued to carry out agreat deal of detailed research. It also happens to be a field where Japan has
not really got that much detailed research into history as Europe or UnitedStates. For this project we really focused on what 19th century photographs
are still remaining and where they are being held and we have had a seriesof the exhibitions which we have shared the findings over the past decade.
What we have upstairs is an exhibition which really pulls together the best of
the best of what we have found in that process.
So this symposium is held in order to commemorate this activity. It’sgoing to be a long call until 6 o’clock but we do hope that you enjoy this
symposium and stay on until the end. And now I would like to introduce
Mitsui Keishi who is the curator who has been in charge of this project andthis symposium.
Mitsui Keishi: Good afternoon. My name is Mitsui Keishi. I would liketo thank everybody for joining us. I never imagined we would have such afantastic turnout. I apologize to the guests but I am really surprised. And
I am really grateful and thankful to everybody for coming here today. We
would like to go into the symposium. Kasahara says they are over time. So
please make sure that you understand that this is how we are going to beproceeding.
We would like to take time for the intermission and the panel
discussion. This schedule is probably not going to be kept too faithfully but
we hope that you will just focus on the interesting presentations that we aregoing to be hearing. As for the speakers’ profiles, you can find this on theother side of the schedule or the timetable and this is all lined up in order ofthe presentations. I don’t think it’s necessary for me to give an introduction
to everybody beforehand because I do know that you are more interested inhearing what the speakers have to say rather than having me speak to you. So
Professor Takahashi please.

©K-PHOTO SERVICE

Takahashi Norihide: Thank you. My name is Takahashi of Nihon
University. Well this series of exhibition ‘Dawn of Japanese Photography’
began from 2007 and from the first exhibition, Nihon University havecontinued to be a supporter in the shape of lending part of our collection.
We have had the 2 years of renovation of this museum. But in 2013,
Hokkaido Tohoku was the last exhibition that we had in the series. Now wehave described as ‘the Anthology’ which brings together summation of thefindings and discoveries.
Many of you have probably been able to see the exhibition. However,some of the works have only been discovered in the process of the researchwhich was conducted together with the exhibition, there are also photographs
which everybody is very familiar with through history text books. But it’s
been very difficult to actually see the originals because they are so precious.
So I think we have an outstanding and important exhibition. I think partof that is the fact that the real photograph is still extant. It is not just about
what is being photographed, the subject matter, it’s also the fact that as
Mr. Mitsui has emphasized the importance of the presence, the piece. The
fact that there is this tremendous power that seems to emanate from thephotographs individually.
Latest technology that we use today is completely different fromphotography in the 19th century. The presence and the material quality thatthey have is quite different. So that is how photography existed for more63

than a century and how photography put down roots and spread in Japan isreally what is being analyzed and studied through these series of exhibitions.
Now the symposium named “Bakumatsu”, end of the Edo Shogunate. I am
going to be focusing on the last 20 years of the Edo period and photography.
I think that you already have been able to see. Photography or rather
daguerreotypes were first brought to Japan in 1848, the first year of Kaei.
In 20 years after that we have the Meiji restoration. So, the last 20 yearsof the Edo Shogunate happened to be the first 20 years of the history ofphotography in Japan; I think that Commodore Perry which marked thestarting point for Japan deciding to actually open up to the world. There is
5 years difference between Commodore Perry’s visit to Japan and of course
there is a difference with the Meiji Restoration. So I think it is important toremember that the period when photography was brought to Japan happens
to be really in the years immediately before dramatic changes for this country.
The title of this exhibition is ‘Dawn of Japanese Photography’. However,the Japanese title is actually ‘Immediately Before the Dawn’. So it really isreferring to the period immediately before Japanese photographers becameaware and intentionally set out to create their own distinct voice. So that ispart of what is referred to in terms of the technology and also in terms of theexpression. Now we have speakers from abroad who are going to be speaking
about photography. But before going on to their presentations which aregoing to be looking at the details, I would like to give you, in a sense, aforeword which is going to give you some general background information.
Daguerre invented daguerreotype which is the first practical techniqueof photography in 1839, and 1848 when it was actually brought to Japan.
But in Europe and in United States immediately after this technology
was announced it rapidly spread as a practical skill, a practical technology.
However, Japan was quite different because it was a medieval feudal systemand this country was still close off from the rest of the world. So for quite awhile, photography was regarded as only a matter of experiment and study.
So, it was really part of what was studied as in the context of the broader
study and analysis of western technology and of knowhow or the skills. It
is also possible to say that this was really done intentionally in order tostrengthen the defense of the nation and also to promote industries. Mr.
Tani [Akiyoshi] says in the article in the catalogue that could be described aspart of the study of modern sciences in order to confront the western powers
and also it could be described as part of the process of the introduction ofscience technology and of the application of this science and technology
in order to strengthen the country and to strengthen the army. Shimazu
Nariakira for example, looking at that you can see the iron making equipment
as the background. So this describes or rather this illustrate the setting of
taking the photograph of Shimazu Nariakira and the introduction of themodern sciences which was done by the actual process or the feudal systems
and also the experts in western knowledge and study was done not just by
the Satsuma, but Satsuma of course was probably the most heavily engaged
in introducing this information. In 1851, the Lord of Satsuma, Shimazu
Nariakira set up Shūseikan and also ordered that daguerreotype study be donefull scale. And in 1854 Kawamoto Kōmin dictated Ensei-kiki-jutsu and in the
beginning it describes daguerreotypes. This beginning of the book actuallydescribes what photography is. After that there is description of telegraphs
and also steam ships.
Looking at the order in which the different technologies are described,
it also seems to reflect and allows us to imagine the tremendous degree of64interest that people had at that time in photography. And in 1857, they
finally succeeded in taking a daguerreotype which was a portrait of Shimazu
Nariakira. This was the first photograph taken by a Japanese. The researchdone and the study done at the Shogunate established schools of westernlearning or yōgaku sho might have done-conducted some experimental
daguerreotype photography. However the only when you look at the extant
photographs and daguerreotypes, this is the earliest and on this occasion
we have been able to show a replica of the daguerreotype as part of theexhibition. And Satsuma also looked at calotype which was invented by
Talbot at the same time which is based on a paper medium and negatives
and positives. This is also part of the exhibition but this is the only example
of a calotype negative which is extremely important in terms of the Japanesephotographic history. However Shimazu’s daguerreotype was the earliest
photograph taken by a Japanese. Actually the first encounter between theJapanese and photography can be traced back to 1851 or 1852 when the
Eiriki-Maru which was a ship from Hyōgo began to drift and where someof the crew members was photographed in San Francisco. So they are thefirst or earliest examples of a Japanese as a photographic subject. There are 5
examples of this kind of photograph which is being confirmed in Japan. And
you are probably familiar with was taken by Eliphalet Brown Jr. who was partof the Commodore Perry’s fleet, took a series of photographs. There are 5
photographs being confirm which have been designated as important culturalproperties. Two of them are part of this exhibition.
It seems like there was a Samurai standing there but these are the earliest
known examples of photographs of Japanese which have been taken within
Japan. This is extremely important in terms of history because this was taken
by a photographer who accompanied Commodore Perry’s fleet which was
instrumental in opening up Japan. So the fact that we have these existing
photographs which are a witness to the people who actually stood there atthat particular time. You might think that he looks rather awkward. It’s
because daguerreotypes reverse the right and left. So he has been dressed in a
way which is opposite from what he would be usually accustomed to. So his
kimono and his sword are all put on the wrong side of his body. Now thisperiod actually happens to coincide with when western photographic world
had gone on to the next stage of development which was the wet-collodion
process. Archer invented this in 1851. It’s a glass negative. And the plate is
created at the site where the photograph is taken. The photography and theprocessing have to take place while the plate is still wet. So it’s very difficult
but this is also usually described as wet plates. This is being introduced afterdaguerreotypes during the Ansei period when the Japanese opened up to therest of the world, 1855, which was a year after Commodore Perry’s visit, theEdo Shogunate established a special institute for Study of Naval Matters in
Nagasaki and they invited professors from Netherlands and also handpicked
students from different parts of Japan and also from Shogunate.
In 1857, a second group of professors included Pompe van Meerdervoort
who was an instructor for medicine and who was supposed to be instrumental
in spreading the awareness and also knowledge of this technique to different
parts of the country because of his students. This gives you one example.
This is Ueno Hikoma, Horie Kuwajirō and other who were able to actuallylearn about how to take photographs. But this is one very rare and important
example of one of Pompe’s students who was able to acquire the skill of
taking photographs after that instruction.
And this gives you more detail, right now I have gone up to 10 years

65before the end of the Edo Shogunate. So right in the middle of this period
you can see the 6th year of Ansei where Nagasaki and Yokohama wereopened up as ports that’s 1859. All Tokugawa Shogunate sending the envoys
abroad. So, in first year of Bunkyū photography spread and professional
photographers were born. Then 1865, the last 10 years is where you can
see the professional photographers becoming broadly established. This is
the first year of Man’en that is 1860 when the Edo Shogunate sent a special
envoy, a group of envoys to the United States in order to try to exchange theratification documents for the revised US-Japan Trades Treaty. This was
taken on Broadway. This is Nonomura Ichinoshin, a daguerreotype. And
this shows you another new encounter, where the special envoys had actually
direct experience of the practical application of photography in western
society. This is from 1864 in Nadar’s studio in Paris. Nadar was known as
the most prominent and pre-eminent studio at that time. These people who
were able to experience photography as it was accepted and widely practiced
abroad was still very limited.
However, this probably had an impact on the practical application ofphotography in Japan. This is Kawasaki Dōmin from Saga who learned andacquired the skill photography and applied that. So he was actually taking
photographs as a result of his visit. So the circumstances under which hetook these photographs were quite different from what was usually seen.
In the similar way Nakahama Manjirō who went to the United States in
Kanrin Maru which was a ship set up by the Edo Shogunate actually acquired
photographic equipment and took photographs. So this is something which
has become evident through study, research and this is a very early example
one can say of the practical application of photography. After that there
were people who learned photographic skills from visiting foreigners and to
set up their own photographic practices. The early days, really was part ofthe experiments which were conducted in line with learning about westernscience-technology. This was done under the feudal lords of the different
parts of Japan. However after that photography itself became a skill which
was passed down and also which was studied. In particular, the 6th year of
Ansei when Yokohama and Nagasaki were opened up meant that visitors andforeigners who came from abroad and this actually provided opportunities topeople to acquire photographic skills and to set up-themselves up as private
practitioners. This list gives you the names of some of the people who wereable to set up their own photographic studios after studying under foreigners.
This is from 1860, [Orrin] Freeman who is from United States and founded
his own studio; that is a very rare example.
One of his students and the first professional photographic studio was set
up by Ukai Gyokusen in 1861 and he set that up in Ryōgoku of Edo. Before
that, immediately after Nagasaki was opened up as a port to the rest of theworld, 1859, Rossier came from Switzerland and he came to Japan again in
the following year and taught the Japanese how to take photographs. Ueno
Hikoma, I have mentioned his name in connection with Pompe where he
wasn’t really able to learn how to take photographs but Hikoma was able tostudy under Rossier which is why you were able to get that photograph thatyou have seen earlier. Ueno Hikoma, Ueno is surname by the way, studiedin Nagasaki and then after that he went to the Tsu region and Tōdō fiefdom
but he then return to Nagasaki and opened up his own studio as a Ueno
photographic practice. Shimooka Renjō who is known as the Pioneer of
Photography in Japan was able to acquire equipment from Wilson and took
the skill and in 1862 he opened up his practice and this is immediately after66

he opened up his practice or his studio. This is from the third year of Keiō(1867) and you can see that the quality of his photographs has improved
dramatically. In these days in the last decade of the Edo Shogunate there
were quite a lot of Japanese photographers in fact including those who had
been disciples of the pioneers. However, in most cases their early practice
was really limited to studio photographs and studio portraits. This is one
example of that. And Mr. Mitsui has stated that perhaps the people at theend of the Shogunate were just primarily engaged in portraits. But I think it
simply happened to be that circumstances predefined and predetermined thecircumstances that led them to have portraits made because landscapes were
only done by or created by foreigners or foreigners who knew about theseskills. This is by Abel Gower and this is one of the earliest photographs ofNagasaki, I understand.
Out of these foreign expat photographers, one of the most outstanding
people who took photographs which was not recorded by a Japanese. It
is Felice Beato. This is the Shimonoseki war. This is wet plate and it’sunbelievable the amount of skill that went into creating this image. The
Shimonoseki war is known as one of the turning points or the tipping points
where they decided to turn against – Chōshū decided to turn against the
Shogunates. This is from Atagoyama. Over here, you can see Hie Shrine.
You could say this, the primeval scene of Edo. It’s very rare and also very
important. This is done by C.L. Weed who is known as ‘the Master of Wet
Mammoth Plates’. This is the Yokohama Motomachi area. Beyond the river
you can see where the foreigners had their compound and before this river
you can see where the Japanese lived.
Here this is the center. It has got a tremendous amount of informationin here. It’s primitive technology but there is this tremendous amountof information that you can read from this. Japanese photographs reallyat the end of the Shogunate was really portraits. However, in the Meiji
era the Japanese photographers were becoming comparable to expatriate
photographers. These are portraits of Emperor Meiji which are portraits butat the same time you could say this is part of the official documentation andthe creation of historical record. However in the 4th year of Meiji, 1871
Yokoyama [Matsusaburō] took these photographs of the Castle of Edo as it
used to be known. The early years of developing and settling Hokkaido isalso part of the early historical record. So we had [Raimund von] Stillfried
and Takebayashi Seiichi as names, which wants to go on as part of creating
this historical record.
And this is from 1877, the Satsuma Rebellion or the battle-which really
could be described as the end point of the Meiji restoration where the Saigō
Takamori and the Saigō forces fought with the major government forces in
Tabaruzaka. And Japanese photographers after the Meiji restoration began totake photographs which were comparable to what their western counterparts
were doing, for example looking at the American Civil War and thephotographic record or the American record of ‘Settlers in the West’. I think
we can see comparable work being done by Japanese practitioners here in
Japan. So the skills of taking photographs really developed and flourished in
the Meiji era and the foundations that were laid down in the last two decadesof the Edo Shogunate.
So thank you for your attention. This is the end of my allotted time I
think. So I would like to end here. Thank you.
Mitsui Keishi: Thank you very much Professor Takahashi. Please hold any

67

questions that you might have in discussion time. So now we will call upon
the next speaker, Mr. Christian Polak who will be speaking next.
Christian Polak: Thank you very much for your introduction. My nameis Christian Polak. I am not a specialist on photography unlike Professor
Takahashi and I am just someone who has been collecting and gathering
materials about Franco-Japanese relations. So I am also collecting somephotographs as well. Please allow me to speak in Japanese but sometimes I
might have some difficulties with my lack of Japanese knowledge. I ask foryour indulgence.
So, today I will be speaking about “Yokosuka Shashin” or “Yokosuka
Photography”. I think you are familiar with the expression “Yokohama
Shashin” but it is also true that around Yokosuka there have been somephotographic studios opened in the area and surely one at the end of
Bakumatsu era. I am not sure if you are familiar with that fact but there wassomeone who was called Émile de Montgolfier who was a photographer.
So today I would like to speak about Émile de Montgolfier. Two years ago
there was an exhibit at the Yokosuka Art Museum. At that time we preparedthis catalogue with the works of Émile de Montgolfier you can buy at thismuseum. The construction of the Yokosuka shipyard began in 1865, with
Oguri Tadamasa as the Japanese director and Léonce Verny, a French élite
engineer as director for the construction, who was there from 1865 to 1876.
At that time he was supported by 55 French engineers.
This is a photo taken by Felice Beato. Verny had been in Yokosuka for
more than 10 years, so he brought his family here. Two children were bornin between. This is his eldest son who was photographed at the photo studioof Beato.
Émile de Montgolfier as you might know comes from the family of theMontgolfiers who were the inventors of the hot air balloon. This is a very
prominent and famous family in France. In the 19th century they were
manufacturing paper which was called the Canson & Montgolfier paper. I
understand that many Japanese artists actually used the paper manufactured
by Canson & Montgolfier even today.
Here is a photograph showing some of the French engineers who were
working at the shipyard.
Émile de Montgolfier is shown here, there top right. There were alsogroup pictures such as this one. You can see that all these photos are dated
like this one from 1869, 16th of November. With the dates, they arevery precious documents. On this picture you can see some of the Frenchengineers.
One of the mystery was where did Émile de Montgolfier learn thetechnique of photography? It is not certain where he learned this technique
but it seems that he learned this after reaching Japan. Here you can see thephoto showing the building under construction and you can remark here twoletters “LB”. So this is not signed or the initials of Émile de Montgolfier but
this was from Léon Boelle who was one of the engineers, chemical engineer
and was also a photographer. He has been asked by Verny to record theprogress of the construction at the Yokosuka shipyard. And so he was hired
to photograph the progress of the construction work. He took these photos
and you can see his signature on each. I found only 10 photos which havebeen taken by Boelle. Among these photos there was a photograph showing
the atelier which means that there was already such a photography studioat the Yokosuka shipyard from the year 1866. Here is another photo dated

68©K-PHOTO SERVICE1866, 23rd of July and also signed “LB” for Léon Boelle, and you can see his
studio here.
Émile de Montgolfier arrived in Japan arrived in June of 1866, one year
after Léon Boelle. So that means that all these photos were taken by Boelle
who had also to teach photography to Montgolfier some one year after. Hereis a drawing which shows where the Atelier was situated and which is dated
May 1868; in this drawing you can see that the photo studio was there. In
the year 1870 Boelle was transferred to Yokohama Steel work. So it was after
he left that Émile de Montgolfier was in charge of taking photographs. This
photo-portrait of Émile de Montgolfier shows that it has been taken in thestudio located within the Yokosuka shipyard.
Here is his signature and also a stamp using the katakana characters, andthis is the official stamp of Yokosuka Shipyard. Here is another evidence
showing that photo studio in the Yokosuka shipyard, because this is an orderfor collodion sent by Émile de Montgolfier to France.
Another question was “which cameras were used by Émile deMontgolfier?”. And as I said I am not a specialist in photography but when
he went to Kamakura he took along two cameras and one is placed here andthen he took this photo with another camera that he had been carrying. Thisis also dated, that means Émile de Montgolfier had taken these photos.
Let me explain how we discovered these photogaphs? In 1970s Professor
Takahashi Kunitarō saw an album of photographs by Émile de Montgolfier
at the home of the descendants of the family of Léonce Verny. Then in the
80s professor Nishibori Akira met some descendants of Émile de Montgolfier.
Another album was discovered. Just 3 years ago, I was able to find the direct
descendants of Émile de Montgolfier who showed to me four new photo
albums.
The first one is large scale album has the initials “E.M.” for Émile deMontgolfier. A second album is untitled “Album of photographs fromthe Yokosuka Arsenal”. The third album was just untitled “Album of
Photographs”. Inside this album there pictures not just of the shipyard but
also from the villages surrounding Yokosuka. There were also photos from
Hokkaido. The fourth album which discovered, it was like this one. Hereis written that it is album of photographs of Japan taken in January 1870,
Yokosuka. All the photos have a number, a legend with the dates of when
the photos were taken.
As I mentioned, these albums had been discovered just 3 years ago. And
along with the albums there have been about 250 documents which had been
discovered because Émile de Montgolfier had been writing to his parents
every week. It is like a precise diary with many informations, so personal,
some about the life in the Yokosuka shipyard, some about his trips inside
Japan with his impressions about what he saw. I have not been able to go
through all of these letters. I am still studying them.
The albums kept by the descendants of Verny Family, were copies givenby Émile de Montgolfier to Léonce Verny and others important Japaneseand French engineers. Here is the photography album from the Arsenal of
Yokosuka dated January 1873 and photographs by Émile de Montgolfier.
What was very interesting here is that he had always noted the date of thephotos. The first ones were the photos taken by Boelle and then from thispage onwards we have photos which were taken by Montgolfier. These
were photos taken to keep record and so we can see how they had built the
shipyard through the mountain.
Here this is dated 1868 when they had excavated or erased the69

mountainous areas they found some discoveries of some animals relics. These
are mammoth teeth which were discovered in the excavation work. And aphoto of Kamakura. And this is photo of Yokosuka area. And so this was
the house of Thibaudier who was the Head of the shipyard. And so they
had used some very new technology such as cranes. And when the wife ofengineer passed away then there was a small church in Yokosuka where thisperson had been buried. Because this is in Yokosuka you can see also theJapanese flag here. And this is the photo from the Uraga area. And as I
mentioned earlier this album belonged to Verny. And this was a steel millfrom Yokohama where Boelle had been transferred to from Yokosuka. This
had been a serie of three Yokohama pictures forming a panoramic view. Hereis another panorama photo where the mountain still is there. But then you
can see that the construction work has already progressed. This is 1867 you
can see the declining or decreasing amount of the rocks on the mountains.
On this photo you see that the mountain has nearly disappeared. And this isfrom 1868, end of 1868 where the shipyard has almost been completed. You
can see the dock area as well. You can see that the photos have captured thedetails of the area in the shipyard. Here is another panorama photo. Whatis very interesting is that in a letter that Émile de Montgolfier had written
to his mother he sent 20 photographs on which the mother also wrote her
explanations with details based on the letters of her son. Those photographs
were after showed to the entire family who was able to learn what Émile had
been doing in Japan. This wonderful material is packed with much detailed
information. And here you see that the mountain is still there, hadn’t beenleveled entirely yet. Here is the village of Yokosuka. And here is the island
called Sarushima or used to be called the Perry Island. Here you have Émilede Montgolfier in this photo which is a very interesting photo.
And this is the son of Mr. Florent and his dog Ume and as Émile deMontgolfier and the other French engineers. So I don’t have time to go
through the detailed description of all these photos. But you see that there
is a Japanese person standing in the forefront. Here you can see the dock,the construction as it was starting for the dock. And that’s the completed
dock. That was on the 1st of 1872, the Emperor of Meiji had visited thisarea. This is where the ships were brought in for repair work. So the seriesof photos that we are able to see the type of progression of the construction
work and it was the very first time that I was able to see photos like this. And
the Montgolfier family had about 500 photos and they also had many photos
which had been taken outside of the Yokosuka area as well.
This is the smelting plant, as Ume the dog was like a mascot of the
shipyard. So you can see the dog captured in some of the photos and so someof that still remains here. And more photos of the crane and some of the very
new machinery which had been delivered from France.
You can also see the photo of the inside of the building and here we havea picture of the students who are from the shipyard school established by
Léonce Verny, the first school in Japan for shipbuilding technology. So thiswas the graduation ceremony in March 1871. There was also a preparatory
school before they entered this school but the names of the students arealso known. And on Sundays the French men would go hunting and Ume
the dog would also accompany the hunting mission as well. When I saw
this picture, I was very impressed and surprised at this because the photo isvery, very clear and you can see the Japanese and the French engineers andin the front row you see that there are also children who had been working
here. There had been about 2200 Japanese working here and there were70

children aged around 15. You can see the ship being built in the yard andthis captures the French peoples’ residences. That was the house belonging to
Verny in French village. These are the French peoples’ residences and thenthe Japanese engineers also lived in the area. This is Émile de Montgolfier’s
house. And this is the church that was also located in the area and thisshows the interior of the church. The altar was designed in fact by Émilede Montgolfier. You can see the Christmas decoration. This is anotherphotograph of the Yokohama steel mill, a very detailed photograph.
This shows a lighthouse which had been built by French engineer.
This is the Kannonzaki lighthouse. This is the Shinagawa lighthouse andNojimazaki lighthouse under construction and also completed form.
Here in Yokosuka, these are the villages around the Yokosuka shipyard.
Wonderful photos. This is the Ryōanji temple and some more photos from
Yokohama. That’s the gas plant in Yokohama, a very unusual photo. He
also captured festivals. And you can see Mount Fuji because he had gone
to Hakone. You will able to see Mount Fuji. He also went to Kyoto. Thisis a panoramic view of Ōtsu, very unusual. This is Hokkaido, some area
close to Hakodate and this is a photo showing the church resided by French
priests who had come to Japan. A winter landscape. He also captured
Japanese people. Now I am not sure who these people were because I havenot conducted research yet. But we know that these photos were taken in
Hakodate. So in Hokkaido he has also captured the Ainu houses by thepioneers who were developing the area. So I think my time is up and withthis I would like to conclude my presentation. I am sorry for my poor
Japanese.
Mitsui Keishi: Thank you very much indeed Professor. Then Mr. SebastianDobson who will be speaking next.

©K-PHOTO SERVICE

Sebastian Dobson: Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. My name is
Sebastian Dobson. I haven’t really been able to speak Japanese quite often
these days so today I would like to give my speech in English.
I would like to thank Tokyo Photographic Art Museum and in particular
Mr. Mitsui for inviting me to speak today. It is also wonderful to see somany people here today especially on such a rainy day and it’s a great honor
to be taking part in this event and I am looking forward to what promises tobe a very productive panel discussion.
One aspect of researching the history of photography in Bakumatsuera Japan is that it is often the case that we have photographs without any
supporting text or else we have lots of text which describes photography but
no actual photographs. The Prussian expedition to Japan of 1860-1861 is
one exception, in that we have both a lot of text and several images. Anotheraspect of photographic research of this period is that there are many missing
or lost portfolios. The best-known examples are perhaps the daguerreotypes
taken during Commodore Perry’s expedition to Japan during 1853-54.
With few exceptions, the daguerreotypes taken by Eliphalet Brown Jr. arelost. The Prussian expedition also offers us the exciting challenge of trying
to find a missing portfolio of photographs, possibly the largest we know of.
The records tell us that when the Prussians arrived in Edo on 8 September
1860 they brought with them 6 cameras of various sizes, enough glass plate
negatives to take 2500 photographs and 93 bottles of chemicals. The same
sources tell us that when the Prussians finally returned to Berlin in 1862 theybrought with them at least 1200 photographs – by which I mean glass plate71

negatives – which had been successfully taken.
These however, seemed to have disappeared at some point in time after
1870 and so there is the additional excitement of trying to reconstruct thisportfolio. This research has been an ongoing obsession of mine since 2003
when I first found a reference to photography in the published accounts of
the Prussian expedition. This led to several research trips to Berlin which
resulted in several publications, including this book which was published in2012 to mark the 150th anniversary of the beginning of German-Japaneserelations. This publication with the OAG (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Naturund Völkerkunde Ostasiens), entitled Under Eagle Eyes: Lithographs, Drawings
and Photographs from the Prussian Expedition contains most of the research I
conducted up until then. What I intend to do today is to present an updateof where my research has led since 2012.
However, I should start by providing some background information.
The Prussian East-Asian Expedition is very interesting for numerous reasons,one of which is that, although it was a diplomatic expedition it also included
a significant number of scientific and artistic personnel. This is a list of
the artistic staff of the expedition. At the top of the list is the official artist,
Wilhelm Heine, whose name will be familiar to most of you since he hadalready accompanied Commodore Perry’s expedition in 1853-54 in the same
capacity. In 1859, he offered his services to the Prussian government and was
immediately accepted as the artist in charge of a portfolio of images which
would illustrate an account of the expedition to East Asia which would be
published after it had returned to Berlin.
Second in the list is the artist Albert Berg who was added to the staff at
the last minute. I will skip him since there is not much time to explain his
presence. There was also a photographer Carl Bismarck. Carl Bismarck was
employed largely as a result of Wilhelm Heine’s request that there should be a
photographer. Heine was working as an artist in traditional media, sketching,producing water colors. He requested the Prussian government and inparticular the head of the expedition, Count Eulenburg, for the presence of aphotographer. And the result was that young Carl Bismarck was employed.
This was a rather strange choice given that Bismarck was only 20 years old atthat time and had apparently very little experience of photography. Later on
it became apparent that the reason for Bismarck’s employment was because
he was the illegitimate son of Count Eulenburg who was trying to give him
a chance to pursue a diplomatic career. Because of Bismarck’s inadequacy
as a photographer a decision had to be made very quickly after the Prussians
arrived in Edo to employ a second photographer. By a fortunate coincidence
there was an American photographer called John Wilson who was then activein Yokohama. We still quite don’t know what brought Wilson to Japanbut certainly he was in Yokohama with a camera where he caught the eye ofWilhelm Heine and was employed on a temporary contract for 3 months
from September 1860 until January 1861, when the Prussians finally left Edo
after 5 months there and went to Nagasaki and then onwards to China andSiam.
We also have the third man, August Sachtler, who was initially employedin the expedition as a telegrapher. He was working for the company ofSiemens & Halske and since he had some knowledge of photography he wasquickly taken on as an assistant, mainly for Bismarck who was in great needof help, and sometimes for Wilson. Sachtler rapidly proved himself to be avery able photographer and started receiving more important assignments
than one would expect for an assistant.

72

Finally, we have Hermann Rose. Like Sachtler, Rose was also atelegrapher from Siemens & Halske. He had no actual experience ofphotography but he was employed occasionally as an assistant and we areparticularly grateful to him because, in 1895 towards the end of his life, hewrote his memoirs in which he gives us descriptions of photographs being
taken in Japan, China and Siam.
I began my research with published text, starting with the official
account of the expedition following the numerous published writings bymembers of the expedition before I finally went to Berlin and began going
through the archives of the former Prussian State. To my delight, I founda report which Eulenberg sent from Edo in November 1860, with a sealed
envelope attached behind it with a pin.
I am sure you can imagine my excitement when I felt what was inside
this wonderfully fat document with my fingers, and when I opened it,
35 photographs emerged which had never been seen before. This was
the beginning of reconstructing the portfolio of the Prussian East Asian
expedition. In the group were seven photographs by Carl Bismarck, mostly
faded and in bad condition. This is probably the best example from thegroup, a photograph taken at the temple of Honmonji at Ikegami. The
Prussians did a lot of sightseeing in Edo and visited a lot of famous sites(meisho) across Edo. Ikegami was one place they visited, while another was
the so-called Umeyashiki at Ōmori which appears in Hiroshige’s woodblock
print series ‘One Hundred Famous Views of Edo (Meisho Edo Hyakkei)’.
And it was here at the tea house at Umeyashiki that the Prussians establishedthemselves.
There was a time during the autumn of 1860 when the Prussians weresuch frequent visitors that some the Japanese tea house girls there started
addressing their foreign clients in German. Here, for example, we have oneof the photographs John Wilson took as part of his assignment, showing
pilgrims at the tea house and this is one of 27 photographs taken by Wilson
in this particular group.
The third photographer August Sachtler was more difficult to identify.
We had some articles in illustrated newspapers published in Germany atthis time which contained engravings taken from his photographs. Perhaps
the most notable one was this group portrait of the Japanese representatives,
consisting of the Commissioner of Foreign Affairs (Gaikoku bugyō) and hiscolleagues who were photographed at the end of the negotiations just as thetreaty was signed in January 1861. It was significant that when Eulenberg
ordered these commemorative portraits to be taken that he didn’t ask Carl
Bismarck or Wilson to take these photographs but instead asked Sachtler – avery important assignment, almost a diplomatic assignment. I think this is anindication of how advanced Sachtler already was as a photographer comparedwith Bismarck and even Wilson.
Other photographs emerged in the published writings. Anotheraccount reproduced this engraving which is almost certainly a photographby Sachtler showing the official (yakunin) Fukuchi Gen’ichirō who was
one of the regular staff attached by the shogunal authorities (bakufu) to thePrussian expedition, and who accompanied them across Edo. There is one
episode when Heine and the photographers went to Atagoyama to take apanorama of the city of Edo and Fukuchi tried to prevent them from taking
it but that story is too long to tell here. Nevertheless, this seems to be some
sort of commemorative portrait taken of Fukuchi and was possibly given
to him as a souvenir when the Prussians left Edo. Going through the other73engravings which appear occasionally in the published writings it is also
possible to identify photographs elsewhere in collections which had not beenpreviously identified. This engraving showing Japanese theatrical players
in Nagasaki can be matched now with an image in Nagasaki University
Library. Through this process a very interesting portfolio began to emerge
where it appears that while Bismarck was probably taking landscapes andmore informal photographs and Wilson was taking anything he was told tophotograph, Sachtler was receiving a lot of commissions to take portraits likethis. At the same time, he is the most likely candidate to have taken thesetwo panoramas of Nagasaki in January 1861 which are in the collection ofTokyo Photographic Art Museum and which are certainly a tribute to thephotographers of the Prussian expedition. Of the three photographers, bywhich I mean, Carl Bismarck, John Wilson and August Sachtler, it is Sachtler
who follows the most successful career as a photographer. Bismarck’s
connection with photography ends when the Prussians returned to Berlinin 1862. John Wilson’s connection with photography, on the other hand,continues and he is of course best known as a very important figure in thestory of the photographer Shimooka Renjō. However, he too disappears
from photography very quickly and returns to America and we don’t hearanything more about him in connection with photography before he dies in1868. Sachtler on the other hand pursues a very successful career. Having
finished his duties with the Prussian East Asia Expedition he returned to
Berlin in 1862 and almost immediately did a U-turn and re-establishedhimself in Singapore. Certainly by the beginning of 1863 he is running astudio there which becomes very successful and within the space of 10 years
he has perhaps the most important studio not just in Singapore. This is aselection of carte-de-visite photographs from his studio.
He also traveled across most of South East-Asia using Singapore as abase, and we know that by the time of his death in 1873, he had visited
Siam and French Indochina, as well as Burma. He also undertook some very
interesting expeditions to Sarawak and Borneo. That’s where the investigation
into these three photographers led. However when it came to reconstructing
the portfolio after publishing the results in 2011 progress was actually rather
slow. In 2014, in a French auction house, the Daguerre Auction House, aninteresting group of photographs emerged which were connected mainly with
China. There were however also some images of Siam. This image showing a
Chinese merchant with his daughter in particular drew my attention because
it could be matched almost precisely with an engraving which appeared in
one of the accounts by one of the participants in the Prussian expedition,
Gustav Spiess.
Another image which appeared in the same auction was this portrait
which was identified by Spiess as ‘A Wife of the Second King of Siam.’ And
the rest of the images began to connect in a rather interesting way with thesurviving text from the expedition. We know that the Prussians were in
Bangkok from December 1861 until February 1862, for almost 3 months.
During this time, they undertook several photographic expeditions at theinvitation of King Mongkut I and there are these rather lovely portraits
taken inside the Royal Palace of Bangkok of Mongkut with his numerous
children. And the portraits of children just seem to go on. Hermann Rose,
who I mentioned earlier, writes about these expeditions in his account of thePrussian expedition and this is my translation from the German.
“King Mongkut was most cooperative towards our mission. And since
I always accompanied the photographer, I experienced this inside the Royal74Palace. The King was very congenial, in the most literal sense of the word.
We wanted for nothing, and in fact we had such an abundance of food anddrink – indeed, sometimes too much – that our heads and stomachs suffered
as a result. There were times when we consumed so much champagne thatour brains became muddled and it was impossible for us to take any more
photographs: We had then to make the excuse that our chemicals were
impure and leave.”
There were further visits to the Palace where other photographs weretaken. Rose describes them further. “The following day we went to the
Palace again, where, in the seraglio, the harem where the king kept his wives,
we took photographs of several women and a few children. The photographer
and my humble self are among the very few Europeans who were admitted
to the seraglio. More than a hundred women are kept here, all of them ofAsian origin. While we took photographs, His Majesty was present: he wasa man of about 50 years of age, but considerably older in appearance. We
took photographs of about 20 of his women and although they could pride
themselves on being loved by His Majesty, they still gazed at us with friendly
eyes.” I am not too sure what that means but it seems that Bismarck and his
assistant Rose were having a pretty good time inside the royal seraglio.
This is another example from that portfolio which emerged in theDaguerre auction in Paris. So we have some very close contact with theThai royal family, with Carl Bismarck and his assistant Rose being treated ashonored guests of King Mongkut. And now having seen the images fromJapan, from the very beginning of the expedition, we are now at the otherend of the expedition, in February 1862, and we are able to fill out the Thai
portfolio with another commemorative portrait. It seems that wheneverEulenberg concluded his diplomatic negotiations in Asia, the treaty signing
was always accompanied by a commemorative portrait. This portrait has
been known for some time. It is in the National Thai Archives in Bangkok,
and shows Count Eulenberg, looking rather hazy, seated with the Siamese
representatives. I mentioned earlier how fortunate we are to have so muchtext surviving from the Prussian expedition and this portrait, this group
portrait taken on the 7th February 1862 gives us a very good exampleof how the texts intersect, because we have not just descriptions of thisparticular photograph being taken by, for example, the subject, in this case
Eulenberg, but we also have descriptions both by the photographer or rather
the photographic assistant, Hermann Rose and by a witness to the scene, inthis case Albert Berg, the second artist of the expedition who also acted as its
historiographer. The written sources speak for themselves.
The subjects, Eulenberg, who appears in the photographs, writes very
briefly. He says, “It was only at 12 o’clock, after I had had my breakfast
that I went to visit the residence of Prince Krom Luang, where I met all
the accredited Siamese representatives. I ordered our photographer to takephotographs of them individually and then all of them together in a group.”
The photographer Rose writes, “On Friday, 7 February, Count Eulenberg
visited the residence of the King’s eldest brother Krom Luang, where –thank God! – the third and final trade agreement was formally signed. After
this it was publicly announced by a 21-gun salute, we photographed all theministers who were present.” This is rather significant because we can alreadysense that the Prussians were getting rather tired with the extremely lengthy
negotiations which were going on. “Thank God it’s finished,” he is basicallysaying. So much for the photographer’s side. Then we have a witness, Albert
Berg, who writes, “Herr Bismarck accompanied Count Eulenberg to the75residence of the Prince and started by taking individual photographs of eachof the authorized representatives. He then took a photograph of them in agroup which also included Count Eulenberg. The latter, tired of the delays
caused by the long-winded Siamese, shook his head in exasperation andconsequently he appeared almost unrecognizable in the resulting picture.”
Which now explains the mystery of why Eulenberg is the only person in thisphotograph whose face is blurred: he can’t wait for the sitting to finish andsadly the photographer has caught this. So this is a good example of how
rewarding research into the Prussian expedition can be when we have somuch supporting text. I think as further photographs appear in the future wewill be able to match them with descriptions of them being taken.
I would now like to introduce a few recent findings which give us
a bit more information about the three photographers. I think time issomewhat limited, so I shall be rather brief but it was interesting to see that
Carl Bismarck had so little experience. Of course the fact that he owed his
position to the influence of his natural father Count Eulenberg explains a lot.
Nevertheless, I was always interested in how much photographic experiencehe actually had. The archives of the German Foreign Ministry in Berlin
contain personnel files and since Carl Bismarck ended his career as a diplomat
in the Imperial German Government, his file has survived. Fortuitously it
contains a resumé which he wrote in 1874 describing his life so far, and forsome reason, he wrote it not just in German but in English as well.
He is very careful to avoid mentioning that Count Eulenberg is hisfather, but he does mention how he was given the opportunity to join the
expedition to East Asia in 1860. Here he states: “I was asked subsequently
whether I had any objections to join the artist and photographer Wilhelm
Heine as assistant. I consented without hestitation and visited, for about 6
weeks, in my leisure hours Albert Grundner’s photographic establishment[in Berlin] in order to acquaint myself with the practical portion of this art.”Thus, when Bismarck arrived in Edo in September 1860 he had only 6 weeks’experience of taking photographs. As the text points out, six weeks during
his leisure hours suggests that he might have had a day job, so his experience
was perhaps even more limited than I first thought.
John Wilson remains a very mysterious individual. The contemporary
Prussian sources refer to him as a very silent man: ‘as silent as he is active’
according to one member of the expedition. Back in Wilson’s hometown,
this rather interesting newspaper article emerged, published in March 1861.
By which time Wilson has finished working for the Prussians but is still in
Yokohama doing –we don’t quite know what – except he is probably involved
with Shimooka Renjō at this point and is perhaps planning his great project
to create a large panoramic painting of Japan. It is very interesting because
we are very fortunate that the local newspaper of Wilson’s hometown, The
Barnstable Patriot is available online. Wilson does not appear very often
and reading this article, ‘A Cape Cod Daguerreotypist in Japan’, you should
ignore the term daguerreotypist. This is more a figure of speech than anindication of which specific photographic process he was using.
The tone in the article is one of surprise. It’s almost as if the author was
unaware that Wilson could take photographs. Certainly there is no referencein the local Barnstable press to Wilson taking photographs before these dates
or indeed after he finally returned to Barnstable in 1862. Finally turning
to Sachtler, whereas Bismarck appeared to have a lot less experience than I
originally thought, it turned out that Sachtler had a lot more.
One interesting thing about Bismarck and Sachtler is that they were76

both about the same age. They were both born in 1839, so they were about
21 when they came to Japan. Sachtler’s career in Singapore is fairly wellrecorded in the local newspapers; The Straits Times Overland Journal is aparticularly good source. There is a very interesting trial which took place in1872 – the so called ‘Chinese Forgery Case’ – in which Sachtler was called
upon as an expert witness. The report of his disposition begins as follows:“Johann August Sachtler; I am a photographer and have been for the last 16
years.”
This statement was made in 1872, which means that Sachtler’s
photographic career seems to have begun in 1856, four years before he cameto Japan. Therefore he presumably started learning photography from the ageof 17. Photography was perhaps a hidden talent which Sachtler was finallygiven the opportunity to show when he was employed as Bismarck’s assistant.
This is, I think, a significant document in chronicling Sachtler’s career as aphotographer.
I am going to end with one piece of documentation in Japanese which israther interesting since I think we should always prepare to be surprised with
the Prussian expedition since some of its members, in particular Wilhelm
Heine, appear in rather unexpected places. This is a translation of a letter
which was sent by the British envoy Rutherford Alcock to the Gaikoku bugyō
in August 1861. This might be the first instance where photography caused
a diplomatic incident. To cut a very long story short, Wilhelm Heine wastrying to return home with Sachtler in July 1861 and he decided to board theBritish warship HMS Actaeon. The Actaeon was a naval survey vessel which
had just received special permission from the Bakufu to survey the coast ofJapan. Somehow or another, word got off the ship to Edo that there wasa photographer on board the Actaeon and the Bakufu immediately reacted
by ordering that this photographer be removed. Alcock, who was unawarethat Heine and Sachtler were present on board the ship, immediately sent
orders to the commander of HMS Actaeon to have Heine removed. They
were literally pulled off the ship, put on a gunboat and dumped ashore at the
harbor of Yokohama, thus ending perhaps the first diplomatic incident inJapanese history involving photography and perhaps also the first instance ofJapanese government censorship of a foreign photographer. Anyway, we are
dealing with constraints of time so I shall end here and thank you very muchfor your attention.
Mitsui Keishi: Thank you very much Mr. Dobson. Then Mr. Luke Gartlan
who will be speaking next.

©K-PHOTO SERVICE

Luke Gartlan: Okay. Thank you very much for the invitation. Unlike
the other speakers I am talking about something very specific, a very small
portfolio of carte de visite and my interest in these photographs has to
do with competition particularly in Yokohama between westerners andJapanese photographers, commercial photographers, not just for, in otherwords the domestic market in Japan but also for the foreign market, trying
to sell photographs to visiting foreigners. And secondly competition at thelevel of representation itself whether Japanese photographers trying to sell
photographs to westerners presented a different image of Japan to what
photographers such as Felice Beato were presenting.
Around the year 1868, a young Japanese woman stood her groundbefore a photographer, dressed in the clothes of a foreigner with a bucketin hand, her steadfast, returned gaze and upright posture signaled neither

77apprehension before the camera nor unfamiliarity with requirements of its
operations. So this paper introduces a small group of carte de visite which
I argue challenge the division between what’s known as Yokohama souvenir
photography or Yokohama shashin and its Japanese domestic market
counterpart. So through an examination of a long neglected yet pivotal
photographer of 19th century Japan, my intention is to question the criteriathat upholds this separation and in so doing suggest that it’s historiographicalmaintenance ensures the continued neglect of those photographers, whether
Japanese or western for whom this division was permeable and shifting if
not of negligible significance. So what can we deduce from this portrait of ayoung woman holding her bucket? So on the verso printed in two neat rows
is a rare studio stamp which provides valuable evidence reading Yokohama
Bashamichi, district in Yokohama, photographer Tōkoku. So this is solid
evidence I believe for an attribution to Shimizu Tōkoku making this – so justexplain who he was. Six years earlier, he appears when he was 21 years old.
He was given the plum job of being the botanical illustrator for Philipp vonSiebold. And when Philipp von Siebold left Nagasaki in 1862 he left him his
photographic equipment. But it’s not until 6 years later that we know that heappears in Yokohama when it seems as if this Carte was taken. So it’s on thebasis of this outdoor setting, please note that the wooden fence behind that
3 further carte de visites can be attributed to Tōkoku from the Smithsonian
Institute in Washington DC.
So, in the second Carte, for instance, another young Japanese woman
carefully presented in looking again directly at the viewer, carries a large loadof firewood on her back. Again the subject is presented full length before
the same wooden fence and appears to adopt a natural pose with her arms
folded, hidden in her winter garment’s sleeves. The third carte again makes
strong use of this sort of vertical and horizontal lines of the site. But inthis case includes two figures arranged in frontal and profile views, flanked
by pot plants. And finally of the four cartes in the group only it’s the final
group depicting a street vendor stand selling votive pilgrimage offerings thatprovides a glimpse behind the wooden backdrop of the outdoor urban settingof the series. Okay, so, so far so good. But it’s a bit ambitious perhaps to calla four Carte de visite, a series. This gives you some idea of what we try anddo. We start off with this hook. We have got 4 that which we can attributeto Shimizu Tōkoku.
But what’s interesting I think is that the 3 further cartes held by thismuseum, one of them is on display upstairs, and they have long been
attributed to Shimooka Renjō. As you can see here we have the same sitters,
props, mounts and the distinctive fence backdrop and it’s on the basis of thisthat I am reattributing this carte above, this on the far side and this carte
as well, all in top and previously all attributed to Shimooka Renjō. I am
suggesting that they should be now reattributed on the basis of that stamp
on the back of one of them to Shimizu Tōkoku. And in addition, there are
2 further cartes. This being I think the most interesting in a Nagasaki private
collection. You can see on the far side there, again we have got much more
exposure of the location and there is a portrait camera on the far left as well as
many of the children and adults who appear in these photographs.
So that Shimooka has previously been credited with three of thesecartes, I think raises questions about the current processes of canon and offormation that drive much research into Japan’s early photographic history.
All too often the grounds for attribution are not provided. For those
who recall boxes of photographs discarded or preferably uncataloged and78

neglected in institutional archives, the growing international recognition ofearly photography in Japan can be gratifying. But I think it can also bringinvestments and priorities that legitimate certain figures in research concerns
to the detriment of others. And I am sort of suggesting that Shimizu Tōkoku
has been a bit, sort of sidelined by figures like Shimooka Renjō. At literarylevel where indeed it turns out that Shimizu Tōkoku’s photographs have beengathered and been assumed to have been Shimooka Renjō’s.
Tōkoku’s career, I think seems to position him as a quintessential
Japanese photographer of this era. The customer base evident in many ofhis studio portraits for example, the general trajectory of his career, even themonolingual Japanese studio stamps, combine to place him I think within
the Japanese domestic market. But for me these photographs are his attempt
to sell to westerners. And that’s what I think makes him so interesting. His
career appears close to photographers such as Uchida Kuichi. This gives you
some idea – you can see just under the shashin symbol there we have the two
major names listed on the list of photographers in Tokyo in 1877. In thelargest print are Uchida Kuichi, the photographer of the Emperor and rightnext to him very prominently, Shimizu Tōkoku. This gives you some idea of
his status at the time. So, in short I want to ask can we consider this genre
series part of Yokohama’s photographic industry?
Now in one respect the answer seems straightforward. As a series which
was conceived and completed in Yokohama, it’s part of that particular city
for its history of photography. But I think more is implied in the question
I am asking here than a matter of studio address. Yokohama was a centerof an industry that catered primarily to foreign tourists resulting in thedevelopment of photographic style that both encouraged and fulfilled
westerners’ desired perceptions of Japanese society. So as an example of thisYokohama shashin I am going to use this particular work which is from a year
or two before Tōkoku series and what I think he is responding to. So the
Italian travel photographer Felice Beato established a series of conventional
practices in the mid-1860s including the hand tinting of prints, the use ofpainted studio backdrops, the division of portfolios into so called costumes
and views and the formation of an inventory of popular themes and sites thatby this stage had become standard features of souvenir photography. With
the advent of tourism to Japan, western tourism to Japan, photographic
studios in Yokohama boomed in response to a new clientele of short-term
foreign visitors. So to take this example, a Japanese girl dressed a la mode.
This carte I think typifies the kind of studio based imagery carefully vended
with a painted background and full-grown props which gained favor among
foreign photographers and foreign customers in 1860s Yokohama.
The young woman is placed in a matrix of intermedial spaces and formsof representation exemplified by the repetition of the stone lantern in painted
form on the right and photographed form on the left. In comparison I think
Tōkoku’s outdoor full-length studies of standing women carrying firewood orbucket are notable for their lack of props, are notable for a lack of elaborated
details, or indeed self-referential visual artifice. But this doesn’t mean
the series by Tōkoku defines itself in opposition to the celebrated foreigncounterpart and competitor. On the contrary, Tōkoku I think selects andreinvents this foreign photographer’s visual practices. Beato had popularized
the very range of subjects evident in Tōkoku’s small cache of subjects. Waterand firewood carriers, itinerant vendors and flower pot sellers.
Tōkoku therefore responds to and adapted the themes and devices
available to him in the late 1860s Yokohama photographic industry. But79

I think it’s one that he in his series is critiquing. He is challenging thetheatricality and artifice implicit in that term. In the supposed neutralitythat was attached to these elaborate photographs such as Beato’s. So I am
suggesting Tōkoku chose to engage with this souvenir industry for foreigners
but in order to challenge and destabilize its terms. So, two further aspects
I think contribute to this impression of the series. The first is generally thelack of tints, the lack of coloring and secondly the evident participation of
the models, particularly how they look straight at us. So hand applied colors
had become and I think are still very much considered redefining defining
feature of Yokohama’s souvenir photography. But this characteristic I think
was neither essential nor exclusive to the port. In this instance Tōkoku’s
cartes are available in both untinted and tinted states with the former almost
ensuring their conclusion from the category of Yokohama photographs.
So in numerous exhibitions particularly overseas in the past decade or sohave consolidated a distinction between, on the one hand Yokohama-tinted
souvenir photographs understood to be for export to westerners and on theother hand Japan’s non-tinted photographs understood to be for domestic
audiences. So much so that I think color has come to signify treaty port
production no less than a studio address. Aside from this issue of their very
materiality, the apparent engagement of the sitters, of the subjects with thephotographer, I think marks the series as unusual with individual practices of
Yokohama’s souvenir photography. In Tōkoku’s series the model regardlessof gender or age often looks directly at the camera lens. In other words
they know they are being photographed, they are participating in being
photographed, they are agreeing in a sense to being photographed. And thisI think is strikingly different from again taking Beato’s Japanese girl dressedà la mode. The way in which in this example by Beato we have a threequarter view arrangement and sideways gaze of the model inviting the viewer,
the western viewer to have a kind of unreciprocated examination of her
garment, clothes and physical features. Tōkoku’s models, however, are notso amenable to such gendered visual codes. These women with the bucket or
firewood stand upright and frontal before the viewer. Their eye level, I think
importantly, at the same approximate level as the camera lens itself. So thesemodels stand before the viewer, conscious of the photographic act and theircollaboration in that process.
So Tōkoku’s series may be familiar I think in terms of its conception
and its street motives but the cartes lack of hand coloring in most cases, its
outdoor location and the evident participation and self-presentation of themodels transgressed the visual codes of Yokohama’s souvenir photography,
in preference I think for an aesthetics or simplicity. In so doing Tōkoku
responded to the overseas market demand for photographic mementos, but
disputed he is challenging the pictorial codes and practices that were definingthat aesthetic. These cartes concur neither with the expectations therefore ofsouvenir photography nor those of the domestic market in Japan but operate,
I think, in between these two dominant categories.
By drawing attention to this small group of cartes by an important
Japanese photographer, I have sought to account two forces, one beingarchival and the other historiographical that threatened the visibility of suchphotographs in think in current scholarship. The first pressure concerns
the sheer magnitude and global distribution of early Japanese photographs.
So the four photographs for instance, the Smithsonian, you will have tounderstand or among thousands of photographs of early Meiji Japan. So
just a sheer way in which these can be subsumed within larger archives is a80

problem. Tōkoku’s cartes I think are too easily overlooked, scattered as they
are in small non-descript groups within vast photographic collections. They
are matter of fact even dead pan aesthetic and none of those visual attributes
often deemed characteristic of Yokohama’s souvenir photographs andexemplified by Beato’s studio photograph of a Japanese woman. That is again
the painted backdrops, the elaborate stage settings, the immaculate hand tints
and the adverted, often self-absorbed models.
So if these criteria are representative of the vast percentage of souvenir
photographs produced in 19th century Yokohama, I think large exhibitions
and survey histories have accepted these criteria as all but absolute of the
Yokohama industry. And as a result, Tōkoku’s cartes if not entirely ignored
could readily be considered non-representative and exceptional and thus
deserved neither of attention nor even associated with souvenir photography.
So the marginal status of this group of cartes I am suggesting is due to three
predominant factors. The first concerns the kind of ongoing project of a
canon of Japanese photographers in which inevitably there are winners andlosers and up until now I think Shimizu has been somewhat subsumed. The
second involves a spatial division in current to current scholarship which has
tended to partition Yokohama as a port from the activities and markets ofcontemporaries in major cities such as Tokyo. And third, the very format of
the carte de visite is so easily overlooked. It’s been given short shrift I thinkespecially alongside the deluxe albums of Yokohama.
So from my experience the photographs of 1860s Japan are more often
than not, non-descript even raw in their materials and aesthetic, and thus all
too easily susceptible to being overlooked. Tōkoku’s cartes series challenges
and complicates therefore the historical perception of Yokohama photography
which currently risks being reduced I think to an industry that gratified
foreign tourists desires of Japan. So, however significant this market pressure,Tōkoku’s cartes highlight the industry’s diversity and its counter practices, its
intrinsic tensions and strong ties to other photographic centers in Japan. Forme therefore, Tōkoku’s series is a much needed reminder of the complexities
of Yokohama and its photographic history.
So in conclusion I just want to say for me to face and be faced by the
subjects of these series, to address and be addressed as visual historians, I
think necessitates reappraisal of the limits and definitions of Yokohama’s
photographic industry that have overlooked I think such alternative aspects of
its history. Thank you.
Mitsui Keishi: Thank you very much indeed. So we are just going to set up
the computer again.

©K-PHOTO SERVICE

Fan Juwan: Thank you and I am going to be giving the next presentation.
My name is Fan and I come from the National Tainan University. I am
going to be looking at the photographic expression of Bakumatsu Foreign
Photographers view in Japan and Taiwan. I haven’t spoken Japanese that
often recently. So, it’s been quite a while since I last gave a presentation in
Japanese.
Before going into the actual presentation I would like to take thisopportunity to express my thanks to Mr. Mitsui and the invitation for the
symposium. It’s a great honor to be able to take part in this symposium andto give this presentation in front of so many experts and professionals. I
would also like to give my thanks to Top museum, my alma mater Nihon
University and also to the National University of Tainan where I currently

81work. Time is limited so I will not be able to give much detail, but I
would like to look at the issue of expression in photography. How foreign
photographers rather viewed Japan and Taiwan and in conclusion I would
like to give some of my findings and thoughts.
I would like to begin by explaining what made me interested in this
topic. Photography is a medium for making records, many contents andmany themes are attained. And through the invention of photography wehave been able to see society and also the face of people and what the world
looked like 100 years ago.
There is a tremendous capability of record keeping in photography
and of course we tend to think that that is the essence of photography. But
something that I kept in mind was that perhaps there is something distinctive
and unique to the way of expression or the expression which can be foundonly in photography. The four previous speakers have given presentations
on different themes but as a photographer myself in a modest way this ties
in with some of the things that I think about. Before photography wasinvented, paintings and text were the most important media for making
records and documentation but looking at the history of the Orient andof the Occident and also of art history, well the content of what is being
described and inscribed and historic incidents and events have been studied.
There is also a great deal of study of the expressiveness of paintings. I
cannot give this topic due justice but I thought that perhaps photography was
also influenced by paintings. This is around 1800 and what was happening
in painting, J.-L. David and his portraits of Napoleon. J.-A.-D. Ingres ofcourse this painting is very famous. F. Millet. If you look at these paintings
for a moment, I would like to analyze the characteristics that I can identify inphotography which happen to be contemporary with these paintings. And
looking at the Orient, Sesshū and his ink and brush paintings also were very
distinctive. In paintings Shakaku [Xie He] has already laid down the six basic
rules of pictures, looking at the position or the composition of the frame orwhat is inscribed in the frame, the proportion of the human figures and thepsychology and also what is inscribed there. And what is common to all ofthese is that the actual composition in many cases is actually horizontal when
you look at the paintings.
However while we might think that that’s really natural for people
who have only started creating paintings or photographs I think it actuallytakes a while to become accustomed to framing a picture in this way. I am
actually teaching in Taiwan but young people who live in the era of digital
photography start out by wanting to create – take outstanding photographs.
They have this tremendous desire to take incredibly good photographs but
I think it’s important that we first of all focus on the horizontal and theimportance of the horizontal in creating good photographs.
When we think about expression, what the artist or the creator wants
to create, has to be devised in a way which is going to be in line with what
the artist hopes that the audience is going to take away from that experience.
The aesthetic is very important. Shěnměi Guǎn in Chinese or sense or theaesthetic or Shinbikan in Japanese. Monroe Beardsley in 1982 identified
object focus, felt freedom, detached effect, active discovery and wholenessas the important constituent factors. In other words, the aesthetic that wetake away is based on knowledge, communication, on the cognition andalso emotion. But when we think about the expressiveness, this is always
subjective and this is only a very narrow window for objectiveness between
the audience and the creator or the artist. So while it is difficult to maintain82

a rejective stance or perspective, the amount of learning and experience andthe level of critics relating to aesthetics is also very diverse as is the type of
expression.
So I have done this very simple experiment by doing this drawing.
Usually when people take landscapes, a landscape format which usually ends
looking like this but the actual photograph could look like this. However
what happens if you skew this slightly to make it diagonal? The impact
is something very subtle and when you think about a portrait or portrait
framework – composition like this. The vertical and horizontal for aprofessional photographer would be something that they would do naturally.
However, with a large scale camera like this which might be quite unusual,
some of you might be seeing this for the first time, some of you might beusing this in your day to day photography. I have actually conducted asimple test using my own large-scale format camera and anybody who isaccustomed to using a large-scale camera or large format camera rather which
we are used to seeing the figure turned upside down, which actually might
be difficult to become accustomed to. This is what actually happens andphotography in the past unlike today’s digital photography required many
points to be kept in mind while taking the photographs. And the Bakumatsu
era of course you are talking about professionals the most outstanding peopleof the time, Shimizu Tōkoku. There were some photographs I think where
there were tripods and also a photographer be intrigued by the equipment
and up to now tripods and also the instruments for measuring the true
horizontal. And whether such equipment existed happen to be topics that I
intend to dedicate some further study to in the future because I do not knowthat much about what equipment was available at the time. However, thepoint I am making is that this is probably what the photographers actually
saw in their equipment when they were taking those photographs which
I think must have required some very complex and difficult adjustmentin the early days. Looking at the Bakumatsu era, this museum and otherpublications afford us many opportunities to see the actual examples but
thanks to this museum there is a great deal of new discoveries which we havemade about the Bakumatsu era.
Now I would like to look at some of the foreign photographers and theirwork. Felice Beato, I would like to look at his work as an example and in thisexhibition as well we can see Beato’s work. We do hope that you will havean opportunity to look at the actual photographs afterwards. Beato was bornin Italy. He was based in the United Kingdom and took photographs inJapan and many other countries. Felice Beato, Felix Beato happen to be thedifferent variants under which he is known. 1863 brought him to Yokohama
where he resided and he took photographs, portraits and landscapes. He is
most famous for the panoramas. And aside from Japan there of course arephotographs which were taken by foreign photographers in Taiwan at thesame time but most unfortunately we don’t have quite the quantity that theJapanese have today. Concerning Beato, the speakers and Mr. Mitsui, ofcourse, know far more about him than I do. But during this exhibition fromMarch to May, there will be four phases when there is going to be hanging
of the work which is on show and in this list, this panorama photograph is
now on display. 198 to 203, the phase of the chapter of the exhibition which
are identified as learning are all album work done by Beato. So we havepanorama, we have the Japanese work, also this panoramic view of Edo from
Atago mountain or the hill which is outstanding. It also shows how we havebeen able to see his skill which was transmitted to future generations which83have been done by joining this very skillfully into a single panorama.
Again about the horizon or the horizontal plane and how this wasmaintained, this is something which was seen in the interior and exterior
photographs. I would now like to talk about Taiwan. The oldest extant
photograph in Taiwan was taken by John Thomson who was originallyfrom Scotland. In the 1870s he was active in China, the Qing dynasty andhe took many photographs of different places. This is in Kaushung andthe technique of the times. This is also an example of stereo photography
in Thailand, Angkor Wat, Singapore, Taiwan which was a part of China atthat time. Those are examples of places where John Thomson was active.
And these photographs are very important records which also happen to beoutstanding in their own right. And looking at the foreign photographers,
how they wished to record a country is completely different from their own
and how they actually set about doing that is a starting point that identified
the importance of the horizontal plane which I thought was comparable topainting. I don’t know if you have been to Taiwan or not but yesterday
when I came from Tainan it was very, very hot. It’s about 30 degrees Celsius.
Tokyo felt very cold and for foreign photographers if they went to Taiwan
and if they go to Taiwan, they first say that the difficulty is the differencein temperature. Also there are very high mountains. If you are interested
in finding out more about Taiwan and Japan’s historic photographs, I
would like to identify those websites. In closing I would just like to say thatpeople tend to think of the early examples of photography as simply records.
However as with paintings, I think visually speaking there is a basic rule ofthe importance of the horizon, of the horizontality which gives stability to theoverall composition, I think. Thank you for your attention.
Mitsui Keishi: Thank you very much. So let me now switch the PCs.
Phillipe Dallais: Bonsoir. My name is Philippe Dallais. I would like to first
thank very much the museum for the invitation and specially Mr. Mitsui.
I came to tell you a story about a special photographer that many people
misunderstood until recently. It is about a poor and young guy born in the
Swiss countryside, not far from the city of Fribourg. His name is Pierre
Rossier and he was unidentified until quite recently. His name appeared indifferent contexts related to photography in China, in Japan, in Thailand
and in Switzerland. To tell it in short, this is Terry Bennett who succeeded
to prove in 2004 that the same Rossier in these different places was in fact
the same person. As visual anthropologist and Swiss I became of course very
interested in this story, but also for another reason because my grandfather
was born in a village near from Rossier’s birthplace. Therefore, I began toinvestigate. There was a first publication in French in 2006 in which you canread the story of Rossier, but there were no significant new discoveries after
2004.
In 2014, on the occasion of the celebration of the 150th anniversary of
the relationships between Japan and Switzerland, I decided to start a new
methodological approach on Rossier. In fact, if we had some information
about Rossier, we missed the full collection of his pictures. The sources
about him are scarce and I therefore decided to focus the research on thefirst primary documents, his photographs. We knew there was a series of 66
stereoviews. Tonight I will speak only about his Japan portfolio because it
would take too much time to discuss the other countries he visited. On the
66 stereoviews Rossier produced, approximately the half was identified, the84©K-PHOTO SERVICEpictures were also scattered in different collections all over the world. It took
about 2 years to find new data about Rossier. Finally, I could succeed togather at least about 60 pictures on 66. This is the subject of my talk today.
Among the new data discovered, there is the farm where he was born inthe countryside and the only remaining traces of his family which consists in
a commemorative engraved stone plate of his younger brother who becamea successful wine seller in France. Rossier was the 4th child of 10. To
summarize his biography, he was born in 1829 in a modest peasant family
in the canton of Fribourg. He became a school teacher which seems to showthat he was perhaps someone different. We don’t know much more about
him at the moment, only the fact that he learnt photography.
But we don’t know how because between 1848 and 1855 there was no
established photographer in Fribourg who could have become his teacher.
So we think he learned the daguerreotype technique with an amateur
photographer. I won’t explain here what is daguerreotype but we should
keep in mind that it produces only one image, without negative. In 1855,
he went to London. What is very important to underline is that Rossier as apioneer in Japan because he is coming with a new technology which allows tocreate a negative (the wet collodion process) and reproductions of the sameimage. He also introduces stereoscopy. So, Rossier went to London and was
hired by the company called Negretti and Zambra which got the idea to send
him in East Asia to take commercial stereoscopic pictures, to obtain the firstand best views of East Asia, the opium war in China, the opening of Japan,
and also Siam and the Philippines. Unfortunately, no archives concerning
Rossier remain today as they burned down during the Second World War
after a German bombing destroyed the Negretti and Zambra building. So wemust abandon the idea to find any contract, letters or negatives of Rossier in
London.
Just to complete what we already heard today, here is an example
of stereoview Rossier took when he arrived in China. I will now discuss
Rossier’s stereoscopic photography. He is well equipped and has probably
several cameras. The stereo camera has two objectives and takes two pictures
almost in the same time. They are then both pasted on a card which allows
seeing the image in 3 dimensions.
Today, it is same process when we want to recreate this same 3D feeling,
we use a gear with a smartphone instead of a stereo card. I won’t elaborate
here more on 3D although it’s very interesting. Let’s keep in mind that
Rossier departed from London in 1858, he then stopped in Bombay, but wehave no information of what he did in India. From there he went to Hong
Kong and to Manila, Shanghai, and Japan in 1859. In 1860, he did stay
and work quite much in Nagasaki. He left Japan in January 1861, went toHong Kong again and then to Bangkok where Negretti and Zambra probably
asked him to sell a camera to the King of Siam. Rossier produced 80 views in
China mostly in Canton. It’s a very important series. The reverse side of thestereo cards is filled with text. These captions are almost the only texts Rossierleft, even if they were probably a little bit modified by Negretti and Zambra,
this is Rossier who tells the story which appeared behind the stereoviews.
There is a lot to see although we don’t have time here; very often you see
clocks and different devices which are not frequent at that time in Japan.
Some stereoviews are tinted, but it was done in London not in China or inJapan. Two years later Beato took pictures at the same place but without
the people in the streets. What I wish to tell here is that Rossier has anotherapproach, like an early naïve glance, he takes pictures in Japan without any a85priori, without any judgment.
He made two series in Japan which reflect different experiences. Fromthe study of the stereoviews series we can understand his different approaches
and the relationship he had with different Japanese people who welcomed hiswork. I recall that in 1859 the image of Japan is not very clear in the west,
drawn much on imagination. In short, to make the things clear, I would
like to say that Rossier is well the first modern professional photographer
to enter Japan because he is using the new process of wet-collodion, theprocess which allowed producing numerous reprint of the same picture.
But of course another professional photographer visited Japan earlier; this is
Eliphalet Brown working for Perry. Well we shall briefly define what means
professional, it is a photographer who has a great experience, he is hired bysomebody or owns his own studio and receives official commands or has
clients.
The first series was taken in China. In the beginning of July 1859,
Rossier arrived in Nagasaki. He then accompanied the British Consul
Alcock. From Nagasaki they left for Kanagawa and Edo in order to open
the British legation at the Tōzen-ji Temple and then probably going backon foot. It’s not clear yet, but Rossier seems to have taken some pictures
going back to Kanagawa and in Yokohama. The oldest picture of Yokohama
known to these days is by Rossier. Negretti and Zambra reused the same
verso design of the China stereo card for the Japan views. We know the dateof the Series’ first picture at the Tōzen-ji, 8th July 1859. This is the temple’sgate. It is quite funny as the guards moved; they are not at the same place
on both images, maybe that Rossier had a camera problem. It means hewaited some time before taking the second picture. Four years later, Felice
Beato made a photo of the same place. You see the fence was made higher
because of different incidents. Here is one more color stereoview, the British
residence. The next view is probably the first ever in history of the Zenpukuji temple path, with a dog appearing only on one of the two images. Rossier
wrote ‘One of the biggest temples in Tokyo’. During his stay in Asia, Rossier
did sign only one of his photographs.
I would like now to show you different themes and specific aspects inthese two Japan stereo series. We can see for example that Rossier took a
lot of foreigners in his pictures which were supposed to be sold in the west,
this become really unusual in later commercial photography in Japan. These
images did probably not sell particularly well. Later on, the goal is to takeonly Japanese people on the pictures and not, for example, a Dutch doctor
unknown in London. Rossier engages an intercultural dialogue; I mean that
he put Japanese and Westerners on an equal level in his images. Here there isa very special and interesting composition. I remind you that all the pictures
I am showing in my presentation have a really flat effect, they must be viewed
in 3D. Rossier did pay much attention on the composition in his stereoviewsin order to render a deep 3D effect, the foreground often seems to spring outof the frame.
One Rossier image shows a lady we could identify as the wife of amember of the Kanagawa British Consulate. She is seated in a very relaxed
pose, reading a love letter or some news from abroad, with Japanese
attendants nearby. When this image was reproduced in the West in 1861 by
the Bishop of Hong Kong who published one of the first books in English
about Japan, the lady was not included in the engraving which showed only
her attendants. The picture of Rossier I prefer is his attempt to capture
tattoo. I would say it is probably the first failed picture of Japanese tattoo,86

as Rossier states, “Sorry, these two men have tattoo all over their body but
we cannot see them on the pictures because of their blue color”. I recall herethat this is certainly Shimooka Renjō who could photograph the first tattoo.
This is also Rossier who probably took the first picture of this place inthe Ōji district which was reproduced endlessly until the beginning of the20th century and where you can eat delicious Tamagoyaki today. Bismarck,
member of the Prussians expedition, took a picture almost from the sameplace sometime afterwards, like if he was on the trails of Rossier, but Rossier’s
image looks certainly better. The stereoview of a tea house reflects a special
composition and suggests that Rossier became in touch with the owner andplaced him in the center of the picture composition, together with a lady, asmall tree in the foreground seems to fall on you when seen in 3D. Rossier
was also interested in the time issue. He photographed a temple’s bell hedescribed as used to ring the hours. In Nagasaki, he took first picture ofa pocket watch in Japan where the western division of time was not yet
acknowledged, the watch was therefore probably a kind of luxury object.
Rossier took one of the oldest views of Yokohama showing the ancientvillage which was moved. Here we see some buildings in an early view of
Yokohama transcribed as “Yakuhama”. Particularly interesting, a picturein which we can see a strange ghost figure of a Western man. We don’tknow if it is Rossier’s self-portrait or not but it’s very mysterious because it
is on both stereo pictures. The first series in Edo region includes 26 pictures
and the second series, in Nagasaki, 40 pictures. These 40 stereoviews wereprinted on paper and on glass plates. It means that you can also watch themas 3D transparencies. To compare the two, I show you here the same image
as paper print and on glass plate which unveils much more details. In somecase, it is possible to identify the people Rossier photographed. Some images
can be dated precisely; one stereoview shows a baby born on December 15
1860. Rossier was close to the people he took pictures of.
The last thing I will discuss is how Rossier mixed pictures taken at thesame place within the second series. As he changed some background details,
the viewer don’t realize the pictures are related to each other. But when you
are able to study the complete series, you suddenly understand Rossier used,
for example, a tea house as studio, modifying only the shooting angles andthe background. Another place he praised to take pictures is in front of theNagasaki medical school, with Matsumoto Ryōjun who was very passionateof photography and who tried to learn daguerreotype. You see here different
pictures, one of which is Matsumoto Ryōjun again. Matsumoto appeared
many times in different places in the series, on image number 24, forexample. But Matsumoto was literally unknown in Europe.
Here is a trickier example. I call it the “Wall studio”. It was identified
thanks to a stone with a specific shape in the wall in the background.
Over the years, many of the Rossier photographs were reproduced several
times and the picture got reversed. This is the reason why it was difficult
to establish a relationship between some of the stereoviews. Rossier had
certainly lively photo sessions in Nagasaki. The pictures 6 and 10 can beconnected; if you bring them together you have a kind of panorama. Froma text by Matsumoto, we know Rossier photographed a priest; here is thecorrespondent stereoview on a glass plate.
Another studio consists in a window with a byōbu. We repeatedly
find a group of pictures taken in front of the same window with the byōbu
which position was carefully changed. Here are a few examples, one is
attributed by some to Wilson, but it seems to be rather by Rossier. After87

Rossier, the stereoscopy continued in Japan. In 1861, Rossier went toSiam and took fantastic pictures which are now under investigation. He
returned back in Switzerland by the end of 1862 and opened two studios.
Last year in Fribourg, I made an exhibition about Rossier for the 10 yearsof his rediscovery. In the exhibition, display the Westfield book in which
Rossier original pictures were pasted. Rossier experimented the same thing in
Fribourg in 1865 some years after, pasting on every book an original print in
his friend book entitled New Souvenirs of Fribourg.
I would like to mention, as Mr. Mitsui allowed me, that there is an
exhibition which is very well connected with the one currently running at theTOP. I produced an exhibition on Rossier showing his series of stereoscopic
views in 3D on special screens to watch with 3D glasses. It lasts until April 7
at the Maison Franco-Japonaise, next door, where you can see a selection of
Rossier’s portfolio. Thank you very much.
Mitsui Keishi: Thank you very much.

Discussion
Keishi Mishui: I would like to thank everybody for giving these very precious
and very important presentations. Prof. Takahashi spoke about the first 20
years of photography, and the final two decades of the Edo period, and wewere able to listen to the other presentations based on that framework, which
I think made things much clearer. Also, Mr. Polak spoke about Yokosuka
Shashin and Montgolfier’s work in Japan. The fact that photography had
already come this far in the Keiō era was something that people have very
hardly spoken about, so I think it was very important. Sebastian Dobson
spoke about Count Eulenburg’s expedition, but it’s for me really importantto get the update about the findings following the publication of his book andWilson is the person who taught Shimooka Renjō, and there is also reference
to him. Luke Gartlan spoke about Shimizu Tōkoku.
Collection which has been identified to Shimooka Renjō should actually
be identified as Shimizu Tōkoku’s work. So, we have to work on that, but
in this exhibition, we will not be able to change the description, but in the
future, we are going to be able to try to correct this as much as possible, andwe would like to work with you in the future as well. Also, the importance ofthe horizontal plane and the analysis of early photography from Ms. Fan wasvery interesting as well.
Thank you Philippe for coming and joining us. Rossier is known to havegiven Ueno Hikoma his fine level of expertise that he needed and the factthat Rossier had this particular very distinctive stance of not trying to create
something theatrical.
I would like to begin by asking Prof. Takahashi if there are any otherpoints that he would like to make based on what the other speakers haveshared with us. The microphone needs to be switched on, by the way.
Takahashi Norihide: As I mentioned earlier, the Bakumatsu photography inJapan saw a great deal of activity by foreigners, which was indicative of a very
important element and the study of that has not really been clearly grasped
by in Japan by Japanese scholars. However, recently, non-Japanese scholars
and researchers have done a great deal of amazing work. They also have a
lot of material, which I think is relatively accessible or perhaps they have88

©K-PHOTO SERVICEbeen very clever and ingenious in devising ways of accessing all this material,
which has really uncovered new things. We have been making a lot of new
discoveries, which has been extremely encouraging for us. Also, I think that
communicating with foreign counterparts, we need to clarify and to justmake new discoveries about things we haven’t been aware of up to now about
Japanese photography.
Mitsui Keishi: Thank you. Then Mr. Polak.
Christian Polak: Well, my impression is everybody has been doing a
tremendous amount of work, and they have been very busy. It has been very
moving for me. Mr. Dobson, Luke Gartlan, Fan Juwan, Philippe Dallais. I
have learnt a great deal from these presentations, so from my part I think I
have been given the model – you have set marvelous examples for study andalso for research.
Mitsui Keishi: Next, Mr. Sebastian Dobson.
Sebastian Dobson: I will answer in English if I may. I think we areexperiencing a very exciting time in photographic research. Collections arestarting to open, not just in Japan, but abroad, and we literally don’t know
where we will be in 1 year’s time, and there are many lost portfolios out there.
One place we have not spoken about today is Russia. What is in Russia?
We do know that in 1859, there were Russians taking photographs in Japan
which were then exhibited in San Francisco in 1860. Where are they? I
would like to know. But, I think we can look forward to more discoveries
and to more fruitful collaboration between Japanese and non-Japanese
researchers. So, I am very optimistic and very excited. Thank you.
Mitsui Keishi: Thank you. Next, Mr. Gartlan.
Luke Gartlan: I think, this field has moved so far in sort of the last 10 to 15
years when I began, it has been really astonishing and it seems to be speeding
up every year which I think you have seen beautifully in this conference, butalso it’s very exciting for me to come here and see an exhibition that has been
put on at this museum and to see that Japan is, I think, very fortunate to havean outstanding museum dedicated to the photographic art, and I think in theworld that is actually rather rare at the moment and to see this museum also
pushing the field forward with the work of scholars such as Mitsui-san andhis collaborators has been really fantastic.
I would think, when I began this field 15 years ago, I spoke to a scholarof Japanese studies in my home country of Australia who told me, well there
was not really that much to find in Japan, and that it has all been destroyed,
and I think Mitsui-san this exhibition is just showing how wrong that isand how much more material there is to be found in Japan as well. I thinkalso it’s fantastic to see younger scholars coming through both in Japanand in overseas who are very interested as well and that we need to reallyencourage those new scholars coming through to work together to create
closer links across countries as well because it’s not just about actually Japan’s
history, this is about Japan’s place in the world and the many other countries
and individuals who have been involved with Japan. So, this is also very
important to many of us who are not born or brought up in Japan as well.
So, I welcome the collaborations and the strengthening of them that has

89been taking place over the last 10 to 15 years.
Mitsui Keishi: Thank you. Then, Ms. Fan.
Fan Juwan: Thank you. Well, there are so many people here today, and I
have been able to listen to a great deal of very illuminating presentations.
And this Museum of the Photographic Arts, ever since this was establishedfor students such as myself who were studying photography, I think it has
been very important as an institution and Mr. Mitsui and this ability torealize this exhibition of historic photographs is something which I think isvery fortunate. I want to make a call out to Taiwanese to make them cometo Japan just for this sake.
Mitsui Keishi: Thank you. So, you, Mr. Phillip.
Philippe Dallais: Yes, I completely agree with Luke Gartlan, I have the same
feeling that it’s a very important field and we are lucky that a new generationof young people are interested in this field. In Switzerland, I am quite lonely
to do such research, I would say. It is why I am glad to meet each other.
In Switzerland we have huge collections which are still not researched. So,
there are a lot of challenges. The goal is there to try to interest more andmore people, not only with an historical approach, but with a multicultural,interdisciplinary approach to the collections. When the research is too art
historically focused, we sometimes miss some dimensions of these pictures
which are really fantastic and have so much to tell. I was happy to be able
to work with many collectors and museums all over the world. Most of
the countries have different copyright laws. With the digital age, the accessto materials is opening, but in some places it is the contrary. There aredifferent trends, but in general, it’s a real luck to be able to work on all these
documents and think we should also focus on the 20th century because it has
much in terms of collections and visual heritage. Thank you.
Mitsui Keishi: Thank you. So, Mr. Gartlan was just talking about andalso Philippe has just spoken about the tremendous speed at which we havebeen experiencing things. This symposium is based on the unknown yearsof the pioneers or the development of Japanese photography which is when
it started, and it’s really been tremendous velocity where there has been
this dramatic increase in people who were interested in this field, who havedeveloped this interest in you. Of course, it’s probably based on the massive
amount of people who already were interested in this field in this period, but
based on that we also have to mention that as Mr. Gartlan has very rightly
pointed out, the international connections and the internet probably was afactor in there as well, the strength in connectivity. It’s really multiplied at atremendous rate, and we don’t really know where we are going to be arriving
at. I think that is the current state of affairs, if I can describe it as such.
So, if anybody has a question, please raise your hand. It’s a very rareopportunity. If there are no questions then… oh.
A: Thank you for this opportunity today. When we look at these photographsfrom today’s perspective, we can think that he is a good photographer, he
is not a good photographer, or so. What about what their contemporaries
would have thought of these photographs. What was the yardstick thatthey applied? I am not quite sure about the aesthetic or the perspective that90

contemporaries of these photographers would have had in looking at thesephotographs.
Mitsui Keishi: Well, so you asked her about the aesthetics, and so maybe, I
might ask Ms. Fan as to what she thinks about this question.
Fan Juwan: Thank you very much for the very interesting question, andI also harbor the same thoughts because those times – we cannot go backto those times, so we have to try to – we really don’t know what thesephotographers – the viewers were thinking about, but as I mentioned, there isthat importance of that horizontal plane that they should be captured in thephotos. Of course, there might be a bit of skew or a bit of slanted photos,
but I think when the photographs are developed, maybe it’s possible to makea correction there, but if you are not going to include this in an album, if
you are just looking at a single photograph then it really will be importantthat you do have that level, horizontal [Unclear] line in the photos, and I
have observed many photographs. Then having seen that I can always saythat having just that level plane is important. I think it’s really the viewpointof the photographer who is taking that photo is very important. What he isfeeling as a photographer is important, and I think if you have observed many
works of photography then you know that there are certain works that would
touch your heart. So, while you cannot go back to those days, I think thebasics – because they were taking photographs for records, I think that was
the attention that they were paying to taking the photographs. Well, that is
the answer of your question.
Mitsui Keishi: Thank you. Are there any other questions? Yes, the lady
there.
B: I am very interested in 3D photography, stereoscopic photography. So,
I have one question to Yokosuka Shashin, Christian Polak. I would like toknow how many percentage of the Yokosuka photographs were taken in 3D
photographs, so you think?
Christian Polak: Unfortunately they have not taken any photos in stereo. It
was just Rossier and Paul Champion who had captured these views in stereo.
So, they are the ones who took stereo photos.
Mitsui Keishi: Since we spoke about stereo photos, maybe we should ask
about who has taken photos other than Rossier, in stereo. Can you name any
photographs who took stereo?
Philippe Dallais: This is possible that people used stereoscopic camera to
produce simple visit cards format pictures. This is a big question, and thisis why I say Rossier introduced stereoscopy as a professional because of thequality of the composition and how he worked. At that time, nobody could
take pictures like this. There are some missionaries. There are some otherpeople from America, but they are real amateurs. They take pictures, andsometimes they take only one of the two stereo images and print it instead ofusing it as stereo 3D image. It is very difficult to say who was really the first,
but if we take the criteria of real accomplished photographer, we can say that
Rossier introduced stereoscopy in Japan.

91Christian Polak: The stereo photography, whether it had been taken as acommercial photo is the question here, and Rossier, for example, had worked
for this company, Negretti and Zambra, and so he was hired by that company
to take photos and Paul Champion worked for a company called BKA, andso that was also commercial photography that he was engaged in. So, if you
look at Montgolfier then these are different because he may have taken someartistic work. They were photos for recordkeeping purpose, which had beenordered by his boss to take records of what was going on, and so he had also
taken photos as artistic work, but it was not commercial photos.
Luke Gartlan: So, we know that there were three western missionaries:
Samuel Robbins Brown met another man called Simmons from the US who
arrived on the very day of the opening of Yokohama as a port in 1859, andthey brought photography equipment with them, including stereographic
cameras. Now, in that case, they were not coming – why are missionaries
coming with cameras? Well it seems to be that they saw photography as away of attracting Japanese and potentially converting them. There are allsorts of different reasons why westerners brought cameras with them. It
wasn’t necessarily just commercial, and in their case, the most famous convert
was Shimooka Renjō who did actually convert to Christianity.
So, I just wanted to point out that there are a variety of different reasons,and therefore, to just take an aesthetic approach is not necessarily the only
criterion for studying these photographs. In the case of these missionaries,
one might have understood their success as the way in which the camera andthe camera technology was just of interest to the Japanese at the time andcould therefore bring people into their mission. So, that is another aspectthat we have not discussed at all in this conference.
Mitsui Keishi: Thank you, very much. So, maybe one final question. Yes, inthe second row.
C: I know that the questions are coming from very educated people, but
let me ask you a very simple question. The photos that I had been shown
today, with many of those photos, you showed two examples of each of thesephotos, and why is it that one was scratched out and one was a cleaner photo?
I was wondering why that had been the case, and I am sure some of you
already know the reason behind that.
Mitsui Keishi: So, let me simply respond that. So, there are two photos
where the camera has two lenses, and what it does is that if you take those
two pictures and then you have a dedicated viewer then they can be seen as
a 3D photo. We call these stereo photos or 3D photos, and they had beentaken since the 19th century, and so that has also been a popular medium forphotos. I think it is a good time to mention the exhibit that is going on at
Franco-Japonaise Society. Because this exhibit just started yesterday, there
you will be able to view these stereo photos with special glasses.
You can also see them on the monitors, and because you can see themon monitors, they are much enlarged for you to be able to see those photos,
and so something that you had wondered about. I think you will be able tosee them in the stereoscopic photo as they are supposed to be. Mr. Polakspoke about these. There are commercial photos and then there are also
photos which are taken by non-professional amateur photographers as Prof.
Takahashi mentioned. There might have been different purposes for the92

research on these photos – for taking these pictures. So, there might havebeen a reason for some perhaps for academic reasons or for military reasons
perhaps, but it could have been taken from a personal interest which thendeveloped into the industry of photography and that led to the spread of
the photographic art. So, I think that went on in the Bakumatsu area. So,
maybe, Prof Takahashi would conclude in the comment.
Takahashi Norihide: I would just like to speak about the technology.
The photographs that you saw today, late Bakumatsu, early Meiji, they
are basically taken with wet plates, collodion, and as I mentioned in mypresentation, it actually had to be processed on in-situ. Also, the paper
was not that sensitive. So, they had to really stick it to the plate. So, thephotograph and the glass plate were the same size. The photographs which
you can see in the exhibition are basically created using that technique. So,
in that sense, stereo photography is more the skill that you usually find.
I think it is relatively easier, technically speaking, to take stereo
photographs. The glass plates, when they are very big, are very, very difficult.
I used the word mammoth plate earlier, it is 50 x 60 cm for the glass plate
itself, which means that you need a darkroom where you are taking thephotograph. You have to be able to process it onsite and also to print it. So,
it was very, very difficult and demanding. Only a handful of people could
master that. Also, the plate had to be wet. If it dries out, you can’t takephotographs probably because it is no longer sensitive. So, you set up thecamera and you can’t wait for the best moment to take the photograph ofthe subject which means that if we have a set-up, you have to guess at theappropriate sort of moment to set everything up and then try to take thephotograph.
One of your earlier points which is made about who is good, who is
not so good, I think it really helps if you keep that in mind that this was atechnically demanding skill that they had to master before they could actuallytake photographs themselves, which, I think, helps you to identify who wastruly masterful and who was not so masterful. Speaking about Beato, thebattlefield photographs, this is in the aftermath, immediately after the battle.
So, he was really dodging bullets. He was dodging cannonballs, and that was
the backdrop where he had to identify the spot where he set up his camera
and take the photograph. So, only truly experienced people would be able totake those photographs. I think I should mention that as the background.
Mitsui Keishi: Thank you, very much, indeed. Please make sure that you
are aware that this is going to be completely be hung. Thank you, very muchindeed to everybody. Thank you.
Please take care on your way out. Thank you.

93

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