There is an old Japanese proverb that says “有為転変 / Ui-tenpen”.
This phrase expresses the fact that everything in this world never stays in one state, but changes according to various factors and circumstances.
The most significant changes in culture and life around people are said to have occurred during the last 100-200 years. From the mid-18th century to the beginning of the 19th century, the world’s production technology developed by leaps and bounds. And the development of civilisation has not stopped since then.
The period from the end of the 19th century to the 20th century, which incorporated large-scale energy development and the extensive use of electrical power, is the Second Industrial Revolution.
The expansion of digital technology and the information society that emerged from the end of the 20th century is the Third Industrial Revolution.
And now we are waiting for the fourth industrial revolution, which is expected to arrive within a few decades (with elements that are, in a sense, unknown).
It is very impossible to talk about all the changes and advances in technology in a limited number of articles, but I thought about one small part of it: the camera.
About 60 years ago, when I was still a child, my father had a camera. I remember it was an Asahi Pentax.
When I look it up now, I find that the price at the time of sale was about 50,000 yen※. It was probably a luxury item that an average family at the time could manage to afford for months or years of hard work. My father used it very carefully. Cameras were still a great asset at that time.
※ Lenses are not included. If converted at current values, it would be about USD 3000-4000.
As time went on, cameras became smaller and more sophisticated, and became a tool that anyone could easily use.
Today, the camera has already abandoned its appearance and become a function of the mobile phone. Of course, there are many people who can use stand-alone cameras and lenses, but this is already the domain of special jobs or hobbies.
In the act of photographing and recording, which has taken root in our daily lives, the stand-alone camera has become a thing of the past.
Cameras used to be the flower of the age. Photography shops, which used to be busy selling film, developing film and taking commemorative photographs, have been forced to downsize in the wake of digitalisation and have disappeared across the board in regional cities like the one where I live.
The circumstances surrounding cameras and photography have now completely transformed, but not only cameras, but also various products and services, social aspects and ideas, all things will never stay within the times… Except in memory and folklore…
The main topic of today’s article is the story of a time when cameras and photography were not yet commonplace and were the skills of a limited number of craftsmen.
The Pentax SP mentioned above is regarded as the model that contributed to the popularisation of SLR cameras. Before that, rangefinder cameras were the norm, and before that, twin-lens reflex cameras with two lenses lined up vertically were the norm.
Even before that, around the time of World War II, the camera was not the preserve of the general public. There is even an anecdote about a Japanese photographer who sold most of his possessions to buy a Leica (made in Germany) camera.
Further back in time, in the 1800s, when cameras themselves were still a rarity, there was a young man who was fascinated by the new technology of photography.
His name was Enami Nobukuni(江南信國), born at the end of the Edo period, and throughout the Meiji and Taisho periods he was a photographic engineer whose name was etched in the history of photography in Japan.
The term ‘photographic technician’ is used because the profession of photography was still in its infancy at the time and the concept of ‘photographer’ as it would later be known was not yet established.
Nobukuni studied under Kazumasa Ogawa, who had studied in the USA and brought collotype plate-making (phototype plate-making) technology to Japan. Nobukuni was eager to learn the cutting-edge technology of plate-making and related skills, and eventually became one of Ogawa’s assistants and studied under him.
At the age of 33, Nobukuni took the opportunity to set up his own business and left Tokyo for Yokohama in Kanagawa Prefecture, where he set up his first studio on Benten Street.
Nobukuni began work in his new location, and formed friendships with senior photographers “Tamamura Kozaburo” and “Kusakabe Kinbei”, who were already practising in the same area, and expanded his circle of activities. He refined his own skills and sensibility, and his work became more stable.
The Meiji era was a time of upheaval, turmoil and the breath of up-and-coming people, so much so that it was said that “a hundred years in Europe is ten years in Japan”. Yokohama also experienced a unique climate and prosperity, with many foreigners visiting and staying in the city. Nobukuni also worked successfully as a photographer in this climate, but he had a unique characteristic that set him apart from other photographers.
The environment surrounding “photography” in this period still belonged to a few people. It was underdeveloped, both in terms of “photographic expression” and in terms of the “diversity of photographic services”.
At that time, the main purpose of portrait photography was to record commemorations and awards, and many of the clients were people of social standing and wealth.
The use was similar to that of commemorative busts, which are still occasionally seen today.
Many buildings and landscapes were also photographed with the intention of recording or commemorating them, and the most the average person would have been familiar with would have been a “picture postcard”.
However, Nobukuni’s photographic activities were not limited to mere commercial portraiture.
・He took numerous snapshots of ordinary people, scenes and snapshots.
・He also extended the expressiveness of his black-and-white photographs by colourising them by hand.
・He took stereo-photographs for stereoscopic purposes.
・He worked on photographic reproduction and enlargement services.
・He produced small slide films for projectors.
・He published a series of landscape photographs in album books.
・He provided photographic images for newspapers, publishers and advertising.
・He set up a partnership with an international photographic studio.
Nobukuni had established most of the photographic services that are taken for granted today in this period.
He was also very active in foreign contacts and continued his vigorous activities under his own trademark “T. Enami”.
Nobukuni is said to have been an extremely prolific photographer for his time.
As a result, many of his photographs have survived, and even today we can get a clear picture of the lifestyles and customs of the people of Japan during the Meiji and Taisho eras.
“滄海桑田 / Soukai-Souden” The metaphor of a place that used to be a blue sea field but is now a mulberry field shows that the changes in the world over time have been greater than imagined.
The city of Yokohama and the circumstances surrounding photography have undergone a major transformation from 100 years ago.
Today, there are very few vestiges of those days left and only a few people know the name Enami Nobukuni.
However, his achievements and works, which, with his ingenuity and inquisitiveness in the early days, built photographic techniques and services that continue to this day, have not been lost. And the memory of his passion will never be lost.
・The results of the American version of Google Image Search can be found here.
・Stereo photos taken by Nobukuni Enami can be found here.
・And a GIF of the stereo photo can be found here.