shows photos of Japan between the 1860s and 1930s. In 1854, Japan opened its doors to the outside world for the first time in more than 200 years. It set in motion a truly astounding transformation. As fate would have it, photography had just been invented. As the old country vanished and a new one was born, daring photographers took photos. Discover what life was like with their rare and precious photographs of old Japan.

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01/01/2027 (Friday)

Photography in Japan 1853-1912 • Terry Bennett

Terry Bennett has been researching 19th century Japanese photography for over 25 years. In this masterpiece he tells us the story of photography in Japan, using 350 rare images. All the known photographers are introduced with details that you will have trouble finding anywhere else. THE best book about early Japanese photography.

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Tags: Unknown • Meiji • Nagasaki • Buildings • City Views
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This postcard of around 1907¹ shows two important buildings on the Bund in Oura-Sagarimatsu. The large white building is the Nagasaki branch of the Hongkong Shanghai Bank, the brown building on the right is the Nagasaki Hotel. At that time, they were right on the edge of Nagasaki harbor and just a short walking distance away from Deshima (also: Dejima) island.

The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Company Limited, now known as HSBC, was established in Hong Kong in March 1865 to finance the growing trade between China and Europe. In 1866, it launched its first branch in Japan.² The building on this photo was designed by Japanese architect Kikutaro Shimoda (1866-1931) and opened in 1905. It still stands and is the only remaining building designed by Shimoda.

The first floor of the three-story building features Chicago-style windows with repetitive curved arches and an arcade. Circular Corinthian columns embrace the second and third floor. The building is crowned with a pediment.

The bank closed its doors in 1931, and in 1940 the building was acquired by Nagasaki Prefecture. It was initially used as headquarters of the Nagasaki Police Department and was later converted into the Reference Library of History and Folk Art. The building once again changed functions when it re-opened as the Memorial Hall in October 1996. It is now a National Important Cultural Asset and the first floor displays the bank’s original interior, with historical floor displays and a tearoom on the other floors.³

Ads for the Hongkong Shanghai Bank and the Nagasaki Hotel from the 1903 edition of A Handbook for Travellers in Japan by Basil Hall Chamberlain and W. B. Mason.

The Nagasaki Hotel was built in 1898 and considered to be one of the finest Western-style hotels in the Far East. The hotel did excellent business until visitors to Nagasaki were restricted during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. This apparently weakened the hotel so much that it wasn’t able to survive the economic depression of the early 1920’s. The doors closed forever in 1924, and soon after the building was pulled down.⁴

1914 (Taisho 3) Map of Nagasaki: 31. Kassui Girls’ School (活水学院); 32. American Consulate; 33. Japan Hotel; 34. Nagasaki Press; 35. British Consulate; 36. Belgian Consulate; 37. Spanish Consulate; 38. U.S. Army Supply Depot; 39. Nagasaki Club; 40. German Consulate; 41. Customs Inspection Office; 42. Hongkong Shanghai Bank; 43. Belle Vue Hotel; 44. Cliff House Hotel; 45. Agency, Russian E. Asiatic Steamship Co.; 46. Russian Consulate.⁵

1928 (Showa 3) Map of Nagasaki: 1. Nagasaki Harbor; 2. Oura Bund; 3. Matsugaebashi on the Matsugaegawa (松ヶ枝川); 4. Customs Inspection Office; 5. Hongkong Shanghai Bank; 6. Oura Church (大浦天主堂). This map dates from 1928, at least 21 years after the photo above was taken and four years after the closing of the Nagasaki Hotel.

¹ I have seen a version of this card with a postmark of July 1907, which determines that the photo must have been taken that year, in 1906, or possibly shortly after the opening of the Hongkong Shanghai Bank in 1905.

² Wikipedia. The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation. Retrieved on 2008-07-29.

³ 長崎県観光情報システム。Hong Kong Shanghai Bank Building. Retrieved on 2008-07-29.

⁴ Nagasaki Foreign Settlement Research Group. Nagasaki Hotel. Retrieved on 2008-07-29.

⁵ (1914) An Official Guide to Eastern Asia: Vol. II South-Western Japan. The Imperial Government Railways, 41.

Photographer: Unknown
Publisher: Ueda
Medium: Postcard
Image Number: 70222-0026
Quote this number when you contact us about licensing this image

Thumbnail URL: http://oldphotosjapan.com/images/99t.jpg

Posted by Kjeld Duits • 2008-08-04

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