Not only was Hikoma Ueno the first photographer, but he was also the first master of it. Ueno created beautifully composed images with a lot of thought and consideration before each capture. I am fascinated at the realism and the emotions he was able to capture. Thanks for sharing.
It’s insane to know that photography was imported in Japan, and took a bit of time to gain popularity, and now, the country is the leader of photography devices in the world.
During that time, Japan was distrustful to oursiders and didn't want to change from what they knew. They had a system of order and discipline that they didn't want to change and saw outsiders as a threat to that order. You can still see that mindset in the Japanese today. With the introduction of western technology it broadened the capability of the Japanese to be more creative in their understanding of how it could benefit them. During their isolation from the world they were very limited in what they could invent so stayed with what they knew and perfected every craft and skill they had. Again, you can see this in what they produce today. You will find artisans of every craft from food to fruit scissors. You have to admire their dedication to attaining perfection. There's only two cultures that have ever been a benefit to mankind. The Orientals and the Europeans. Everyone else has just not done anything to advance humanity. The Japanese weren't limited by their intellect, only their resources to develop. When they saw what the world could offer and was open to new resources they hit the ground running inventing and refining everything along the way. It wasn't that they didn't like the camera, it's that they didn't understand how it worked so were distrustful of it until they understood it wasn't magic or some mystical device. Every culture is afraid of technology until it's explained to them then they adopt it when they see it's harmless. It just takes some time to adjust.
They were fighters when the Tokugawa Period started around 1600, but by 1868 when the samurai system ended and they lost all their privileges and salaries, they were basically bureaucrats who worked for their Daimyo and his Han, by that time. They still always carried their swords, but they were not really fighters any more as all wars and fighting had been stopped by the Tokugawa Shoganate in early 1600. At any one time samurai only comprised 5% to 7% of the population. When the new republic was instituted around 1868, all samurai and daimyo lost everything, their Han salaries and lands, their special privileges like wearing swords - which were banned by the new government. A government made up of former samurai for the most part. The aristocracy kept their ranks and privileges for the most part at that time, but they lost all of that in 1945 after WWII under the U.S. occupation. Only the imperial family kept their rank, privileges, lands, etc. One of Japan’s recent Prime Ministers liked to joke that if it was still the Tokugawa era, he would have been one of the top Daimyo, Han ruler. So evidently, his family still remembered all that old family history. And he was head of the clan,… if there still was a clan. But no one really cares about that now. I know of businessmen whose families were samurai back in the day - they are just regular people, no special privileges, nothing in their heads about all that old history.
@@PammellamTwo things i remember when visiting Japan for three straight summers in the late 1960s.While my father was stationed in Okinawa.We visited two spas that were established in the 700s.STILL RUN BY THE DESCENDANTS OF THE ORIGINAL FOUNDERS.And our Japanese host who had in his possession family heirlooms dating from as early as the 10th&11th centuries.The swords did not have the signature curvature from later periods.The original armor and battle helmets of ancestors leading up to the battle of Sekigahara.He even had the original poems of ancestors who then committed Seppuku.Just fascinating.Talk about cultural continuity.The Host told me that MacArthur suggested that the surviving descendants of the old clans and cadet branches turn in all of their Samurai Swords and other heirlooms.His family did turn in a few items.But hid all of the rest.What fascinated me even more was that some of the Noh and Kabuki actors were 15th generation.Meaning someone within each family was obligated to carry certain traditions forward.Fascinating culture and country.
@@frederickgriffith7004 Oh, that’s just amazing. I just learned of that Inn where you stayed,… run by the same family! What a treat! There is also the Kongō Gumi Co., Ltd. (株式会社金剛組, Kabushiki Gaisha Kongō Gumi) is a Japanese construction company, (building temples and such) founded in 578 A.D making it over 1400 old they say and it’s still in operation. I came with my dad in the 60s who was at Atsui Naval Base near Tokyo and later at Yokosuka.
@Pammellam basically they took an amazing culture full of traditions and appreciation for the natural world and turned it into another super consumerist westernized country. The previous system before the empire was much more decentralized which gave people in local jurisdictions more control over their lives. That got all replaced by central gov institutions like everywhere else in the world
As an avid photograper since I started started in college 50 years ago with a Yashica 35mm SLR. You have to be able to have images that touches the individual viewing them. I have spent a number years in Japan over the years. I love the culture and the people. My daughters reside in Japan and are beginning college this year. I will share this video with them. They will enjoy it immensely. Japan is a beautiful land of wonder.
What a lovely and informative video, on a subject about Japan that I had not heard about before. My parents met & married in Japan after WWII. They went to Nara on their honeymoon. My mother & her Brownie camera went everywhere together. I have many touching photos of hers of the people, landscape, every day life. Thank you for posting!
I’ve always loved Japan and its culture. I was fortunate enough to take Japanese language for my language elective in high school. The story of the Meiji Restoration is something I can’t get enough of. Thanks for the story. You’ve got a new subscriber.
Very well done and informative video, but there is one problem. Ueno Hikoma was not the first professional Japanese photographer. Predating him was Ukai Gyokusen, also called Tamagawa Sanji, who opened his first photo studio in Edo in either 1860 or 1861 after learning his craft from Orrin Freeman in Yokohama. Ueno did not open his first studio until 1862. Then there is Nakahama Manjiro (John Manjiro), the famous shipwrecked sailor who was taken to America in 1841 and returned to Japan in 1851. It is documented that he mastered photography by October 1860 and briefly operated a photo studio in Edo between 1860 to 1862. These two photographers are often overshadowed by Ueno and Shimooka Renjo who were both photographic pioneers, but not the first photographers in Japan. Much of this information and research was provided by photo historian Terry Bennett of the UK, one of the top Japanese photo historians in the world.
Thank you so much for the all too brief glimpse of this most important figure. I hope there have been appropriate retrospectives and exhibits of his contributions to your country’s history.
Great to see these photos of a bygone era in Japan. It's like looking through a window into the long ago past. I wonder what these samurai would think about Japan today.
Excellent documentary on such a valuable subject. Thank you for this educational enlightenment on a little studied sector here, in the United States. You are much appreciated.
Not everyone can be a photographer. Everyone can take pictures, everyone can splash paint on a canvas, everyone can post on social media, but not everyone is a photographer, an artist or a philosopher.
People in photos back then were almost always serious looking partly because of the long exposures needed to obtain the image. They had to hold their pose for long moments, and since facial expressions are difficult to maintain they didn't want to risk ending up with blurry faces, even if by chance they actually wanted to smile or something like that, which would not have been a norm, anyway, especially for people of rank. Portraits of people have always been traditionally expressionless--in painting, as well--until the invention of photography and the advent of fast exposure. Smiling for the camera is a new human behavior.
Absolutely wonderful video on an extremely interesting topic. So thank you for that. Your efforts & tone are very much appreciated. As it happens I am just looking into websites for my hobby and will looking into your sponsors to explore what they offer that might help me with website, photography and so forth. Thank you very much my friend. Domo Arigato Gozai Mashita.
This was a very interesting video. I'm interested in this period. What a great time to be a photographer. It's like walking the streets of the west taking pictures of Wild Bill Hickock or Wyatt Earp. It's a moment in time that will never come again.
It was William Adams who was known in Japan as Miura Anjin and advisor of Tokugawa Ieyasu who was the cause for the closing down of Japan and monopoly of Dutch trade. He as Englishman was the pilot of the Dutch ship "De Liefde". The story is well described in the book and old and current (now on Disney+) miniseries Shogun by James Clavell.
Hi There: It was great to see some intellectually stimulating Japan content, much better than the usual stuff. If you are doing the whole Nagasaki thing, you might do something on Shimabara. Then again, no photos back then.
I'm very interested in that time in Japan. It seems as soon as Japan got a hold of technology they ran with it. I can't imagine the change of life between 1860 to the WW1 1914. Japan changed a lot.
Hikoma Ueno's father was not "Dutch". He was a Japanese who studied Dutch science, gunnery and surveying and became a specialist in gunpowder. He indeed imported the first camera, not by travelling abroad but by buying it from the Dutch at Deshima.
Hello Toshiki, thank you for this interesting video. I loved the pictures and the way you talk of Ueno Hikoma. However, before the Dutch, in 1542 or 1543, were the Portuguese that arrived first at the island of Tanegashima, Kagoshima prefecture. Greetings!
Thanks for watching! Yeah, some countries were already there before the Dutch, but what I meant was the only western country allowed to negotiate with Japan during the isolation policy was the Dutch.
Hello! Thank you very much for your kind response. However, allow me to send you the following text, taken from Infopedia: "The Portuguese arrived in Japan in 1543. (...) They were the first Europeans to arrive in Japan. (...) Portuguese traders from the beginning began to trade with Japan. From 1550 onwards, trade with Japan became a monopoly, under the leadership of a captain-major. As in 1557 the Portuguese established themselves in Macau, China, this will help trade with Japan, mainly of silver. It was in 1549 that the first arrived, including Saint Francis Xavier, who progressively penetrated Japan, arriving in Nagasaki in 1569, which was donated to the Jesuits in 1580. And between 1582 and 1590 the Japan's first embassy to Europe. In 1587 there was a change in the position of protecting missionaries, with the Jesuits being expelled. Contact between the two civilizations left lasting marks. The Portuguese language was, in the beginning, the means of communication between foreigners and Japan. Even today there are countless words of Portuguese origin [as well as culinary recipes]. It was with the Portuguese that the metallic type printing press entered Japan.(...) It was also the Portuguese who introduced firearms to Japan, in addition to new knowledge in the fields of medicine, astronomy, mathematics, in addition to teaching the art of Portuguese navigation." It is with pleasure that I watch many Japanese vlogs and about Japan, as well as reading a lot of Japanese authors, as I have a huge fascination and admiration for japanese people and for your beautiful country! Kind regards@@ToshikiYukawaphoto
I've always wondered why the Samurai in these early pictures look so dark skinned. Normally the Japanese are actually very white almost pale. Were these Samurai who spend most of the time in the sun overseeing farmers and other lower classes?
The lack of people smiling in the images may be because in wet plate photography the exposure times can be quite long and it would be difficult or awkward to hold a smile. The image exposure speed is based on the amount of UV light. Inside a studio with little UV, the exposure time could be upwards of 20-30 seconds. Photographers often had metal braces behind their subjects to hold them still. Fun fact: in wet plate photography blue is seen as white in the final image. That is why black tattoos (which is really a blue ink) disappear in wet plate images.
Not only was Hikoma Ueno the first photographer, but he was also the first master of it. Ueno created beautifully composed images with a lot of thought and consideration before each capture. I am fascinated at the realism and the emotions he was able to capture. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for watching! I agree, we still can learn a lot from his quality. I recommend you to look up his work, there is a lot more.
It’s insane to know that photography was imported in Japan, and took a bit of time to gain popularity, and now, the country is the leader of photography devices in the world.
During that time, Japan was distrustful to oursiders and didn't want to change from what they knew. They had a system of order and discipline that they didn't want to change and saw outsiders as a threat to that order. You can still see that mindset in the Japanese today.
With the introduction of western technology it broadened the capability of the Japanese to be more creative in their understanding of how it could benefit them. During their isolation from the world they were very limited in what they could invent so stayed with what they knew and perfected every craft and skill they had. Again, you can see this in what they produce today. You will find artisans of every craft from food to fruit scissors. You have to admire their dedication to attaining perfection. There's only two cultures that have ever been a benefit to mankind. The Orientals and the Europeans. Everyone else has just not done anything to advance humanity.
The Japanese weren't limited by their intellect, only their resources to develop. When they saw what the world could offer and was open to new resources they hit the ground running inventing and refining everything along the way. It wasn't that they didn't like the camera, it's that they didn't understand how it worked so were distrustful of it until they understood it wasn't magic or some mystical device. Every culture is afraid of technology until it's explained to them then they adopt it when they see it's harmless. It just takes some time to adjust.
Whoa...that is actually really interesting. I'd never considered that. Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fuji...the list is endless.
Leica and Hasselblad would beg to differ. Also, Zeiss lenses are used worldwide.
@@blandrooker6541 they're not leaders, they're niche players. Most Zeiss lens are made in Japan, lol
"insane": in a state of mind which prevents normal perception, behavior, or social interaction; seriously mentally ill.
Those photos of the Samurai are amazing. They definitely looked like people you don’t want to mess with.
They were fighters when the Tokugawa Period started around 1600, but by 1868 when the samurai system ended and they lost all their privileges and salaries, they were basically bureaucrats who worked for their Daimyo and his Han, by that time. They still always carried their swords, but they were not really fighters any more as all wars and fighting had been stopped by the Tokugawa Shoganate in early 1600. At any one time samurai only comprised 5% to 7% of the population.
When the new republic was instituted around 1868, all samurai and daimyo lost everything, their Han salaries and lands, their special privileges like wearing swords - which were banned by the new government. A government made up of former samurai for the most part.
The aristocracy kept their ranks and privileges for the most part at that time, but they lost all of that in 1945 after WWII under the U.S. occupation. Only the imperial family kept their rank, privileges, lands, etc.
One of Japan’s recent Prime Ministers liked to joke that if it was still the Tokugawa era, he would have been one of the top Daimyo, Han ruler. So evidently, his family still remembered all that old family history. And he was head of the clan,… if there still was a clan. But no one really cares about that now. I know of businessmen whose families were samurai back in the day - they are just regular people, no special privileges, nothing in their heads about all that old history.
@@PammellamTwo things i remember when visiting Japan for three straight summers in the late 1960s.While my father was stationed in Okinawa.We visited two spas that were established in the 700s.STILL RUN BY THE DESCENDANTS OF THE ORIGINAL FOUNDERS.And our Japanese host who had in his possession family heirlooms dating from as early as the 10th&11th centuries.The swords did not have the signature curvature from later periods.The original armor and battle helmets of ancestors leading up to the battle of Sekigahara.He even had the original poems of ancestors who then committed Seppuku.Just fascinating.Talk about cultural continuity.The Host told me that MacArthur suggested that the surviving descendants of the old clans and cadet branches turn in all of their Samurai Swords and other heirlooms.His family did turn in a few items.But hid all of the rest.What fascinated me even more was that some of the Noh and Kabuki actors were 15th generation.Meaning someone within each family was obligated to carry certain traditions forward.Fascinating culture and country.
@@frederickgriffith7004 Oh, that’s just amazing. I just learned of that Inn where you stayed,… run by the same family! What a treat! There is also the Kongō Gumi Co., Ltd. (株式会社金剛組, Kabushiki Gaisha Kongō Gumi) is a Japanese construction company, (building temples and such) founded in 578 A.D making it over 1400 old they say and it’s still in operation. I came with my dad in the 60s who was at Atsui Naval Base near Tokyo and later at Yokosuka.
@Pammellam basically they took an amazing culture full of traditions and appreciation for the natural world and turned it into another super consumerist westernized country. The previous system before the empire was much more decentralized which gave people in local jurisdictions more control over their lives. That got all replaced by central gov institutions like everywhere else in the world
As an avid photograper since I started started in college 50 years ago with a Yashica 35mm SLR. You have to be able to have images that touches the individual viewing them. I have spent a number years in Japan over the years. I love the culture and the people. My daughters reside in Japan and are beginning college this year. I will share this video with them. They will enjoy it immensely. Japan is a beautiful land of wonder.
Amazing and fascinating; the old photographs of Japan transitioning from the Edo era to the Meiji era are fantastic.
That is a fascinating story and great to see them, thank you. Also a thoughtful finishing comment that you still think of them in your photography.
Glad you enjoyed it
What a lovely and informative video, on a subject about Japan that I had not heard about before. My parents met & married in Japan after WWII. They went to Nara on their honeymoon. My mother & her Brownie camera went everywhere together. I have many touching photos of hers of the people, landscape, every day life. Thank you for posting!
I hope the Japanese never change. Glorious Japan, I love what little I can understand of their culture.
The Japanese murdered 30,000,000 Chinese civilians. 5 times as many people as Hitler killed. Let’s remember both side of Japanese history.
They have changed a lot
Amazing pictures and story! Japanese culture is probably the most fascinating and mysterious of all, so much depth to it..
great to see this preserved Memory of the Great & Rich japanese culture! quite moving to see their faces and costumes. thank you for this video
A mesmerizing documentary! Kudos! This was truly informative, and fascinating!
I really enjoyed this. I love the editing and narrative. Really nice job. I look forward to watching more of your videos.
I’ve always loved Japan and its culture. I was fortunate enough to take Japanese language for my language elective in high school.
The story of the Meiji Restoration is something I can’t get enough of. Thanks for the story. You’ve got a new subscriber.
That was wonderful-thank you for the brief education.
Thank you for watching!
Wow! Saigo in western dress, so cool. I spent a lot of time in Kagoshima City in Kyushu where he died.
Very well done and informative video, but there is one problem. Ueno Hikoma was not the first professional Japanese photographer. Predating him was Ukai Gyokusen, also called Tamagawa Sanji, who opened his first photo studio in Edo in either 1860 or 1861 after learning his craft from Orrin Freeman in Yokohama. Ueno did not open his first studio until 1862. Then there is Nakahama Manjiro (John Manjiro), the famous shipwrecked sailor who was taken to America in 1841 and returned to Japan in 1851. It is documented that he mastered photography by October 1860 and briefly operated a photo studio in Edo between 1860 to 1862. These two photographers are often overshadowed by Ueno and Shimooka Renjo who were both photographic pioneers, but not the first photographers in Japan. Much of this information and research was provided by photo historian Terry Bennett of the UK, one of the top Japanese photo historians in the world.
Thanks for sharing, I'll study more!
Thank you for the history lesson. I will be traveling to Japan for the umteenth time next week.
Enjoy your travel!
Superb video. Thank you very much. すごいなビデオ、ありがとうございます。
素晴らしいビデオです。ありがとうございます。
Fantastic video. Thank you so much for posting this piece of Japanese history and culture.
Thank you for making this.
Great video. Thanks for making it and sharing.
Thank you so much for the all too brief glimpse of this most important figure. I hope there have been appropriate retrospectives and exhibits of his contributions to your country’s history.
I am a beginner photographer, and very much appreciate your video. Quite fascinating.
Fabulous report
Great to see these photos of a bygone era in Japan. It's like looking through a window into the long ago past. I wonder what these samurai would think about Japan today.
That was an excellent presentation. Some of the photos and drawings are very unique, and special.
Really good content, historical fascinating!
Such a great video
Absolutely beautiful. Thank you so much for sharing.
The time i wish i was born in the Samurai era.Thanks for this great photos
Excellent documentary on such a valuable subject. Thank you for this educational enlightenment on a little studied sector here, in the United States. You are much appreciated.
Very good. Looking forward to your next video as always.
Thanks!
Thank you so much sharing Japanese history. ⭐️
Wonderful piece of history. Thank you for sharing.
Fascinating and moving. Thank you.
Not everyone can be a photographer. Everyone can take pictures, everyone can splash paint on a canvas, everyone can post on social media, but not everyone is a photographer, an artist or a philosopher.
He took indeed beautiful images. Thank you for telling us this history.
Thank you for watching!
Such beautiful historic pictures . Thank you for sharing 😊 .
Excellent retrospective! Everyone can be a photographer today, but not everyone can be great at it! Great video and thanks for sharing!
Thanks for watching!
These were eight well spent minutes of my life. Thank you
Nice video, thanks! Historically rich and meaningful.
Thank you for the fascinating, informative video.
Thanks!
Great work…Thank you Toshiki👍🙏🏻
Thank you too!
People in photos back then were almost always serious looking partly because of the long exposures needed to obtain the image. They had to hold their pose for long moments, and since facial expressions are difficult to maintain they didn't want to risk ending up with blurry faces, even if by chance they actually wanted to smile or something like that, which would not have been a norm, anyway, especially for people of rank. Portraits of people have always been traditionally expressionless--in painting, as well--until the invention of photography and the advent of fast exposure. Smiling for the camera is a new human behavior.
Fascinating, thank you.
Thanks for sharing! I learned something new today. The only photo I knew before was the one of Sakamoto Ryouma.
Fascinating moments and a beautiful video, thanks Toshiki for sharing
Glad you enjoyed it
Thank you for your video. Real very interesting stories, also, fascinating photographs.
This man's story would make a fantastic movie! Has one ever been made about him?
Absolutely wonderful video on an extremely interesting topic. So thank you for that. Your efforts & tone are very much appreciated.
As it happens I am just looking into websites for my hobby and will looking into your sponsors to explore what they offer that might help me with website, photography and so forth. Thank you very much my friend. Domo Arigato Gozai Mashita.
Excellent video. Your love of photography and its history are very well presented here. Great job.
Glad you enjoyed it
Interesting video, thank you for creating and sharing.
Another interesting and well informed Film. Good work.
Glad you enjoyed it
Domo arigatougozaimasu for this informative and enlightening video. 🇯🇵❤️🙂
Brilliant video - very informative Toshiki
Glad you enjoyed it!
This was a very interesting video. I'm interested in this period. What a great time to be a photographer. It's like walking the streets of the west taking pictures of Wild Bill Hickock or Wyatt Earp. It's a moment in time that will never come again.
Really interesting bit of history. Thanks for the video.
Glad you enjoyed it
Wow, thank you for the most interesting history of photography in Edo-Meiji period. So interesting!
My pleasure!
This video is beautiful. Thank you.
Very nice..thx for posting this.
Well done! Very interesting!
Wonderful work !
Excellent perspective of what is good and unique about photography production
Much appreciated!
This is so fascinating. Thank you for sharing this story. Subscribed!
Awesome, thank you!
It was William Adams who was known in Japan as Miura Anjin and advisor of Tokugawa Ieyasu who was the cause for the closing down of Japan and monopoly of Dutch trade. He as Englishman was the pilot of the Dutch ship "De Liefde". The story is well described in the book and old and current (now on Disney+) miniseries Shogun by James Clavell.
What is photography? It's a mysterious magic which can capture anything! How profound. Excellent, informative and entertaining video. Thanks
Glad you enjoyed it!
it is so moving to see thse great Samurai of the Meiji Restoration
The photos are amazing
Thank you from Australia
this is a great video!
Hi There:
It was great to see some intellectually stimulating Japan content, much better than the usual stuff. If you are doing the whole Nagasaki thing, you might do something on Shimabara. Then again, no photos back then.
These Samurai are the tail end of the Samurai. Would of loved to see how the Samurai from The Sengoku period looked.
These photos are still beautiful.
Amazing. Thank you.
This video was awesome, super inspiring to make you want to create
Thanks!
The song is Cold by Anthony Lazaro.
That was fascinating and informative. Is there a collection of early Japanese photography in any of the museums?
Thanks for sharing this valuable information. A+
My pleasure!
There is an error at the start. The Tokugawa Shogunate (and so the edo period) began in 1603, not 1633.
I'm very interested in that time in Japan. It seems as soon as Japan got a hold of technology they ran with it. I can't imagine the change of life between 1860 to the WW1 1914. Japan changed a lot.
Fascinating! Japan has changed so much, so quickly.
Thanks!
Hikoma Ueno's father was not "Dutch". He was a Japanese who studied Dutch science, gunnery and surveying and became a specialist in gunpowder. He indeed imported the first camera, not by travelling abroad but by buying it from the Dutch at Deshima.
excelent video. I'm hoping to see more of your work.
Thanks! I'll make more.
Hello Toshiki, thank you for this interesting video. I loved the pictures and the way you talk of Ueno Hikoma. However, before the Dutch, in 1542 or 1543, were the Portuguese that arrived first at the island of Tanegashima, Kagoshima prefecture. Greetings!
Thanks for watching!
Yeah, some countries were already there before the Dutch, but what I meant was the only western country allowed to negotiate with Japan during the isolation policy was the Dutch.
Hello! Thank you very much for your kind response. However, allow me to send you the following text, taken from Infopedia: "The Portuguese arrived in Japan in 1543. (...) They were the first Europeans to arrive in Japan. (...) Portuguese traders from the beginning began to trade with Japan. From 1550 onwards, trade with Japan became a monopoly, under the leadership of a captain-major. As in 1557 the Portuguese established themselves in Macau, China, this will help trade with Japan, mainly of silver. It was in 1549 that the first arrived, including Saint Francis Xavier, who progressively penetrated Japan, arriving in Nagasaki in 1569, which was donated to the Jesuits in 1580. And between 1582 and 1590 the Japan's first embassy to Europe. In 1587 there was a change in the position of protecting missionaries, with the Jesuits being expelled.
Contact between the two civilizations left lasting marks. The Portuguese language was, in the beginning, the means of communication between foreigners and Japan. Even today there are countless words of Portuguese origin [as well as culinary recipes]. It was with the Portuguese that the metallic type printing press entered Japan.(...) It was also the Portuguese who introduced firearms to Japan, in addition to new knowledge in the fields of medicine, astronomy, mathematics, in addition to teaching the art of Portuguese navigation." It is with pleasure that I watch many Japanese vlogs and about Japan, as well as reading a lot of Japanese authors, as I have a huge fascination and admiration for japanese people and for your beautiful country! Kind regards@@ToshikiYukawaphoto
I've always wondered why the Samurai in these early pictures look so dark skinned. Normally the Japanese are actually very white almost pale. Were these Samurai who spend most of the time in the sun overseeing farmers and other lower classes?
What is the song/artist playing in the background with the bass guitar and solo make singer?
world class content
The lack of people smiling in the images may be because in wet plate photography the exposure times can be quite long and it would be difficult or awkward to hold a smile. The image exposure speed is based on the amount of UV light. Inside a studio with little UV, the exposure time could be upwards of 20-30 seconds. Photographers often had metal braces behind their subjects to hold them still. Fun fact: in wet plate photography blue is seen as white in the final image. That is why black tattoos (which is really a blue ink) disappear in wet plate images.
Thanks for sharing. Very helpful.
Very interesting, thanks for sharing.
Glad you enjoyed it
Thank you so much .
It would have been interesting to see what cameras were being used in this period.
Very Excellent. Thank you
Excellent. I wish it was longer though. Maybe more videos about other Japanese photographers?
Thank you for watching! Do you think it's a good idea to make more videos like this?
@@ToshikiYukawaphoto Yes! I would love to see more!
Brilliant. Thank you.
Great you share this....
great video Thanks
Great video
Been at Felice Beato photo show just few months ago at Japanese culture institute in Rome, it was impressive.
Beautiful story...
One of Hikoma’s descendants worked for Canon Marketing Japan as a sales manager.