Welcome, all who like old Photos of Japan !

YOU ARE ONE OF OVER 90,000 VISITORS TO THIS SITE.

Two Geisha and a Maiko Looking at Stereoviews in T. Enami's Studio.Ca.1898-1907. A nice 3-D version of the above is shown on the Home Page. Scroll way down to see it.

IF YOU HAVE REACHED THIS PAGE DIRECTLY FROM AN OUTSIDE LINK, YOU ARE ON PAGE TWO.

PAGE ONE (HOME) CONTAINS BACKGROUND COMMENTARY, WHILE THIS PAGE CONTAINS MORE TECHNICAL DETAILS ABOUT ENAMI'S STUDIO OUTPUT AND PROFESSIONAL PHASES OF HIS LIFE.

FEEL FREE TO ROAM AROUND AND LET YOUR EYES CHERRY-PICK WHAT INTERESTS YOU.

PLEASE USE THE EDIT > FIND FUNCTIONS OF YOUR TOOL BAR TO QUICKLY ACCESS ANY NAMES OR SUBJECTS OF INTEREST. OTHERWISE, BEGIN SCROLLING DOWN FOR A TREASURE-TROVE OF RARE AND BEAUTIFUL PHOTOS OF OLD JAPAN. ENJOY !

Enami's old Meiji-era eyes are upon you !

CLICK BELOW FOR A SHORT, MUSICAL INTRODUCTION TO SOME OF ENAMI'S 3-D WORK FEATURING CLASSIC STEREO IMAGES PROCESSED WITH EXPERIMENTAL SOFTWARE. THEN, RETURN TO THIS PAGE FOR A LONG SCROLL-DOWN THAT REVEALS HIS MASSIVE CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE JAPANESE WORLD OF 19TH & 20TH CENTURY PHOTOGRAPHY :

T. ENAMI 3-D CONVERSIONS On YouTube

RIGHT :

SELF PORTRAIT OF JAPANESE PHOTOGRAPHER T. ENAMI WEARING SAMURAI ARMOR, TAKING A REST BETWEEN POSES IN HIS YOKOHAMA STUDIO, CA.1898-1900.

NEXT PHOTO BELOW :

NOT ENAMI, BUT THE SAME ARMOR WORN BY AN UNKNOWN MODEL FOR ENAMI'S ALBUMEN PRINT AND LANTERN-SLIDE No.581 "JAPANESE ANCIENT WARRIOR".

ALTHOUGH THIS SITE AND ITS ILLUSTRATIONS ARE DEDICATED TO T. ENAMI, OTHER WELL-KNOWN JAPANESE PHOTOGRAPHERS WHO OPERATED DURING THE MEIJI-ERA (1868-1912) ARE MENTIONED THROUGHOUT THE COMMENTS.

I HOPE YOU FIND THE STORY AND DATA BOTH INTERESTING AND HELPFUL. FOR THOSE WHO ARE HERE PRIMARILY TO LOOK AT THE IMAGES, I HOPE THAT YOU EXPERIENCE SOME ENJOYMENT IN GAZING AT A FEW OF ENAMI'S"LOST PICTURES" OF OLD JAPAN.

THOSE THAT LIVE FOR DISCOVERING NEW DATA AND CONNECTING THE DOTS WILL NO DOUBT FIND SOME EYE-OPENING REVELATIONS HERE.

OF COURSE, WE ALL LOVE KIMBEI KUSAKABE AND THE REST OF THOSE ILLUSTRIOUS JAPANESE PIONEERS OF PHOTOGRAPHY WHO GOT THEIR START LONG BEFORE ENAMI OPENED HIS OWN MEIJI-ERA STUDIO. THEIR BEST WORK IS ENOUGH TO TAKE YOUR BREATH AWAY.

HOWEVER, ENAMI ALSO HAD HIS FANS AND FRIENDS, BOTH AS A PERSON AND AS A PHOTOGRAPHER. THERE WAS NOBODY QUITE LIKE HIM, AND HIS LABORS WERE APPRECIATED BY MANY.

AS YOU SCROLL DOWN THESE PAGES, FOR A FEW MOMENTS YOU MAY STEP INTO ENAMI'S SHOES, AND TAKE A PEAK THROUGH HIS LENS.

LIKE SO MANY OTHERS --- SOME NOW FAMOUS, BUT MOST BEING FORGOTTEN --- ENAMI DEDICATED HIS LIFE TO CAPTURING, AS BOTH ART AND DOCUMENT,A WORLD THAT WAS QUICKLY VANISHING BEFORE HIS EYES.

AS THIS SITE IS A PERSONAL HOMAGE TO ENAMI, YOU WILL FIND SOME AMATEUR ELEMENTS, AND THE OCCASIONAL PITFALL. AT ALL TIMES, PLEASE "EAT THE MEAT, AND SPIT OUT THE BONES" WHILE DIGGING FOR VISUAL TREASURE.

DISCOVERING THE OCCASIONAL GEM OF A PICTURE, OR ODD BIT OF INFORMATION, WILL HOPEFULLY MAKE THE SCROLLING WELL WORTH IT.

Mount Fuji and Boatmen in the Early Morning Light.

On the Shore of Lake Yamanaka. Ca.1907.

The Boatman on his way. Crossing the lake in Fuji's Reflection.

Ca.1907. From a Stereoview.

Mount Fuji from the Shores of Lake Kawaguchi. Ca.1907

"....Most of us who collect, sell, or curate old photographs of Japan never really heard of T. Enami. So, where does he fit in, and what did he do....?"

A bit further below, you will find a still-growing list of thirty two random contributions made by Enami to the photographic legacy of Japan. But first, here is Enami's own short introduction to himself taken right from his view catalog, and then a few nominal words to provide context...

Introduction page from Enami's Print and Lantern-Slide Catalog, ca.1900-05.

The general wording seen above was fairly common to all photographic self-promotion during the Meiji-era, and actually contains less specifics than some of his studio ads which he placed in various guide books of the time. The first-person "my Studio" of the lead sentence is a nice touch that preserves Enami as a man at work with his camera, instead of as a Trade Name to be treated as just more "photographer data" from from the past.

Street Sign detail from a ca.1900-05 Yokohama postcard

A lot of fuss (and rightly so) is made over the beautiful images of Enami's "elder brothers in photography" --- KIMBEI, TAMAMURA, USUI, KAJIMA, SUZUKI, ESAKI, and others with whom he shared the same market during all or part of the last two decades of the Meiji era and beyond. Even Enami's photography teacher, K. OGAWA, who was actually a year younger than Enami, was still his "elder" in terms of experience.

However, Enami did not allow the over-shadowing reputations of these well-established "elders" to deter him from either working closely with many of them, or from establishing a style and quality in some formats that many in his day preferred over the images produced by his above-mentioned contemporaries.

To many whose lives revolved around photography --- including both Japanese and foreign professionals, as well as serious amateurs --- Enami was not just a photographer, but a "photographers photographer" in all that he did, being appreciated and called on by friends and associates who relied on his abilities during his many years behind the lens.

ABOVE : One of the earliest know photographs of Enami's relatively small, but highly-productive studio at No.9 Benten Street in Yokohama, ca.1894-95. Perhaps that is Enami himself, or an assistant standing in the doorway. A large, sample portrait is on display. What appears to be part of a glass skylight is seen behind bars on the second floor. I assume that larger skylights were incorporated into another part of the building. Photo possibly taken by K. Tamamura who took the photo below.

BELOW : Detail from the earliest known image of T. Enami's studio taken between 1892 and 1893. (Full albumen print is not shown). It was photographed by Enami's friendly competitor and neighbor Kozaburo Tamamura, whose studio was located at No.2 Benten Street. The pre-1894 date of the image is known by the missing landmark "Clock Tower Building". It would be built in 1894 just down the street on the right hand side, and appear in endless views and postcards as the most recognizable landmark of Benten Street.

Other images of Enami's studio -- both interior and exterior views -- are shown farther down on this page.

While offering many of the same services and productions as his contemporaries, he also engaged in other activities that made him unique. This claim will be borne out by the list offered just below. Further, while no photographer did "everything", Enami worked and published in more processes and formats than any other Japanese photographer of his time.

He was one of only a few photographers born during Japan's old Edo-Bakumatsu period, who went on to photograph right through to the Showa period of Emperor Hirohito.

Enami was also one of the few to experience, and then successfully outgrow his roots as a traditional maker of the classic, large-format "Yokohama Shashin" albums. While successfully embracing the smaller stereoview and lantern slide formats, he added to that a portfolio of Taisho-era "street photography" that maintained his own unique and artistic content.

Over the years, he became a living link between the style of the Meiji-era masters of the 19th century, and the sensibilities of the "Taisho Art" pictorial movement in the early 20th Century.

Enami's Business Card ca.1900-1905

Enami opened his studio in 1892, and by 1897, he had already conquered the magnificent volumes of Capt. Brinkley's Japan - Described and Illustrated by the Japanese. These silk and crepe-covered folio-sized books contain more of his photos (used as tipped-in illustrations) than any other contributing photographer currently identified -- even more than the large number of images by Kimbei Kusakabe that have so far been identified.

In 1904, The Guidebook for Travelers in Japan published by theNYK Japan Mail Steamship Line (Nippon Yusen Kaisha) recommended "Mr. Enami" as one of only seven named studios for tourists and collectors to obtain good, hand-colored photographs.

Ten years later, in 1914, the Japan Government Railways Guidebook also gave a short list of recommended Yokohama photographers and their locations. Although the illustrious Kimbei and Tamamura made the list, Enami was the only one for whom the book's compilers felt moved to mention some examples of his high-quality productions: Colored Lantern Slides, and Stereoscopic Views.

"N. Enami", translated directly from his real Japanese name Nobukuni Enami. This is perhaps the only incidence known where he is not called by his established trade name, T. Enami.

In 1988, Enami was posthumously honored by having one of his photos grace the cover of the National Geographic Society's 100th Anniversary Book, Odyssey - the Art of Photography at National Geographic.

Enami is now known for three separate series of numbered views (ca.1892-99 Large Albumen Prints, ca.1900-07 Stereoviews, and ca.1912-16 "Street Photography). However, only printed catalogs for the first two series have been re-discovered so far.

THE 2-D CATALOG

In 2009, Enami's complete Catalog for the Magic Lantern Slides and the Colored Photographs -- listing 861 of his most popular 19th Century Large Albumen Prints, and Lantern-Slides made from the same -- allow many views formerly relegated to the "Photographer Unknown" category to be properly credited.

"THE CATALOG FOR THE MAGIC LANTERN SLIDES AND THE COLORED PHOTOGRAPHS"

30 pages of detailed titles --- many of them longer than the abbreviated versions found on the prints themselves --- help to separate the work of Enami from other photographers who used similar number schemes and lettering for the in-photos captions found on many large albumen prints from the mid and late-Meiji eras.

THE RARE PRICE LIST SEEN IN THE ABOVE ILLUSTRATION IS NOW, WITH SOME INTRODUCTORY COMMENTS, PUBLISHED IN FULL ON THE HOME PAGE OF THIS WEBSITE

When eventually republished with helpful corrections, notes, and clarifying illustrations, the Catalog will give researchers and curators a better understanding of Enami's (and others) place in the world of "composite albums" put together by third-party photo dealers and image wholesalers of the time.

Curiously, and in spite of the longevity of many famous commercial Japanese photo studios, T. Enami and Kimbei Kusakabe are now the only two Japanese photographers known to have a surviving list of their commercial 2-D images.

Being able to compare the numbered and cataloged photos from both studios is helpful for identifying PUBLIC DOMAIN images sold by Enami and Kimbei, yet not photographed by either of them.

However, as described below, Enami would surpass Kimbei in number of commercial images offered, by publishing another large catalog of beautiful photos in a popular format that had escaped Kimbei and most other well-known photographers of the time.

Enami's lantern-slides made from his early 2-D images would gradually give way to a more popular offering of slides made from his 3-D images.

While Enami's 2-D portfolio contained a sprinkling of older, public domain images, his 3-D images and slides made from them were wholly his own.

THE 3-D CATALOG

"S 26. Girls Looking at Pictures" A Maiko and two Geisha Looking at Stereoviews in Enami's Yokohama Studio. One of over 1000 cataloged 3-D images of old Japan.

THE "CATALOG OF COLORED LANTERN SLIDES AND STEREOSCOPIC VIEWS"

Not surprisingly, Enami matched his older Catalog of Meiji-era Prints with a separately published catalog of his classic STEREOVIEWS. As with the 2-D Catalog, the 3-D Catalog doubled as a numbered lantern-slide list. In the case of the 3-D Catalog, the lantern-slides were all made directly from one half of the stereoview negatives.

The Cover and two sample pages of the Stereoview Catalog are shown just below in the Enami Activity List numbers (6) and (9).

"Number crunching" will be found at list item (6)

As for the stereoviews themselves, numerous examples are found scattered around this Website, with many more found on Flickr.

With this unique pair of Catalogs, Enami's output exceeded the image count of K. KIMBEI'S own line of photographs --- providing a variety of formats, and a quality of Lantern-slide images that KIMBEI was never able to equal.

A Variant of Enami's "S 26 Girls Looking at Pictures". Enami took several variants of each title as back up. Occasionally they were published. This particular image is scanned from an un-transposed contact proof print. You can free-view it in 3-D using the "cross-eyed method. The mounted and colored stereoviews seen throughout this site can be free-viewed using the "parallel method". Good luck !

MAN ON THE STREET

Although there are still some unanswered questions and conflicting data, it appears that Enami went on to compile a portfolio of "Street photographs" taken mostly between 1915 and 1920, after the boom days of hand-colored Albumen Prints and Stereoviews had passed.

Although a Catalog of these images has been found with the name H. SUITO [of Tokyo] attached to it, a British author in the 1920s credited Enami with actually haven taken the images.

Over 800 of these images have been cataloged, with many appearing on Enami slide mounts, and as illustrations in books utilizing other known Enami images.

The relationship between Enami and H. Suito has not been defined, nor which of the two men was actually behind the camera. Research is ongoing.

A complete accounting of Enami's untiring work behind the lens would require more time resources than this Webmaster has available.

Therefore, knowing that perfection and completeness are far from us, I have whittled down much of what is now known about Enami's camera work. Here is a growing list of thirty two random and interesting things I'll call....

A PRELIMINARY LIST OF T. ENAMI'S ACTIVITIES and CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE WORLD OF JAPANESE PHOTOGRAPHY

For the moment, based on a wide range of primary sources, it is now clear that T. Enami's professional life included (but were not limited to) being the cameraman behind the following :

CLASSIC, LARGE FORMAT ALBUMEN IMAGES OF 19th CENTURY JAPAN

(1) A LARGE FORMAT CATALOG OF 861 CATALOGED ALBUMEN IMAGES & LANTERN-SLIDES -- WITH 103 BONUS VIEWS OF THE PHILIPPINES.

The cover of Enami's Meiji-era 2-D catalog is shown above. You passed it while scrolling down to this spot.

Examples of the Japan photographs featuring people and scenic views are scattered throughout this Website..

These photographs, for the most part, were shot during the 1890s, and were available in all paper sizes. However, customers usually purchased the hand-colored, full-plate versions, and boxed-sets of lantern slides.

Among collectors, Japanese photographs of this nature are commonly called Yokohama Shashin (meaning "Yokohama Photographs", even if they were not taken in Yokohama).

Yokohama Shashin is a generic term for commercially sold, late-19th Century albumen photographs, usually hand-tinted, depicting studio and scenic views of Japan.

The images were sometimes sold as singles, but usually compiled into what collectors now call "Yokohama Albums".

Intended for souvenir-buyingtourists, Enami's albums usually consisted of 50, and sometimes 100 tinted albumen images mounted on card stock.

The albums were usually bound with Gold and Cherry lacquered covers, but were sometimes made with embroidered cloth over boards.

UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL. AT YOUR HOME OR IN THE STUDIO.

(2) All sizes of private studio and portrait work on a variety of mounts including "Card" (CDV), Cabinet, Imperial, and larger sizes up to the 17" x 22" Mammoth Prints. Customers could chose to have their finished prints on a choice of Bromide, Velox, or Printing Out Paper (P.O.P), all neatly done up on a wide variety of both plain and decorative imprinted mounts.

Also see the inside book illustration at list number (11) down below.

These services, along with the processing and printing of film brought in by amateurs and tourists was offered at both his Yokohama main studio, and his overseas branches [See No.19 below, and the 1901 photo of the HOVELL FAMILY] ;

(3) Private visits to photograph the home of foreigners, or family groups gathered there, and finished at the above-mentioned sizes ;

(4) Copy and enlargement services for existing photographs brought in by customers, and finished at the above mentioned sizes ;

THE MAGNIFICENT "BRINKLEY SETS"

THE 12-Volume EMPEROR'S EDITION, finest of all 1897 "Brinkley Sets". Enami's contribution is described briefly in number (5) just below, and in more detail as part of the main story text further down on the page.

(5) Enami is also the cameraman behind largest body of identified work in the unsurpassed Japanese-produced, American-published, multi-volume folio sets of Brinkley's JAPAN : DESCRIBED AND ILLUSTRATED BY THE JAPANESE [Boston. J.B. Millet Co., 1897]. Over 40 of Enami's images are found as both large and small tipped-in albumen photos, and black and white half-tones.

The best sets (including the rare 12-volume versions with the two extra Art Folios) all contained 10 volumes illustrated with 260 hand-colored albumen prints. Sixty of these were full-plate matted prints.

Among the more than 30 T. Enami's albumen images recognized so far, 8 of the large matted prints are his, including the lead-off matted print of MOUNT FUJI AS SEEN FROM KASHIWABARA found at the beginning of Volume 1. The cheaper versions that use black & white halftones contain at least 15 additional Enami images not seen in the more expensive albumen editions.

As more research is done, it is expected that the number of identified Enami images will grow.

NOTE: The same publisher also issued a rarely-seen Special Art Folio consisting of sets of un-bound mountedalbumen prints. All images were individually labeled on the back with the names of the contributing "Artists", T. Enami being included among them.

JAPAN IN DEPTH Even in enlargement, Enami's quality holds true, and reveals the meticulous work of the colorists under his supervision, who worked with brushes as thin as a single hair.

(6) ENAMI'S MEIJI-ERA CATALOG OF THE WORLD'S FINEST STEREOVIEWS

Including.....

979 Views of "Civilian" Japan proper.

33 Views of War-time scenes in "Homefront" Japan during the 1904-05 Russo-Japan War.

TOTAL 1,012 original 3-D views of JAPAN

PLUS 127 overseas "RUSSO-JAPAN WAR" titles that include...

81 Views of Battle-field scenes in China

46 Views of "Civilian" China including Scenic and Local Occupational Images.

Welcome to Enami's circa 1908 Catalog of 3-D views.

1,131 of them, to be exact.

During his lifetime, Enami photographed and published well over 1000 of Japan's finest Meiji-era stereoviews in both black-and-white and precision hand-colored versions. These images were also picked up and sold world-wide by over a score of Western publishers.

Current research seems to indicate that Enami "retired" several hundred of his late-1890s stereoview images, replacing them with the almost 1000 new views that appear in this catalog --- most all of the images photographed between 1902 and 1907.

NOTE: This newly-discovered, ca.1908 3-D catalog appears to be a later edition that does not list his large stock of MANILA, SINGAPORE, HONG KONG, and SHANGHAI stereoviews --- advertised as "ALWAYS IN STOCK" as far back as 1902. By 1903, Enami had also added "PEKING, and TIENTSIN" to his list of stereoviews.

At the moment, it is not known if some (or all) of these earlier-advertised China images were incorporated into the 46 Chinese civilian-subject stereoviews listed in the 1908 catalog. Hopefully, the future discovery of an earlier Enami 3-D Catalog will answer these questions and more.

S 132 The French Consulate in Yokohama along the Horikawa Canal, ca.1905.

THE LONG AWAITED DISCOVERY OF T.ENAMI'S "CATALOG OF COLORED LANTERN SLIDES AND STEREOSCOPIC VIEWS"

A VERY NICE SURPRISE : On February 11th 2011, after sitting in a box for twenty years, the "Holy Grail" of Japanese stereoview history came back into the light. The complete, ca.1908 edition of Enami's 42-page catalog of stereoviews and lantern-slides was discovered by Leigh Gleason, Curator of Collections at the California Museum of Photography.

An amazingly vast archive and museum, the CMP is part of the University of California in Riverside. Among endless unique surprises, well over 100 Meiji-era T. ENAMI stereoview negatives have been identified --- and possibly 100s more of them are waiting to be found among the quarter-million-or-more 19th and early 20th Century stereoview negatives depicting world-wide subjects.

Along with the Enami catalog, an equally rare copy of T. TAKAGI'S ca.1915 Catalog of over 800 Lantern-slide titles and encyclopedic captions was also found. Takagi was a worthy competitor of Enami, and his slides nicely compliment those of Enami. While there is an overlap of many themes, these two men ended up filling their catalogs with beautiful and interesting subject matter unique to each of them.

For you die-hard collectors and researchers who are not satisfied with the PAGE-ONE sample illustration below, and will kill to get the rest of Enami's 42 page catalog (as well as T. Takagi's excellent catalog), please put down your weapons. Complete digital copies of these rare catalogs --- in the form of PDF files --- may be obtained by writing to Ms. Gleason, the Curator.

See the CMP Website HERE, or contact the Curator at (cmpcollections@ucr.edu)

This is page one of Enami's 42-page "S-Number" catalog of 3-D views. The images form a completely separate portfolio from the already mentioned 2-D catalog of Meiji-era Prints and Lantern Slides. The "S" prefix before every number stands for "Stereoview".

Every title is an original stereoview photographed by Enami, and every lantern-slide bearing the same number and title is made from a half-stereoview negative.

The 42 pages contain listings for exactly 979 views of Japan proper, and 160 views of the Russo-Japan War taken in both Japan and China during Enami's short stint as an Imperial Army photographer.

Several of the views listed in this Catalog also appeared in at least four issues of NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE !

Above Catalog cover and page-one illustrations courtesy of University of California, Riverside / California Museum of Photography.

T. ENAMI

THE CATALOG VIEW-LIST LEADER FOR COMMERCIAL IMAGES OF OLD MEIJI-ERA JAPAN

At 1,873 views of Japan proper, Enami's listing of fine 2-D and 3-D images gives him the largest published portfolio of any studio during the Meiji-era. Further, his portfolio actively grew until he passed away at age 70 in 1929.

By comparison, KIMBEI listed only 1,312 commercial titles in his own catalog, while TAMAMURA claimed just over 1,200 views.

In addition, these two known editions of Enami's catalogs list another 230 Albumens, Lantern-slides, and Stereoviews of PHILIPPINE, CHINA, and RUSSO-JAPAN WAR subjects --- Total catalog offerings of over 2,100 Meiji-era images.

Enami's ca.1908 catalog supersedes all previous numbering found on his earlier views. In fact, for reasons unknown, by the time this catalog was made, Enami had ceased numbering his stereoviews, and was applying the numbers and captions only to the matching Lantern Slides.

"...applying the numbers and captions..." is also a literal description of what Enami was doing in his studio --- cutting up galley sheets of these catalog pages, and pasting then right onto the lantern-slide matte paper just under the cover glass !

FINAL 3-D NUMBERS :

Unless other, earlier Enami catalog(s) are discovered, the true extent of his 3-D negative files might never be known. As mentioned above, his well advertised stereoviews of MANILA, SINGAPORE, HONG KONG, SHANGHAI (and other cities in China) remain a numerical mystery.

It is possible that Enami had those foreign locations numbered in the 1001 - 2000 positions --- an empty gap in his 1908 catalog --- where we jump directly from the S-979 stereoview title, directly to the The Russo-Japan War series of 160 views, given position numbers S-2001 through S-2160. The implication being that his foreign Stock was left out to make a pure"JAPANESE SUBJECT" catalog for 2008, with certain "China Views" excused and included for their connection to Japan's "Theater of War" with the Russians.

The technical speculations of the Webmaster aside, the large advertised inventory of Foreign Asian Views missing from the 1908 Catalog remains a fact. Although the specific titles and numbers are not known, their otherwise advertised existence clearly indicates the even greater size of Enami's professional portfolio.

Customers visiting Enami's Benten Street studio could order over 1000 real-photo stereoviews as either Black-and-White, or delicately hand colored images. Did you ever wonder what the price of these beautiful 3-D photos was? The old Japanese prices are given on Enami's PRICE SHEET shown on the homepage of this Website. For a discussion on the relative values in today's DOLLARS, please, see the second part of this Flickr caption HERE.

100s more of Enami's PRINTS, SLIDES, and STEREOVIEWS can be seen on Flickr. Just pick your set and got for it HERE. Or, you can stay right here and see lots of them scattered all over this Website !

POSTCARDS

(7) Numerous Enami 2-D and 3-D postcards can be found issued by local and foreign publishers. Images in this format have been seenas silver-prints, collotypes, and half-tones. Most, but not all, were cropped out from half-stereoviews ;

The above examples of mostly Meiji-era postcards produced by Japanese and Western publishers are made from T. Enami's photographs. They are only a few of many that may be found. It is possible that many or all of the Y (Yokohama) series of colored collotype postcards that were made from ca.1905-15, as well as street and scenic postcards appearing on the Tombou (Dragonfly) series were also the work of Enami. Unfortunately, none give photographer credit, and this remains speculation.

LANTERN SLIDES

(8) Enami made some of Japan's finest hand-colored lantern-slides in both British (3 1/4 x 3 1/4 inch square)and American sizes (3 1/4 x 4 inches). Produced from both standard and stereoview negatives, these are especially loved by collectors who appreciate the detailed hand-tinting, and the luminance achieved by back-lighting the image.

These fine-grained photos sealed under cover glass, devoid of the crackled albumen surface and fading sometimes associated with print versions exposed to the elements, are always an exciting thing to find. Examples of these lantern-slides are plastered all over this Website and here on FLICKr;

Right Click on any photo and "View Image" at Large Size.

On the left is AMERICAN SIZE (3 1/4 X 4 inches); on right is BRITISH SIZE (3 1/4 inch square). For the British size version, Enami enlarged the image to exclude the sky, and feature the Geisha and Lantern more prominently. Both slides ca.1905.

Drying tea leaves. Ca.1905 A great "available light"study.

On a country road through Sanmaibash, near Hakone. ca.1905

A MAIKO GONE TO THE DOGS

Street Banners advertising The Museum of the Strangest Things in the World. Ca.1905. One of over 2,000 Meiji-era, cataloged lantern slides by T. Enami.

TRANSPARENCIES

(9) TRANSPARENCY vs. SLIDE

Enami offered all of his views as larger glass transparencies (see below illustrations), usually hand tinted and framed in wood for illuminated window display, or for use as decorative photographic panes in lamps and multi-pane "oriental style" table lanterns.

The illustration on the right is found insideEnami's 1908 Catalog of Stereoviews and Lantern-Slides, already described in list entry number (6) above.

Here, Enami provides illustrations to show the difference between a "TRANSPARENCY" and a "SLIDE" --- terms that meant two different things before WW2, but gradually became synonymous in the latter half of the 20th Century.

Although the sample illustrations provided by Enami are of the simple framed variety with decorative tassels, he also made more complicated enclosures for use a lamp panels, such as shown just below.

Above illustration courtesy of University of California, Riverside / California Museum of Photography.

ABOVE : Post-1923 letter head continues to mention "transparencies".

BELOW : An example of one pane from a multi-pane, decorative table lantern.

The above hand-tinted, glass transparency pane is an enlargement made from one half of a ca.1898-1903 Meiji-era stereoview negative. Other styles of framing include a simple wood surround with attached cord for hanging in a window. Both styles could come with attached, decorative tassels attached to the frames.

PROOF PRINTS

(10) Enami is the only Meiji-era photographer I am aware of that has left the world a large series of contact-sheet proof prints of his original stereoview work. The images range from studio creations to scenic vistas, and include images that seem more personal than commercial. They were never meant to be cut, transposed, or mounted. Instead, they seem to form a "guide set" or visual catalog of the stored negatives.

As shown below, the backs are numbered in a sequence that is not reflected in any of his standard published catalogs, and contain short manuscript notations (titles) in both Japanese and stilted English. It is possible that these notations were written by T. Enami himself.

With Enami's larger albumen prints found in the old tourist albums, after the hand-coloring and mounting was done, and the views sent out into the world, time and the elements, along with careless handling and storage, has often destroyed the evidence of Enami's well-exposed negatives, and his care in the darkroom.

However, found scattered among the MARK SINK COLLECTION of large Japanese albumen prints are some of the best surviving examples of Enami's richly printed originals

The same general quality of the surviving silver-gelatin 3-D proof sheets that have been stored in darkness since the Meiji era are a testament to Enami's original camera exposures, development of the negative, and pulling of well-timed prints from the trays of chemical baths lined up in his darkroom.

The proof prints shown here, and throughout this site, are all standard 3-D print size. Normally, the two halves would be separately die-cut, and the finished domed-shaped prints transposed left-for-right.

The backs of the three proof sheets seen to the right are shown just below.

At first glance, several of the proof sheets contain photos that would seem to have little commercial appeal. However, once color was added, and the finished views shown, it was clear that Enami was always aiming to provide some kind of 3-D pleasure.

The numbers here do not match any of the images in Enami's Stereoview catalog shown in list number (6) above. What they mean, and how Enami used them is yet to be understood.

However, just as large Western stereoview producers sometimes assigned numbers to to their negatives that had no relationship to printed position-numbers in a set or catalog, perhaps these are Enami's own ledger numbers for his 1000s of negatives.

Always remember that most all photographers switched out or upgraded images from time to time, but the catalog numbers would remain the same.

Below is a good example of "variants". Often, photographers would take two or more photos to make a series, tell a story, or just take back-up views in case a glass negative was ever broken or damaged.

For a further look at many more contact proofs from Enami's darkroom, as well as comparative pairs and triplets showing proofs and variants, please see the fine selection of Enami proofs right here on Flickr.

BOOK ILLUSTRATIONS IN MODERN DAY PHOTO HISTORIES

(11) Numerous Enami images , usually credited as "photographer unknown" or "anonymous", are found scattered throughout modern-day (late-20th Century and early 21st Century) photo-histories and photo-plate books of old Japan such as pictured below. As scholars and compilers of these books become more familiar with Enami's identifying studio props, and his title (caption) + catalog (negative) numbers, credits will gradually improve ;

SOUVENIRS FROM JAPAN by Margarita Winkle is one of a mountain of fine books that have featured personal or institutional collections of 19th century Japanese images. This particular book (published in 1991 in the Netherlands) presents a beautiful selection of 179 early Japanese albumen prints from the Shilling Collection --- over 500 prints amassed by one "R. Shilling, Civil Servant and Forest Advisor to the Royal Prussian Government". Shilling spent the years 1899 to 1903 in Japan, and from his residence in Tokyo traveled widely throughout the country.

Although none of the book's featured gallery prints are by Enami, on page 28 of the introductory material we are treated to two photographs of Shillings "Aunt" taken by Enami in his Yokohama studio. The lovely side pose with lowered parasol was a nice move by Enami, rarely seen in other "studio tourist" images from the time.

WHOLESALE AND LOOSE PRINTS FOR ALBUM MAKERS AND OVERSEAS RETAIL MARKETS

(12)

Hand-colored, albumen stock-photos used by anonymous "Yokohama Album" makers in Japan, who produced "composite albums" for sale at "Curio Shops" and other non-studio outlets.

Such photo-retailers obtained these prints by order from many commercial photographers.

Enami also provided unmounted prints to wholesalers who by-passed the immediate tourist market --- shipping huge amounts of these images out of Japan (mostly to Europe, where such images were popular sellers to "armchair travelers" and photo connoisseurs) ;

BOOK ILLUSTRATIONS

IN OLD TRAVELOGUES FROM THE MEIJI AND TAISHO ERAS

(13) Enami's 2-D images (from both standard and half-stereoview negatives) were sold directly to authors and travelers keen on using hisviews to illustrate theirnarrativesabout Japan.

These authors usually were careful to credit Enami in their photo-illustrated books ;

Posted are two book examples from many.

Illustrations above and below from this 1904 book by world traveler D.C. Angus. These are only three of quite a few Enami images use by Angus. Angus opted for images from Enami's earlier, 2-D Catalog of Prints and Lantern-slides.

Credited photos such as this found in old books and periodicals help to identify many anonymous albumen prints (and even whole albums) from the Meiji era.

The below WHEAT GLUTEN SELLER halftone from the 1904 book shown above may be seen as real, 1890s hand-colored photographic lantern slide posted on Flickr HERE.

Frank Carpenter (below) opted for a series of images listed in Enami's Meiji-era Catalog of Stereoviews. These half-stereoview images were taken from the full negative, showing areas of the image that were usually cropped off when making the mounted stereoviews. Some of these may be seen as full stereoviews both on this website and Flick. By the way, there are many more Enami views in his book that the seven full-page sample images below.

T

EVEN ALFRED HITCHCOCK LOVED AND USED T. ENAMI'S PHOTOS !

NO. NOT THAT ALFRED HITCHCOCK. THIS ALFRED HITCHCOCK :

HITCHCOCK'S 1917 BOOK USED ENAMI'S 1890s LARGE FORMAT STOCK, AND HIS EARLY-TAISHO-ERA "STREET CATALOG" PORTFOLIO. The five images seen above are selected from 100 half-tone images appearing in the book, most of them photographed by T. ENAMI. (Many of the same images also appear in the H. SUITO Catalog. A study of the connestion between Enami and Suito is still on-going)

STOCK PHOTOS

(14) There was a massive TAISHI-ERA STOCK PHOTO ARCHIVE of of 733 silver-gelatin prints cataloged by a fellow in Tokyo named H. SUITO. These images were also published by Enami. British Missionary and author WALTER WESTON -- a good friend of Enami, and a user of Enami photos for his own books --- used the introduction to his books to credit the sources of his photo illustrations. By a process of elimination, T. ENAMI remains as the only possible photographer, and no mention is ever made of a Mr. H. Suito.

The images that comprise this numbered "archive" appear to have been taken between 1912 and 1916. The "Stock Photo" businesses whom Enami (and other photographers) supplied during those days usually stripped the photographer of all credit while supplying images to the general publishing industry, including agencies that supplied Japan images to tourists on "World Cruise" adventures.

However, in the Taisho-era American published ASIA magazine, H. Suito (and not Enami) is given credit for some of these images. While attempting to resolve the ENAMI vs SUITO accreditation problem, these images will continue to have a place here on ENAMI.ORG/

Walter Weston's witness, and Enami's own attached imprints on his lantern-slides bearing these photos will be considered sufficient to hold his place until proven otherwise. In the meantime, research continues.

As only one example of the numerous magazines and books that featured these pictures, almost ten of the stock images were published posthumously in 1930 by F.M. TRAUTZ in the now-expensive, photographic-plate-book JAPAN, KOREA AND FORMOSA.

In this case, as in so many others, the photographer is not credited, leaving the ENAMI vs SUITO mystery unresolved ;

(15) Photo-processing, printing, and enlarging for amateurs and tourists traveling throughout Japan.

[See No.18 below].

This also included the production of hand-tinted lantern slides made from their negatives of other countries visited before arriving in Japan ;

PARTICIPANT IN INTERNATIONAL PHOTO EXHIBITIONS

(16) According to the late Frances Fralin of the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington DC, Enami entered and /or exhibited his images in several international photo exhibitions (not yet known if these exhibitions were those hosted in Japan or outside of Japan. Probably both).

(17) As shown below, several of the Japan images in The Philadelphia Museums print series produced in the USA from about 1900-1910 were cropped reprints of Enami's 1890s albumen prints ;

Above No.620 shows an original 1890s large albumen print from Enami's cataloged series of views (No.612-627) on silk production in Japan.

This ca.1900-10 example of a PHILADELPHIA MUSEUMS gelatin silver print shows how the original was copied and cropped down to remove Enami's bottom number and title, while attempting to lightly obliterate the in-photo number as well.

The PHILADELPHIA MUSEUMS published many such views by Enami and others, especially images depicting silk, tea, and rice production. They were mounted on heavy gray or black boards having descriptive backs.

OVERSEAS

BRANCH STUDIOS

(18) The establishment of at least three Asian branch studios outside of Japan and its annexed territories (one Japanese written source mentions an Enami branch studio in HONG KONG, and Enami's directory ads also mention two branches in the PHILIPPINES).

Until data is uncovered that would prove otherwise, it now seems that Enami was the only "international operator" among his more famous contemporaries.

Less than a handful of other Japanese photographers operated small, local studios in the Japanese-annexed countries of Korea and Taiwan, none of them being branches of a studio based in Japan proper. Further, these ex-pat studios were not known to have indulged in direct commercial work. However, it is possible that they did supply some images to the late-Meiji-era postcard publishers back in Japan proper ;

The Poor Wise Man Resting on The Road-side in Old China. Ca.1900 Lantern-slide image by Enami.

(19) Enami made the only commercial images of other Asian countries to be advertised and sold out of a Japanese-based studio, including stereoviews of the Philippines, Singapore, Hong Kong and many regions of China.

ENAMI'S MEIJI-ERA PRINT CATALOG LISTED OVER 100 LARGE ALBUMEN PRINTS OF THE PHILIPPINES. THEY WERE ALSO AVAILABLE AS LANTERN-SLIDES.

His branch studios at Dagupan and Manila served both foreign and domestic clientele, with special attention given to members of the U.S. Military.

Here's a fine example of one of Enami's Philippine franchise studios catering to an American family who was crossing the Pacific from the USA to CHINA :

DOROTHY MARY HOVEL, aged 7 1/2 months, seated on the lap of her father, THOMAS HOVEL. From a "snapshot" taken on the Saloon Deck of the America Mail Ship PERU while crossing the Pacific Ocean from San Francisco to Shanghai in August 1901. They are returning to their home in China after vacationing in the United States. (From manuscript notes found on the back).

To have the above image made, Thomas Hovel would have brought his film to Enami's Manila studio in the Philippines for processing and mounting as the ship lay at anchor during one of several trans-Pacific port calls. [See this service description back up in No.2 on this list.]

Although images of US Military stationed in the Philippines during this time are known, the above Enami cabinet view is an extremely rare example of a personal shipboard image taken on the high seas. It is one of only two such Enami-processed images known from the Meiji-era (1868-1912). The other (also a cabinet view, and in the collections of the Nagasaki University Library) is a "buddy shot" of some sailors on board a ship in Yokohama Harbor.

The above photograph remains a rare family treasure in the Sandy McPeak Collection, and is shown nearly full size. I would like to thank her for her kind permission to post it here. By the way, Sandy is the grand-daughter of little Dorothy seen in the photo !

IN CHINA, KOREA, AND ON THE JAPANESE HOME-FRONT, AS AN IMPERIAL ARMY

WAR PHOTOGRAPHER

(20) 2-D and 3-D photographs from home and abroad taken during the Russo-Japan war while Enami served as an Imperial Army Photographer ;

More about the above ship HERE. More about the above newspaper HERE.

The only surviving T. Enami stereoview proof-print that shows General Nogi at the commemoration of a huge Russo-Japan War Memorial in Japan.Enami published two stereoviews picturing the victorious Nogi, who committed ritual suicide with his wife, upon the death of Emperor Meiji in 1912.

COLORIST AND IMAGE SUPPLIER FOR BURTON HOLMES

(21) A large portion of the colorful realism of Burton Holmes lantern-slides was born in Enami's Yokohama studio. His studio was one of the first employed by Holmes to add the careful, detailedhand-tinting to the international image content of the live Travelogue lectures.

This great old stereoview of Burton Holmes seen below was taken by an unknown Keystone View Company photographer --- not by T. Enami ; Burton Holmes in real 3-D, ca.1925. Holmes was a longtime acquaintance of T. Enami, and utilized many of Enami's images in all of his printed and projected presentations during his long career. Read an explosive anecdote of a Holmes photographic mishap in Japan during the Meiji era HERE.

(22) And it wasn't just the Holmes slide shows that featured the work of Enami. A respectable portion of the Japan images appearing in Burton Holmes multi-volumeTravelogues book sets were also by Enami.

The earlier multi-volume editions published during the late Meiji-era carefully credited 20 of "Burton Holmes Photos" to Enami, with another 6 unaccredited images now confirmed to be from Enami's cataloged portfolio --- for a total of 26 known T. Enami views.

Holmes also used 24 Kimbei views, 20 Tamamura views, and 3 by K. Ogawa. Interstingly, Holmes use 48 amateur photos taken by a local Yokohama merchant --- American OTIS POOLE.

In the end, although the Travelogues title pages read, "With Illustrations from Photographs by the Author", Burton Holmes actually took less than half of the images appearing throughout his Japan narrative. Later editions of the books completely and inexplicably stripped the photographers credits from the photos, leaving readers with the unwarranted belief that everything on the pages of his book were "...Photographs by the Author".

This beautiful Mt. Fuji snow scene by T. Enami is from an original lantern-slide in the Webmaster's collection However, another original copy is also housed in the Burton Holmes Collection, and was used by Holmes over the years. It appears printed BACKWARDS in two recently-published books, including the otherwise excellent Genoa Caldwell book, BURTON HOLMES TRAVELOGUES (Koln, Germany. TASCHEN, 2006). It is shown above in its correct orientation. Photo described more fully HERE.

INTERNATIONAL SUPPLIER OF STEREOVIEWS

(23) SIX MAJOR STEREOVIEW SETS published in America were all photographed by Enami :

(a) The 100-view real-photo set of JAPAN stereoviews published by T.W. INGERSOLL,

(b) The 100-view real-photo set of JAPAN stereoviews published byGRIFFITH & GRIFFITH of Philadelphia,

(c) The best selling Sears, Roebuck & Co boxed set of 100 three-color JAPAN litho-views.

The below illustration is one of many different Sears Catalog ads for 3-D Japan sets published from 1904 to 1910.

(d) The 100-view real-photo set of JAPAN stereoviews published by E.W. KELLEY (a later, better quality re-issue of the Ingersoll set),

(e) The 100-view real-photo set of JAPAN stereoviews published by PRESCO BINOCULAR CO. (a later better quality re-issue of the Ingersoll set).

(f) The 50-view set of 3-color half-tones numbered 1001 to 1050. This set was published from T. ENAMI negatives held by Griffith & Griffith, and has the best coloring of all litho-view sets marketed. All of the views use different images than those appearing in the above listed (c) Sears, Roebuck & Co sets.

eBay !

OLD COLOR 3-D LITHO-VIEWS (HALFTONES) OF JAPAN PROPER THAT DON'T PROVIDE PHOTOGRAPHER CREDIT SOMEWHERE ON THE MOUNT WERE ALLPHOTOGRAPHED BY T. ENAMI !

SEE ITEMS (c) AND (f) ABOVE FOR JUST TWO EXAMPLES OF MANY ENAMI LITHO-VIEW SERIES.

WITH SO MANY OF THESE OLD SETS BEING BROKEN UP INTO ODD LOTS, THAT MEANS NOT A DAY GOES BY WITHOUT A MOUNTAIN OF OLD T. ENAMI STEREOVIEWS BEING OFFERED ON....

eBay !

(NOTE: Most all color litho-views of RUSSO-JAPAN WAR scenes found on eBay and elsewhere [in spite of many being copyright by T.W. Ingersoll] were actually photographed by a young reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle named RICHARD BARRY. Barry was able to take some good pointers from veteran 3-D photographer JAMES RICALTON --- chief photographer for Underwood & Underwood --- with whom he traveled while covering the war on the battlefields of China. Enami also photographed Russo-Japan War subjects, but they never appear as litho-views)

BELOW: Sample images showing how Enami's popular negatives were sometimes passed around from publisher to publisher...bought, sold, leased and loaned.

And in EUROPE, the stereoview sets described below.

(24) A special 24-view 3-D postcard set published by the old French stereoview firm L.L. (Levy & Family) was composed entirely of Enami stereoview. Found in both black & white and tinted editions. There is some evidence that these sets were also sold at theLouvre Art Museumin Paris ;

(25) The popular German-published NPG STEREOVIEW SETS of 50 and 100 Japan views, all of them by Enami, were found on (a) double-weight photographic paper [see illustration], (b) embossed black card mounts, and (c) on standard mounts. This series was later picked up by other German publishers, furthering the distribution of Enami's images ;

BELOW: An original untransposed stereo proof-print from Enami's studio, and a finished and mounted hand-colored view. These close variants were taken only minutes apart on the Negishi Tidal Flats off Cape Honmoku, just a few kilometers south of Yokohama. The negative chosen for Enami's finished print is the same one used for the German NPG prints seen above.

NOTE: The above series of stereoviews (as well as many other minor series that utilized his images, whose publishers are not mentioned here) werethe only popular 3-D sets published in the West that showed Japan from a Japanese photographer's point of view.

"QUICK PACKS" FOR TOURISTS

(26) Special "raw photo packets", being a selection of (for example) two-dozen of Enami's images in black-and-white,intended for tourists who wanted to augment their own "Kodak moments" when putting together snap-shot albums upon return home. These photos could be had in different sizes --- from half-stereoview contact prints, to 4" x 6" enlargements ;

Sample images from a post-1923 Enami "Snapshot" pack, and the envelope.

A JUNIOR WHO SURPASSED HIS SENIORS

(27) A fine series of credited, Meiji-era Mt. Fuji images appearing in the large foliobook Fuji San, published in 1912 (Meiji 45) by his teacher and friend, the famous K. Ogawa. Of the 24 full-plate images, eleven were by Enami, outnumbering the image counts of the other two contributors -- the well know K. Tamamura, and those taken by the publisher himself, K. Ogawa ;

LEFT : The image on the left is made from the full half-stereoview negative that was also used to make the hand-colored lantern slide appearing near the top of this page. Both prints are made from half-stereoview negatives.

BELOW : Landscape format through dead trees. Enami also took a stereoview version which he published as a lantern slide.

For a complete look at all of the plates in the above FUJI SAN, please see the fine presentation at George Baxley's Website HERE.

ENAMI IN GOLD !

(28) Several Enami images were converted to GOLD PHOTOGRAPHS by photographer Hanbe Mizuno, who was famous for his patented "Pure Gold Lacquer Photographs".

Mizuno was active before Enami opened his studio, and patented his process on December 26th, 1891.

These images were somewhat analogous to Tintypes, in that the dark areas of the print were actually the black lacquered base upon which the continuous-tone images were fixed. However, unlike Tintypes, the image highlights were pure gold, and the base was a thicker panel of wood rather than a thin sheet of lacquered "tin".

Obviously, due to the heavy use of gold, the cost of these images far exceeded that of a tintype. The finished images, at about 8 x 10 inches, were also larger than the average tintype.

Mizuno made gold lacquer photo panels for (1) stand-alone decorative wall hangings, and (2) as recessed panel embellishments for the album covers of many photographers, including (on occasion) those of T. Enami.

Although Mizuno is said to have been a photographer who converted his own images, he has been wrongly credited for images taken by Enami, Tamamura, and others, due to his stamp appearing on the back of the conversion work he did for them [see illustration] ;

MORE

CLASSIC 3-D USED AROUND THE WORLD

(29) Enami was the photographer behind Japan's largest series of Meiji-era SUMO WRESTLING photographs found in all 2-D and 3-D formats.

With some exceptions, all of the major commercial Japanese photographers during the Meiji-era offered at least one or two shots of Sumo Wrestlers locked in various grips, or in their victory poses.

While I have yet to identify even one from the Studio of K. TAMAMURA, his rival just a few city blocks over --- the great KIMBEI KUSAKABE --- offered eight large albumen prints of unidentified wrestlers in his huge 1893 catalog of over 1,300 views.

However, Enami blew them all out of the water with a large series of 25 albumen prints showing all stages of the sport. Enami's coverage is rivaled only by an earlier, extensive series of rare and expensive Sumo images photographed jointly by WILLIAM K. BURTON and SEIBEI KAJIMA.

However, unlike the BURTON-KAJIMA images, the large majority of Enami's special 1890s Sumo series identified the major players and champions appearing in the photographs.

Further, Enami offered a small series of eight stereoviews depicting scenes of rural Sumo matches. As far is known, this is the largest group of Sumo titles offered amongst the many competing 3-D publishers in old Japan.

The view shown above is number S 363 from Enami's 3-D Catalog. That, and the crop below, are just more examples of the beauty and quality of Enami's work in small-format images. You can view these wrestlers at full screen size at the ACTIONS button over the Flickr image posted HERE.

(30) Enami composed 3-D images that attracted even the most seasoned professional stereo-photographers. A few tookcollections of his views back to their own countries, allowing only the work of Enami to augment their own published visions of Japan.

The resulting"mixed series" that utilized at least a few T. ENAMI views included several sets issuedby Underwood & Underwood, C.H. Graves' Universal Photo Art Co., Lynn Skeels' Stereo-Travel Co.,and a good percent of the Japan view published by George Rose of Australia. All of these 3-D publications werein addition to the "pure" Enami series mentioned in No.'s (23), (24), and (25) above ;

A very nice 1898-1900 T. Enami stereoview image published by George Rose in 1904 on his own Australian mount. Rose is believed to have acquired his Enami images directly from Enami himself. More about Rose and Enami will be found in the story text way down below.

ENAMI CONQUERS THE BRITISH EMPIRE...

UNDER THE

WRONG NAME !

(31) Enami was behind the largest contribution of Japanese illustrations for Sir J.A. Hammerton's multi-volume PEOPLES OF ALL NATIONS [London. Fleetway House, 1922].

One of the eight color plates from the book described below, and the effusive caption describing the loveliness of Japan's GEISHA. This 1922 three-color halftone was made from a ca.1898-1908 half-stereoview negative. Below are two examples of about 30 b/w Enami images that appear in the same volume.

At least 35 images (including eight full-color plates) were taken directly from T. Enami images. Unfortunately, in an inexplicable turn of events, all were wrongly credited to the Rev. Walter Weston, who had penned the Japan text for Hammerton.

Hammerton's autobiography implies an initial press run of 400,000 JAPAN sections.Going throughmany popular editions, the number is thought to have reachedinto the millions, all sold throughout America and the British Empire ;

Two of about 30 b/w halftone Enami images appearing in Hammerton's PEOPLES OF ALL NATIONS. Enami's portfolio covered a wide range of Japan's culture, customs, and occupations. A valuable archive or art and document covering the 1890s to the 1920s.

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE

Last on my list, but perhaps the most telling about how his photographic ability was perceived by his peers at the time, Enami was....

(32) A member of that special alumni of photographers whose credited photographs have appeared on the pages of National Geographic Magazinein Enamis case, at least four issues.

Further, in 1988 the Corcoran Gallery of Art and the National Geographic Societyposthumously honored him by using one of his half-stereoview images as the sole inset photographon the first-edition cover of their monumental 100th anniversary exhibition book Odyssey: The Art of Photography at National Geographic.

ABOVE: Book cover showing T. Enami inset photo. See No.(32) in list just above.

The beautiful undersea photo surrounding Enami's old image is by DAVID DOUBILET, and remains under his copyright. Please see his amazing world of images HERE.

BELOW: Enami's own crop for a beautiful ca.1898-1907 hand-tinted lantern slide version.

BELOW : An original 19th Century full stereoview version of the above lantern-slide and Odyssey book cover inset. The same stereoview was also availableas a hand-tinted view.

The Photographic Historical Society of Canada also used this image as a full back-cover illustration for their May-June 1990 issue of Photographic Canadiana.

The tones and hues of every view were different depending on the mood and fancy of the studio colorist on the day the slide or print order was filled. An original version of the above slide is also in the collections of the Peabody-Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts. Although their version seems to have been taken at a different hour, and under a different sky, it is the same view. Enami's studio was where art and photography always seemed to meet in an agreeable fashion.

The below stereoview was also sold as a popular 3-color lithograph by the Griffith & Griffith Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

".....WOW ! ENAMI LEFT HIS MARK ALL OVER THE WORLD ! BUT, I'M NOT REALLY INTERESTED IN HIS AMAZING STEREOVIEWS, OR HIS WORK-OF-ART LANTERN SLIDES; I LIKE BIG PHOTOS THAT CAN I HANG ON MY WALL, OR IN A GALLERY.

SO...HOW MANY LARGE FORMAT, ALBUMEN PRINT TITLES DID ENAMI PUBLISH ?....."

There are a few folks out there who --- not wanting to be encumbered with stereoscopes, slide projectors, and other enlarging gizmos --- tend to think that "bigger is better" when it comes to photographs in the raw, and therefore focus on acquiring (or valuing) the large-format albumen prints over the lantern-slides and stereoviews. Here is a basic accounting for those of you want hard data and real numbers when thinking about what might be out there to collect when building your collection of old Japanese albumen prints.

Enami's Commercial View List contains a total of 861 Photos available as hand-colored albumen prints or Lantern Slides.

I would conservatively estimate at least 10,000 titles out there by all of the main Tokyo and Yokohama commercial studios...in both Black & White & Hand Colored versions.

With each one having been made perhaps many times during the life of a studio, that probably will give you more than one chance to acquire any given image.

Did one get away from you at an auction? Wait a while, and you will probably have another chance at the same image from another dealer --- maybe even a better print than what you thought you just lost forever.

In any case, this Website is about T. ENAMI, so let's start with a closer look at his catalog, and then mention a few others to get you started with the possible numbers.

Enami's ca.1900 Print & Lantern-Slide Catalog [for images derived from full-plate negatives] lists 861 titles of JAPAN VIEWS between No.1 and No.1062 --- the highest number known. The discrepancy between actual photo count and highest negative number indicates that about 19% of possible existing titles were either edited out for various reason, or the number slots were never filled in the first place --- if the missing number slots were due to editing, reasons for the loss could be damaged negatives, close variants held as back-up in case of breakage, poor sellers, or images that Enami didn't like for one reason or another.

Of Enami's 861 2-D views, 307 of them 36% were what can be called "People Views", mostly consisting of OCCUPATIONAL, COSTUMES, CRAFTS, GEISHA, and other "JAPANESE CUSTOMS" type of images. The rest of the cataloged views were of the CITY, TOWN, and SCENIC COUNTRYSIDE genre.

By way of contrast, only 30% of Kimbei Kusakabe's published views 417 out of 1380 were of the PEOPLE and OCCUPATIONS type images.

Enami's focus on people would continue grow, forming an ever-increasing percentage of images as he expanded into the stereoview format. Well over half of his stereoviews (and the lantern-slides made from them) are of close, people-inclusive subjects, and mark Enami's style long after the days of "Yokohama Album Views" had passed.

In fact, during the Taisho period (1912-26), the percentage of Enami's PEOPLE photographs grew to such a point that they made up nearly the entire bulk of his portfolio.

New SCENIC images were so scarce that if a customer wanted some, Enami had to pull out his older Meiji-era negatives !

NUMBER CRUNCHING : THE REALITY BEHIND OLD JAPANESE PHOTO-CATALOG AND VIEW-LIST NUMBERS....

Long before Enami produced his own catalog, the famous photographer Kimbei Kusakabe was advertising his stock as having "2,000 Views". Yet, who knows how many negatives he really had, including variants ?

Kimbei's 1893 printed catalog catalog lists view titles running from No.1 through 2068, followed by another 24 "E" numbers for his EARTHQUAKE series, and another 10 "S" numbers for his SILK series. Without looking closely at the catalog, it certainly seemed like Kimbei had a portfolio of 2,102 album-view titles !

Further, it is known that Kimbei actually reshot many of his older street and scenic views in an effort to keep up with the rapid development of Japan's urban areas and key tourist spots. This would obviously swell his negative archive, allowing customers the option of choosing from among more than one print for many of his catalog numbers.

However, let's look closely at Kimbei's 1893 catalog.

2,102 VIEWS ???

A closer look reveals that Kimbei's advertised catalog list was actually full of holes to the tune of 722 missing views. Not only are whole chunks of numbers and consecutive groups missing --- including a glaring "Grand Canyon" jump between No.1685 and No.2001 -- evidence suggests that the 68 numbered Mammoth prints he offers are simply enlargements of titles already listed elsewhere.

Like Enami who came after him, Kimbei had also edited his negatives for a variety of reasons. His 1893 catalog either edited out or never filled over 34% of his number slots (way more than Enami's 19%), leaving customers with a highly reduced selection of 1,380 views to choose from -- if we include the Mammoth print selection.

If we eliminate the 68 listed Mammoth Prints as possible repeats (as the evidence suggests), then Kimbei's true offering drops even further to 1,312 titles --- 790 views short of what his high negative numbers implied to the customer.

On the other hand, although T. Enami did have a complementary catalog, he never mentioned numbers in his known studio advertisements.

Nowadays, nobody is obsessive-compulsively concerned with the real numbers and titles of either Kimbei's or Enami's output --- or any other photographer's negative count from those early days.

Today, All that matters is whether the print(s) in question appeal to the collector or buyer. And in Kimbei's case, his generally artistic compositions, generally dark, rich printing, and generally careful coloring make for some of the best and most beautiful images from old Japan. I say "generally" because even Kimbei and his Studio workers had their run of bad days.

I will also say that Kimbei's print processing (printing, fixing, and washing) has generally stood the test of time better than the views of T. Enami.

In any case, even with such massive gaps in his numbering system, Kimbei still had more views to offer than Enami's own 861 available titles. We must also keep in mind that Kimbei had been at it for 12 years longer than Enami, honing his skills in both composition and processing. Kimbei also had the advantage of acquiring many negatives from the illustrious foreigners he once worked for and closely observed --- Beato, and Stillfried.

OTHER NUMBERS

Enami's next-door neighbor, the illustrious Kozaburo TAMAMURA --- who advertised "Over 1,200 Views", and whose highest known negative/title number is 1253 --- has less than 600 images (580 at last count) that can confidently be attributed to him today.

The high title/negative numbers currently known [Bennett, 2006 Data Guide] for other well-known album view makers is subject to the same caution :

Reiji ESAKI (1951), Seibei KAJIMA (1655), Sashichi OGAWA (1645) Shinichi SUZUKI the Elder (1252), Shinichi SUZUKI the Younger (1139), Shusaburo USUI (1513), and Matsusaburo YOKOYAMA (1361).

Without a catalog, none of these high view numbers should delude any new collector or archivist into thinking that's exactly how many different photos are possible to find for each of these photographers.

Sometimes, the truth is quite the opposite, with a good example being the 1252 top negative number [listed by Bennett] of Shinichi SUZUKI the Elder --- note that his numbers started with No. 1001 !

There are also a massive number of large albumen images held in collections or offered at auctions that, long ago, had the titles and numbers trimmed off prior to mounting (usually for aesthetic reasons). Without captioned images, published catalogs, labeled album covers, or back-stamped provenance of the various Meiji-era photographers to help us make attribution, we are left with the slow process of learning photographer attribution by identifying studio props, or the lucky times when the images are used and credited in old books and periodicals.

In light of this, T. ENAMI is well ahead of the game with a carefully spelled out portfolio offering 861 LARGE ALBUMEN view titles (probably 900 or more when older, discontinued numbers and switched-out, up-dated images are added to the whole), and over 1000 STEREOVIEW titles.

The true total of Enami's published commercial views -- including all stereoviews, lantern-slides, and later "street photo" stock views would eventually almost triple the entire commercial offering of Kimbei's own long-lived studio.

It is regrettable that a combination of time and Enami's methods of processing his albumen prints have diminished the original quality of much of his larger images found today --- in contrast to the near-eternal beauty of his lantern-slides and stereoviews.

In spite of that general assessment, the occasional group of richly printed and preserved albumen prints may still be found. As already mentioned, during the time when he was active, Enami's freshly-made images of both artistic and documentary value were held in high esteem by collectors, publishers, and (most tellingly) other photographers around the world.

* * *

The Goldfish Seller. Ca.1915-22

Two Geisha in the Genkyu Gardens of Hikone. Ca.1898-1910

• THE COLORISTS
  

*HAND COLORING PHOTOGRAPHS of OLD JAPAN*

A Great "PHOTOGRAPHICA" Shot Inside ENAMI'S Meiji-Era Studio in Yokohama

The above b/w view is a close crop from a much larger T. ENAMI half-tone image published in England in 1904, which was itself reproduced from an original ca.1895-97 large albumen print.

No doubt, a sharply printed and finely colored original albumen copy will eventually come to light in some collection.

THE STUDIO STAFF

It's nice to see the photo "representing" Enami's photo-finishing team being made up of equal parts men and women. I have no idea about the whole extent of his studio staff at this early time. After Enami's death in 1929, the darkroom/colorist staff was down to about 4 people working under Enami's son, Tamotsu.

On the other hand, while he was busy helping his friend KOZABURO TAMAMURA fill an order for over 1,000,000 hand-colored albumen prints in 1896-97, the colorists probably far exceeded the 'token few" pictured here.

The above photo also appears on the flickr.com site HERE

Out of almost 900 full-plate images listed in his early catalog, only two were devoted to capturing the actual photographic production work in his studio. The above is either number 806 or 807.

Enami's two "Studio Colorist" documentary photos seen in partial catalog context.

Unfortunately, in the above image, Enami's number and caption (short title) might have been removed from the bottom of the view by the British publisher --- that is to say, if the data was there at all. The original photo might have been missing the number and title prior to arriving in England, as buyers would sometimes ask Enami to trim that from the photo prior to mounting it in the album.

Due to the variety of sizes and formats Enami placed in the posed scene, I consider it one of the finest Japanese "Photo Production" studio scenes ever taken during either the Edo-Bakumatsu or Meiji era --- that is, from the beginning of Japanese Photographic History until 1912 --- or even after that.

Here's a more careful description to help you appreciate it :

WHAT YOU CAN SEE

On the floor to the left is a stack of Enami's earliest STEREOVIEWS. The man seated to the left is working on rough, BOUND ALBUM PRINTS. On the floor and table, both mounted and unmounted (untrimmed) albumen prints are in various stages of finish, including the visibly CURLED ALBUMEN PRINTS prior to mounting on heavy board. The standing man holds what appears to be an 11" x 17" FOLIO SIZE image, and in the background on both sides may be seen IMPERIAL, MAMMOTH(18" x 22") or LARGER SIZE prints -- some loose, and some matted and ready to go.

WHAT YOU CAN'T SEE

It is probably important to note what is MISSING as well. (Enami had so much going on, he didn't have room for it all in one shot!). Enami's other COMMERCIAL items not seen here are CABINET SIZE ALBUM VIEWS for the smaller book and accordion style souvenir albums. Further, Enami's rather large output of LANTERN-SLIDES during this time are not represented. NON-COMMERCIAL (PRIVATE) studio work is also not seen here. That would include portrait work appearing on any number of his IMPRINTED CABINET MOUNTS, or the "wallet size" portraits found on CARTE DE VISITE (CDV) studio mounts.

In effect, although the above image is probably the "best and busiest" such production shot you will ever see, it still only covers a portion of the larger output of his Meiji-era studio.

RELATED VIEWS BY OTHER PHOTOGRAPHERS

Another fine "studio colorist" shot of a similar theme may can be seen in the Nagasaki University Library Collection HERE, showing three women doing all the work. Below is another excellent old albumen view by an unknown photographer showing an abundance of "paint dishes" spread out on the low tables as the colorists go about their work.

Notice the array of flat saucers to hold the various water-color /aniline dyes. It is said that each person was responsible for a certain range of colors, passing the picture "down the line" until complete -- no one person completing a photograph alone.

Coloring albumen photographs. Ca.1885-95. Photographer unknown.

All such "Photo Colorist" views from the Meiji era form part of a very small but valuable "set" of Japanese studio photographica that give us a general idea of how the coloring was done. However, it is the T. Enami view that shows us the greatest variety of albumen "print-stages" and formats.

CONVERTING BLACK & WHITE TO COLOR

The colorists were true artists, and could transform any b/w print, slide, or stereoview into a delicate work of great beauty, as evidenced by the two version above. The total cost for 100 of these highly detailed, hand-tinted stereoviews 110 years ago ? 28 YEN !