Amida

Buddhist Temple of Los Angeles Postcard

For all the new Buddhas in the West posts
follow us on Bluesky & Instagram

Inspired by the success in San Jose and Sacramento, Izumida Junjō 泉田準城 (1866–1951) arrived in Los Angeles in 1904 and opened the city’s first Buddhist temple for Japanese immigrants. After raising funds and purchasing land, a newer and larger temple was opened in 1911 on Savannah Street.

Associated with Nishi Hongan-ji, a Jōdo Shinshū Buddhist organization headquartered in Kyoto, Izumida organized the Rafu Bukkyō-kai 羅府仏教会, the Buddhist Mission of Los Angeles. It was meant to meet Japanese immigrants’ needs for funerals, memorial services, and spiritual guidance.

Possibly in celebration and promotion of the new temple, the Mission issued picture postcards highlighting both the interior and exterior of the building. The colorful illustrated elements on the front reveal an Arts and Crafts influence popular in the early 20th century.

The building was meant to reflect both American residential architecture and Japanese temple architecture. The latter can be seen in the curved eaves on the roof and the temple-style gate over the front porch.

The interior also shows a hybrid style, with church-like pews set in front of a traditional Japanese Buddhist altar.

As a Jōdo Shinshū temple, the shrine is dedicated to Amida Buddha, here with a scroll bearing his name. For more on the history of this LA temple, see Michihiro Ama, Immigrants to the Pure Land: The Modernization, Acculturation, and Globalization of Shin Buddhism (2011).

The Buddhas in the West Material Archive is a digital scholarship project that catalogues artifacts depicting Buddhist material culture for Western audiences. It’s comprised of prints, photos, and an assortment of ephemera and other objects. For a brief introduction to this archive, visit the main Buddhas in the West project page.

For Related Buddhas in the West Posts Featuring Historical Trade Cards:

For the Most Recent Buddhas in the West Posts:

Wilhelm Burger’s Kamakura Daibutsu Photograph

For all the new Buddhas in the West posts
follow us on Bluesky & Instagram

Tales of Tourist Photos, Pt. 2*: Old “wet-plate” photography required glass negatives to be coated, sensitized, exposed, and developed in less than fifteen minutes. Using the dry-plate method, negatives could be prepared beforehand; Wilhelm Burger was among the first to use this in Japan.
*[Part 1]

Burger was photographer for the 1869 Imperial Austrian Expedition to East Asia, but illness allowed him to remain in Japan for the winter after the legation left. Tasked in part to photograph art objects, Burger visited the Kamakura Daibutsu with large glass negatives he prepared in Europe.

The handwritten inscription on the back of this photographic print reads, “This Image is all Bronze, name Diaboots.” “Diaboots,” or Daiboots, was the Yokohama treaty port vernacular for the Kamakura Daibutsu through the 1860s.

While Burger created a sizable portfolio of arts and crafts during the embassy, his photographs at Kōtoku-in in Kamakura appear more tourist-like than documentary. Here, several people pose for the camera, including what may appear to be Buddhist priests and three men in European attire.

To my knowledge, the people remain unidentified; Burger’s apprentice, Michael Moser, stayed in Japan after the embassy returned (and remained after Burger left). Moreover, Italian-born Felice Beato operated a successful Yokohama-based photography studio at the time – could either be seen here?

On his return to Vienna in 1870, Burger exhibited his Japanese portfolio to broad public acclaim. For more on Burger’s photographic process, see Tani Akiyoshi & Peter Pantzer’s “Wilhelm Burger’s Photographs of Japan,” PhotoResearcher 15 (2011): 40–50.

The Buddhas in the West Material Archive is a digital scholarship project that catalogues artifacts depicting Buddhist material culture for Western audiences. It’s comprised of prints, photos, and an assortment of ephemera and other objects. For a brief introduction to this archive, visit the main Buddhas in the West project page.

For Related Buddhas in the West Posts Featuring Historical Photography:

For the Most Recent Buddhas in the West Posts:

Eastman Kodak European Tour Group Real Photo Postcard

For all the new Buddhas in the West posts
follow us on Bluesky & Instagram

Tales of Tourist Photos, Pt. 1*: If photography changed the way people viewed the world, the Eastman Kodak camera transformed the late Victorian practice of tourism. The handheld Kodak made photography available to casual amateurs, creating the vernacular form of snapshot photography.
*[Part 2]

In contrast to a generation earlier, precise technical expertise was not necessary and photography became increasingly linked to personal experience. Foreign travel, such as visiting the Kamakura Daibutsu, increasingly “required” a photograph to validate the exotic experience.

By 1903, the Kodak 3A was released and fitted with rolled film creating negatives measuring 3¼ in. x 5½ in. – the exact size of a standard postcard. Eastman marketed a broad range of supplies for the amateur, including Velox paper for those developing and printing their own postcards.

This real photo postcard was shot and printed circa 1910–1915 and captures two dozen tourists arranged along the lap and stone pedestal of the Great Buddha of Kamakura.

Some of the earliest photographs of the Kamakura Daibutsu depict people climbing upon its lap and a ladder can be seen for helping a visitor’s ascent in photographs dating to the 1870s. By around 1915 climbing on the statue was prohibited.

For further discussion on the birth of the snapshot and its cultural impact, see Mia Fineman’s “Kodak and the Rise of Amateur Photography,” viewable here: https://www.metmuseum.org/essays/kodak-and-the-rise-of-amateur-photography.

The Buddhas in the West Material Archive is a digital scholarship project that catalogues artifacts depicting Buddhist material culture for Western audiences. It’s comprised of prints, photos, and an assortment of ephemera and other objects. For a brief introduction to this archive, visit the main Buddhas in the West project page.

For Related Buddhas in the West Posts Featuring Real Photo Postcards:

For the Most Recent Buddhas in the West Posts:

Chocolat Pupier’s “Le Japon ancien” Trade Card

For all the new Buddhas in the West posts
follow us on Bluesky & Instagram

European and American chocolatiers were among the businesses that embraced the use of beautifully illustrated advertising trade cards. To inspire collection, the cards often depicted romantic, if not highly stereotyped, imagery.

Looking closely, we can see the Kamakura Daibutsu is seemingly portrayed as a sightseeing destination, not a religious icon; the onlookers in Western attire hint more at curious observation than reverence.

Moreover, the caption of “ancient Japan” plays to the idea of an ancient and mystical “Orient,” thus we might read the Buddhist icon as a quaint relic of the distant past, not part of a living religious tradition.

French confectioner Chocolat Pupier was a major producer of chromolithographed trade cards. An “Asia” album with 252 card slots could be purchased to display your collection (we see this is card number 140).

The rise of the postcard at the turn of the twentieth century and the growth of magazine advertising ended the widespread use of trade cards. For more on trade cards, see “The Short Rise and Fall of the Crazy-for-Cocoa-Trade Cards Craze,” viewable here: tinyurl.com/yc2a9y4b.

The Buddhas in the West Material Archive is a digital scholarship project that catalogues artifacts depicting Buddhist material culture for Western audiences. It’s comprised of prints, photos, and an assortment of ephemera and other objects. For a brief introduction to this archive, visit the main Buddhas in the West project page.

For Related Buddhas in the West Posts Featuring Historical Lithographic Prints:

For the Most Recent Buddhas in the West Posts:

Kamakura Sightseeing Map (1912)

For all the new Buddhas in the West posts
follow us on Bluesky & Instagram

After the opening Japan in 1859, the old backwater capital of Kamakura was transformed into an international tourist destination. This bilingual tourist map from 1912 (Meiji 45) provides a glimpse into which Kamakura sites were seen as most significant, including the Kamakura Daibutsu.

The Complete Map of Kamakura Famous Places for Sightseeing (Kamakura yūran meisho zenzu 鎌倉遊覧名所全圖), loosely rendered into English as The Drawing of Kamakura Nipoon [sic], came inside a paper folder printed with symbols of the Japanese empire. The map was prepared by Kawakami Yasujirō 川上安次郎.

By the early 1890s, the Kamakura Kaihin Hotel, a converted medical therapy facility for seawater bathing, emerged as the premier resort for Kamakura travelers. In March 1893, the Japanese Welcome Society was established to help promote foreign travel in Japan.

For many Japanese travelers, the main attraction was the Hachiman Shrine, a large complex in the heart of the city found at the end of a long central promenade leading to the ocean. The red dot seen here suggests this site was highlighted by the original owners of the map.

Among the many dozens of sites named on the map, only a handful are marked by a red dot. Of those highlighted is Hase-dera, temple home to a famous 31-foot tall Eleven-Headed Kannon statue.

Another highlighted tourist attraction is the Kamakura Daibutsu at Kōtoku-in, here depicted by a small, yet easily identifiable, icon. For a digitized collection of Japanese maps held by the C. V. Starr East Asian Library at UC Berkeley, see tinyurl.com/yutj576z.

The Buddhas in the West Material Archive is a digital scholarship project that catalogues artifacts depicting Buddhist material culture for Western audiences. It’s comprised of prints, photos, and an assortment of ephemera and other objects. For a brief introduction to this archive, visit the main Buddhas in the West project page.

For Related Buddhas in the West Posts Featuring Japan:

For the Most Recent Buddhas in the West Posts:

Adolfo Farsari’s Kamakura Daibutsu Photograph

For all the new Buddhas in the West posts
follow us on Bluesky & Instagram

In 1886, a year after Adolfo Farsari opened his Yokohama photography studio, it burned to the ground during a city-wide fire. Farsari spent the next several months traveling Japan to replenish his stock, including several Buddhist sites popular among globetrotting tourists.

Moreover, with the destruction of Farsari’s studio, he also lost the older negatives of Felice Beato and Baron von Stillfried. Farsari’s studio was among the last of the foreign studios in Yokohama as more Japanese photographers were turning to professional ventures.

Farsari’s scene of the Kamakura Daibutsu shows a person in the middle of prayer.

We can also see another man standing on the stone pedestal, a common sight in photographs of this era.

Farsari’s work earned the praise Rudyard Kipling who complimented him on the fidelity of the hand-coloring. Further commentary on Farsari’s Kamakura Daibutsu photo can be found here: https://peterromaskiewicz.com/2019/01/19/farsaris-dai-butsu-visual-literacy-of-buddhism/

The Buddhas in the West Material Archive is a digital scholarship project that catalogues artifacts depicting Buddhist material culture for Western audiences. It’s comprised of prints, photos, and an assortment of ephemera and other objects. For a brief introduction to this archive, visit the main Buddhas in the West project page.

For Related Buddhas in the West Posts Featuring Historical Photography:

For the Most Recent Buddhas in the West Posts:

Hyōgo Daibutsu at Kobe F.S. Postcard

For all the new Buddhas in the West posts
follow us on Bluesky & Instagram

The original Hyōgo Daibutsu at Nōfuku-ji was the third largest Buddhist statue in Japan. It was dismantled by the Ordinance on the Collection of Metals issued in 1941 as part of Japanese war efforts during WWII.

Located in the port city of Kobe, the Daibutsu was approximately 12 meters in height. It became a popular tourist destination at the end of the 19th century, thus many photographs and postcards remain of the now lost icon.

This “undivided back” design informs us the postcard was printed before 1907. The “F.S.” in the stamp box refers to the publisher’s name (which I haven’t identified).

Many Japanese postcards of this period were hand-colored collotype prints. You can see the red ink splotches the colorist used to suggest design elements.

An albumen print photograph by Kusakabe Kinbei is held by the Nagasaki University Library, viewable here: http://oldphoto.lb.nagasaki-u.ac.jp/zoom/jp/record.php?id=1044

The Buddhas in the West Material Archive is a digital scholarship project that catalogues artifacts depicting Buddhist material culture for Western audiences. It’s comprised of prints, photos, and an assortment of ephemera and other objects. For a brief introduction to this archive, visit the main Buddhas in the West project page.

For Related Buddhas in the West Posts Featuring Postcards:

For the Most Recent Buddhas in the West Posts:

Marguerite Courtot c. 1920 Studio Portrait

For all the new Buddhas in the West posts
follow us on Bluesky & Instagram

Silent film star Marguerite Courtot joined Pathé after WWI and became a centerpiece in the studio’s action-adventure serials. She starred in Pirate Gold (1920), Velvet Fingers(1920) and The Yellow Arm (1921), with the latter being a stereotypical “Yellow Menace” adventure.

This photo does not appear to be a production still (a movie set photo), but a studio portrait taken in New York City. The portrait dates to around 1920 when the silent film industry was still centered in Fort Lee, New Jersey.

Courtout grasps on to the Buddha statue using a dramatic stage gesture, a relic of the theater age that was adopted in early film. While The Yellow Arm serial is considered lost, it is possible this was a cast portrait used in promoting the film.

Short written synopses survive for several of the Yellow Arm episodes as copyright claims. The synopsis for episode one is held by the Library of Congress, viewable here: https://www.loc.gov/item/s1229l16612/.

The Buddhas in the West Material Archive is a digital scholarship project that catalogues artifacts depicting Buddhist material culture for Western audiences. It’s comprised of prints, photos, and an assortment of ephemera and other objects. For a brief introduction to this archive, visit the main Buddhas in the West project page.

For Related Buddhas in the West Posts Featuring Silent Films:

For the Most Recent Buddhas in the West Posts:

Daibutsu and Tour Group Glass Lantern Slide

For all the new Buddhas in the West posts
follow us on Bluesky & Instagram

In the pre-film era, magic lantern slides were a part of popular entertainment alongside panoramas and mechanical theaters. Many amateur lecturers who returned from a trip would book a church hall or town theater to show slides illustrating their personal travel narrative.

While photos and postcards were shared with friends in the home, glass lantern slides were also intended for showy public display. Consequently, glass slides were often hand-painted in eye-catching color; here we see the bronze Kamakura Daibutsu in uncharacteristic magenta.

Two pieces of glass, one of which bears the positive photographic print, sandwich the image to keep it safe from scratches and debris. Unlike the exemplar here, the publisher would often print their name on the matting around the image.

Based on the layout of the Daibutsu grounds, this photo was taken around 1910.

The University of Hawaii at Manoa has a large collection of slides as part of their Japan Collection, viewable here: https://tinyurl.com/8hdvfzad

The Buddhas in the West Material Archive is a digital scholarship project that catalogues artifacts depicting Buddhist material culture for Western audiences. It’s comprised of prints, photos, and an assortment of ephemera and other objects. For a brief introduction to this archive, visit the main Buddhas in the West project page.

For Related Buddhas in the West Posts Featuring Historical Glass Lantern Slides:

For the Most Recent Buddhas in the West Posts:

Hand-Colored Daibutsu Postcard Comparison

For all the new Buddhas in the West posts
follow us on Bluesky & Instagram

The US postal service delivered over 900 million postcards on the eve of WWI. In Japan, that number was 1.5 billion. Despite nearly doubling the total number of cards mailed, many Japanese picture postcards were also rather unique – they were individually hand painted.

As far as we can tell, a template card was painted by a specialist before it was sent out with dozens of plain cards to colorists, many of whom were women. At times you can find more notable coloring discrepancies between paired images.

Note the differences in the boy’s garments, the open umbrella, the obi-sash, and stone pedestal in the background. It is also possible to see how the washes of color line up imperfectly with the collotype print in black ink.

Due to the temple landscaping around the Kamakura Daibutsu, we know this photograph was likely taken between 1903 and 1910. According to the postal mark, the stamp was cancelled on October 15, 1912 (Taisho 1) and mailed to the United States (thus requiring a 4 sen stamp). We also have a rare publisher’s mark along the edge: James Eades & Co., Yokohama, Japan.

The Kamakura Daibustu was among the most popular tourist destinations in Japan and countless images of the bronze statue were sent as postcards around the world in the early 20th century.

The Buddhas in the West Material Archive is a digital scholarship project that catalogues artifacts depicting Buddhist material culture for Western audiences. It’s comprised of prints, photos, and an assortment of ephemera and other objects. For a brief introduction to this archive, visit the main Buddhas in the West project page.

For Related Buddhas in the West Posts Featuring the Kamakura Daibutsu:

For the Most Recent Buddhas in the West Posts: