Tamamura Kōzaburō

Tamamura Kōzaburō’s Kamakura Daibutsu Photograph For Brinkley’s Japan

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An astounding 400,000 hand-colored photographic prints were used for all editions of Francis Brinkley’s Japan: Described and Illustrated by the Japanese. Produced in Boston between 1897 and 1898, this work was the pinnacle of photographic book publishing at the turn of the century.

The photographs were imported from Japan from the Yokohama studio of Tamamura Kōzaburō, one of the most prolific Japanese photographers of his generation. He reportedly employed 350 artists for several months to complete the job, yet Tamamura’s name is omitted from the final publication.

Unlike most books of the era which used photomechanical prints, Brinkley’s Japan used mounted photographs. The Great Buddha of Kamakura was the second full page photograph, following Mt. Fuji, in the first volume, suggesting its perceived value in the American visual language of Japan.

Tamamura’s output was so extensive in preparation for Brinkley’s book, there was a fivefold increase in Japan’s photography exports between 1895 and 1896. This volume of work was achieved at expense of quality, as many of the color washes are pale and poorly executed.

While the number of one million photos for Brinkley’s Japan was likely exaggerated by Tamamura for publicity, this was truly an enormous undertaking. To view the first volume of Brinkley’s Japan held by the Getty Museum, see here: https://tinyurl.com/bddt5z32.

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:

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Tamamura Kōzaburō’s Shinkōji Vairocana Photograph

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For late Victorian-era globetrotters, religious sites around Japanese port cities were often treated as picturesque tourist destinations. Such a site can be found with the Shinkō-ji lotus pond surrounding a large bronze Buddhist statue, not far from Kobe harbor.

This photograph was taken by Tamamura Kōzaburō who operated a well-known studio based in Yokohama since the early 1880s. Tamamura, like many of his peers, often sold photographic souvenirs of sites, objects, and people sought out by foreign tourists.

It was common for photographers to add people to the scene to help provide a sense of scale. The height of the Shinkō-ji statue is claimed to have been 4.8 meters tall.

While the caption on the photo identifies the statue generically as an idol, Shinkō-ji identifies it as Vairocana Buddha. According to temple records the icon was installed in 1760.

Unfortunately, to the best of my knowledge, this icon was likely destroyed by allied firebomb attacks in March 1945 during World War II. A Tamamura album with 50 photograph has been scanned by Harvard University Library, viewable here: https://tinyurl.com/3jn672n5

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 Kobe, Japan:

For the Most Recent Buddhas in the West Posts:

Kōzaburō’s Undivided Back Postcard

Many early Japanese turn-of-the century postcards were colorful illustrations, cartoons, or woodblock prints, some of which were made by famed Japanese artists, but these traditional arts forms would soon lose favor to the photograph. One of the shifts that ushered in the visual dominance of photographic postcards was the introduction of private company postcards 私製はがき, which had been illegal to print until new postal regulations were introduced in 1900. In addition, the adoption of a new photomechanical printing technique, called the collotype, allowed for the wide availability of inexpensive photographic images of Japan.

Many early photographic postcards first circulated as albumen or silver gelatin prints sold by commercial photography studios. Early postcard publishers experimented with the orientation of the old images on the new format. By placing the image on the top half of a vertically oriented card, the bottom half could be reserved for the message [Figure 1]. Strategically designed areas or blank spots were necessary on the front of the card, because the reverse of the card was reserved solely for the name and address of the recipient until 1907. The regulations were determined by the Union postale universelle, the body which oversaw the postal system worldwide. These postcards, known today as “undivided back” cards, were replaced by “divided back” cards in 1907 in Japan, where the message could be included on the reverse of the card.

Figure 1

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  • Title/Caption: NA
  • Year: 1900-1907
  • Photographer: Tamamura Kōzaburō 玉村康三郎 (1856-1923?)[?]
  • Medium: collotype print on cardstock, hand tinted
  • Dimensions: 5.5 in X 3.5 in
  • Inscription: Union Postale Universelle. CARTE POSTALE, 萬國郵便聯合端書

The image depicts a wide angle view of the Daibutsu taken from the third landing. The positioning of the camera shows the rustic, yet landscaped grounds surrounding the Daibutsu statue. Lacking the presence of people, this bucolic setting exhibits a more quiet moment of the famous tourist destination.  On the right, the supports and roof of the ablution pavilion stick out from under an evergreen tree. The water basin (chōzubachi 手水鉢) for washing hands is found underneath (dating from 1749).

The photographer of this image is debated. Older studio albumen prints of this image are imprinted with “661 Daibuthu [sic] at Kamakura.” This numbering is consistent with the studio catalogue of Tamamura Kōzaburō 玉村康三郎 (1856-1923?)(See Bennett 2006: 152), but other sources attribute this image to Ogawa Kazumasa 小川 一眞 (1860-1929). (A similar, but not exact, photo has been identified in an Ogawa studio album). This exemplifies the difficulty in determining the correct attribution and age of old Daibutsu photographs, and more research still needs to be done.

Moreover, because the publishers of the postcard did not imprint their name on the back, it is difficult to tell who printed this tourist souvenir. The reverse of this card is bordered by an ornamental filigree-like design in umber brown ink. This card is an example of an “undivided back,” since no line appears separating the sections on the back where the correspondence and address would later come to be written. This functions now as an easy identifier for dating old postcards, with this exemplar dating between 1900 and 1907. (The photograph was probably taken in the mid-to-late 1890s). In addition, a small scalloped square appears in the top right corner, indicating the location to affix the necessary postage.

*This is part of a series of posts devoted to exploring the development of a visual literacy for Buddhist imagery in America. All items (except otherwise noted) are part of my personal collection of Buddhist-themed ephemera.

Additional Posts in Visual Literacy of Buddhism Series