One Response to “Hand Colored Photograph 2”

1. Rob Oechsle Says:
   9 月 14th, 2007 at 5:25:27

   T. ENAMI (1895-1929) [Real name: NOBUKUNI ENAMI]. Student/Disciple of famous photographer and collotype publisher, K. OGAWA. ENAMI’s first studio was at No.9 Benten-Dori, from April 1892 - September 1, 1923. After 1923 Earthquake, temporary studio erected at No. 2-41 Benten-Dori. Prior to 1929, established final studio at No.29 Benten-Dori. After T. ENAMI’s death in 1929, first son TAMOTSU ENAMI took over the studio. [NOTE: T. ENAMI is not TAMOTSU ENAMI. “T” for father and son’s name is a coincidence. The T of T. ENAMI most likely stood for TOSHI, nickname reading of first character NOBU of real name NOBUKUNI. T. ENAMI only appears in Romanized Japanese, and was used as his business and photographer name. his clientèle consisting primarily of foreigners . His real name spelled out in full in Japanese name order, ENAMI NOBUKUNI, only appears in Japanese characters in the documents that show it]. First son TAMOTSU (1892-1969) was not a photographer. He was photo-finisher for amateurs and professionals, especially toursist passing through Yokohama. He also did a large business in the continued sale of his father’s photographs taken prior to 1929. Most Japanese subject images (such as the three you posted above) were taken by T. ENAMI. The “No.29 BENTENDORI YOKOHAMA” labels on the slides indicates that they were printed by his son, TAMOTSU, between 1929 - 1945. In 1945, the Studio was destroyed in the American fire-bombing of WW2. TAMOTSU survived the war, and remained a photo-finisher until his death in 1969. Although T. ENAMI produced souvenir photo albums and other formats, his 1895-1915 Stereoviews (and Lantern-slides made from them) became the most widely reproduced Meiji-era images of any Japanese Photographer. — Research by Rob Oechsle; full story published in Terry Bennett’s OLD JAPANESE PHOTOGRAPHS: COLLECTORS’ DATA GUIDE (Quaritch, 2006)

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