Old Photos of Japan

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Read this article on the site | Comment on this article “If we didn’t all smoke a pipe, if it were not for tobacco, we would never get along together…
Kjeld Duits

February 2023

A Japanese farmer holds a kiseru (煙管). The tiny pipe offered only two to three puffs, yet it reigned for over three centuries.
Kjeld Duits

December 2022

A woman paints the face of a boy who lost in the card game of karuta. Photographer Teijiro Takagi shot this scene in Kobe in 1906 for a photo book about…
Kjeld Duits

November 2022

A rare early photograph of Dejima, the fan-shaped artificial island in Nagasaki. Dejima played a critical—but now largely forgotten—role in the opening…
Kjeld Duits

August 2022

A studio photo of maiko posing in front of the portable street stand of a singing insect vendor. Vendors sold a variety of insects changing with each…
Kjeld Duits

July 2022

A Japanese bride arrives at the groom’s house. Photographer Teijiro Takagi published this scene in 1905 (Meiji 38) in a photo book about Japanese…
Kjeld Duits

June 2022

A Japanese family poses stoically to “celebrate” a male family member being sent off to war during the late 1930s, or early 1940s. The banners bear his…
Kjeld Duits

May 2022

The game that these two young women are playing was once the most popular game in Japan, known by all. Now few people have even heard of its name.
Kjeld Duits
A small geta and zori shop. The shopkeeper is working on a geta while a customer is looking on. Shops like these were once everywhere in Japan.
Kjeld Duits
The rickshaw’s story is one of promise, romance, and pain. Did you know that the rickshaw contributed to Japan driving on the left side of the road?
Kjeld Duits

April 2022

Japan’s bathing culture is considered quintessentially Japanese. No guide book of Japan is complete without instructions on how to take a bath. A short…
Kjeld Duits
I almost sold this print because it seemed insignificant. Thankfully, a book by Dutch historian Herman J. Moeshart helped me realize it is an extremely…
Kjeld Duits
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