Three Extremely Rare Images
The Year of the Horse brings three rare horse-related images together
Yesterday’s article about the forgotten horse races at Tokyo’s Ueno Park featured three photos of the grandstand. Original prints of this building, particularly those in good condition or hand-colored in the 1800s, are extraordinarily rare. In fact, the Duits Collection may be the only collection to hold all three.
I have searched extensively through other collections and, so far, have been unable to identify another that has all three. Even the curator of a premier museum in Japan expressed surprise and asked whether I might loan the photographs for a future exhibition. Ironically, this was the very institution I had assumed would most likely own all three images. I was told that they did not even have one of them.
It took nearly two decades to find and acquire these three. I am still searching for several other images of the grandstand that I have never seen as original prints.
Published reproductions, when they exist, are generally of poor quality. For example, there is a version of the close-up of the grandstand listed on Wikipedia. It was copied from the book Yomigaeru Meiji no Tokyo, published in 1992 (bottom right below).1 The photo is quite grainy and details are hard to discern.
It takes effort to find high-quality, original prints from the 1800s. Earthquakes, fires, and war mean that few copies survived in Japan. Surviving prints were generally bought as souvenirs by Westerners visiting Japan during the late 1800s. As a result, they are scattered all over the world. For example, I acquired the three grandstand photos separately in the United States, Japan, and France.
I often find that owners or dealers are unaware of their historical significance. This makes it even more important to acquire these images before they are misplaced, or even lost because of a lack of knowledge.
Each vintage image is special, but by itself it is like a snapshot. Bring related images together and magic happens. First, their historical significance becomes more clear. More importantly, when you can see a place from multiple angles, it becomes easier to understand what it really looked like. When you see images of the same place over a period of time, you start to understand how and why it changed.
That is why I try to locate and unite prints that ought to be together. This enables the creation of focused sub-collections of images that shed light on crucial cultural and historical aspects of Japan. Such as my current study on horse racing or my 2024 study of Shinjuku's Lost Paradise, which unearthed eight unknown images.
One day, the images may be publicly exhibited. Until then, I bring them together in this newsletter and the official Old Photos of Japan site, accompanied with detailed research that brings them back to live.
Your support, whether it is financial, by sharing articles, or in another manner, helps me do this and I want to express my deepest gratitude. You make it possible to rescue these images, bring them together, and publish research about them and daily life in old Japan. Thank you.
An Appeal
I have spent roughly three hundred hours researching and writing the new series on horse racing in Japan. During this research, I discovered several other rare prints related to this and my next topic. However, serious health issues over the past three years have exhausted my funds, preventing me from purchasing them.
One of these images, an 1863 engraving based on long lost photos, shows the very first British-style racetrack in Japan, built before Yokohama’s famous Negishi track. This engraving is currently in Great Britain. It costs USD 300, including shipping. One of the first photos of the Negishi track is already in my collection, so the engraving would make a wonderful match.
If you have thought about becoming a paid subscriber or making a donation but couldn’t make up your mind, now is a good time. It would help me unite these rare images, and bring images that are now abroad back home to Japan. It would also greatly improve the historical accounts that I am writing. Thank you in advance!
玉井哲雄 (1992)『よみがえる明治の東京 : 東京十五区写真集』角川書店, 218–219.
I wish I were in a financial position to help you more but being retired and living on my pension and Social Security, my subscription here is the best I can do at the moment. But I do thank you for your efforts and what you post here and hope you can continue.
The way dispersed photographs often end up undervalued reminds me of tracking down archival materials years back. The grandstand images are compelling because thier significance only really emerges when viewed as a set. Physical scattering after disasters essentially fragments historical memory, creating blind spots even for institutions that should logically have the most complete records.