Japan in colour

The exhibition, on loan from the Japanese Cultural Institute in Cologne, presents 55 historical black and white photographs, taken in studio and from life by Western photographers and travelers during the Meiji period (1868-1912), a fundamental era of transition between Feudal Japan from the Edo or Tokugawa period (1603-1868) to the modern era. Almost all the photographs on display come from the collection of the diplomat Karl von Eisendecher (1841-1934), who resided in Japan between 1875 and 1882, first as a minister and then as ambassador of the German Empire; subsequently the collection was acquired by Werner Kourist (Linz) and the Seminar of Japanese Studies of the University of Bonn.

After two hundred years of self-isolation policy, the so-called sakoku (literally "chained country" or "armored country"), which began with an edict of the shōgun Tokugawa Iemitsu in 1641 and was abruptly interrupted by the US commodore Matthew Perry in 1853 by the action of his " black ships”, Japan opened up to the West. The end of this closure coincided with a rapid modernization that led to important social, political and economic changes. In fact, while during the Edo period only a few foreigners could enter Japan, the opening of the country at the beginning of the Meiji period was followed by intense travel activity, documented by a large amount of photographic material.

The exhibition, divided into chapters dedicated to the themes of commerce, transport, portraits and architecture, displays photographs that include scenes from daily life in Japan, a country still unknown to the majority of Westerners at the time. Taken by the travelers themselves or in studios in large cities, set up and partially coloured by hand by skilled artisans. Although this historical period was characterized, as we have already mentioned, by deep and radical changes, the photographs show, above all, the traditional aspects of Japanese culture, an eloquent reflection of the romantic taste for the exotic of foreign travellers.

Photo credits: courtesy of the Japanisches Kulturinstitut