Daimyo Shimazu Nariakira, The Subject Of The Earliest Surviving Japanese Photograph (1857)
Dutch traders brought photography to Japan through their business interests in Nagasaki Bay. Ensei-Kikijutsu was published in 1854 by the initial Japanese author to write on the subject of photography by Kawamoto Komin. This daguerreotype of Shimazu Nariakira (1809 – 1858) came about three years following this publication, becoming the supposedly initial completed picture from Japan. The “daimyo” Nariakira was a member of the Satsuma fiefdom as a feudal lord. Britannica recalls how his “adoption of Western military techniques and armaments helped make Satsuma the strongest fiefs in this country and put the han in a role to play a leading role the overthrow of the Tokugawa state and the establishment of a new imperial central government in 1868.”
Daimyo Shimazu Nariakira The Subject Of The Earliest Surviving Japanese Photograph
