MeijiShowa

04/09/2026

WORSHIPPING A WARRIOR

After Sh**un Tokugawa Ieyasu died on the morning of June 1, 1616, a contentious religious argument over how he should be worshipped erupted between two influential Buddhist priests, Ishin Sūden and Tenkai.

Sūden had begun preparations to turn Ieyasu into a type of kami (god, deity) that combined Shintō and Buddhist elements. But this form of worship had been institutionalized by a school of thought that considered Buddhism inferior to Shintō.

Tenkai, who had been Ieyasu’s religious teacher, defied the powerful Sūden to champion a kami who was a manifestation of a Buddha in the form of a Shintō kami.

It seems like an inconsequential religious debate, but it transformed Japanese history.

My latest article shows how Tokugawa Ieyasu was turned into a deity who fused Shintō and Buddhism.

It’s a story about a fierce power struggle between rival Buddhist priests, and an ambition that ultimately helped create some of Japan’s most magnificent sacred sites.

The outcome of their argument also helped lay the foundations for the important role Tokyo’s Ueno district would play in the centuries that followed.

Find the link to the article in the comments!

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ABOUT THE PHOTO

A Zuijin warrior-guardian figure at Tōshōgu Shrine in Nikkō. Dedicated to Sh**un Tokugawa Ieyasu, the shrine was the vision of an ambitious and politically savvy Buddhist priest. Unattributed, 1934, hand-colored glass slide, published by the New York State Education Department.

01/09/2026

Postwar color photographs taken of Japan by US service members are slowly vanishing, as the people who took them die and their children and grandchildren throw them away, writes The Japan Times.

If you have any old photographs of Japan that deserve a new home, please send them to me. I collect, conserve, scan, and research vintage photos to hand this visual legacy of old Japan to future generations.

I share the photos and my research for free on my site Old Photos of Japan and my Substack newsletter.

Many rare color photos taken by U.S. service members after World War II are gradually being dispersed or lost over time, though some may contain historically significant scenes.

11/08/2026

JAPANESE PANORAMAS FROM THE EARLY 1900s

Sometimes, beautiful things seem to fall out of the sky.

Last Friday, I was contacted by William O'Donnell, a Los Angeles-based film production designer and theatre practitioner with an interest in art history and pre-cinema artifacts.

He utilizes antique lantern slides in theatrical productions as rear projection backgrounds, and has been building a collection of vintage slides with this potential.

William shared eight early 20th century panoramic lantern slides of Japan photographed by Kazaburo Tamamura (玉村 康三郎, 1856–1923?). In November 2025, he purchased them from a family that may have owned them since 1915.

Panoramic lantern slides are a bit rare and were used in a special way. The projectionist would manually track them across the lens for a sweeping "panning" effect.

These slides are beautiful, with a blue sky very particular to Tamamura’s work. I asked William if I could share them with you. He said yes.

I put the link below.

To experience what viewers would have seen a hundred years ago, put your hands together to cover the image, but leave a square left open about the height of the image. I put my left hand up with outstretched thumb and put my right hand down with outstretched thumb and put them close enough together to leave just enough of the image visible.

Then close one eye, and slowly move your hands from one side of the photo to the other side. For a moment you are standing in that place as you move your view.

Seeing the whole image at once is of course just as impressive.

Enjoy!

Explore this photo album by William O'Donnell on Flickr!

05/08/2026

TOKYO’S UENO TODAY

Over the past few months I have been researching the history of Tokyo’s Ueno district. My last three articles introduced how the Tokyo area evolved from before Tokugawa Ieyasu’s entrance in 1590 to the early 1600s to explain the political and social shifts that gave birth to the urbanization of Ueno.

Although my main focus will be on Ueno just before it was destroyed by the 1923 Great Kantō Earthquake, I also plan to share some photographs of the area as it looks today.

For the first time in a while the weather forecast for the morning was really good yesterday, and my health was not too bad either. So, I woke up at 3 am and went shooting at Ueno.

This is one of the photographs I shot of Shinobazu Pond. The lotus flowers are stunning, and I almost started dancing from delight when I first arrived.

That small dot in the sky is not dust on my lens. It’s one of the many birds living in and around the pond.

30/07/2026

EDO: A METROPOLIS OF HOSTAGES

When a thirty-one-year-old woman was sent to Edo (present-day Tokyo) in 1633 as a hostage, she expressed her sorrow in a poem, ending it with a sad question:

Longing for the people
at home, I cannot help but
write to them,
asking them,
“Do you see the
same clouds in the gloomy sky?”

During the early 1600s, clans all over Japan sent hostages to the Tokugawa Sh**unate’s capital. Surprisingly, most of them were sent voluntarily. The reason was simple. Feudal lords who sent family members to Edo were richly rewarded. They also received land in Edo to build residences.

This resulted in a massive building boom in Edo as Japan’s lords built magnificent residences, known as Edo Yashiki, to house their families. Many lords maintained multiple yashiki, bringing the total to between 600 and 1,000 within just a few decades. Edo Castle was surrounded by them.

My latest story introduces this piece of history. Particularly, how the sh**unate transformed a voluntary system into a highly regulated institution imposed on all lords. Their wives and children had to permanently reside in Edo, while the lords were required to spend alternate years in Edo and their domains.

The system helped transform Edo from a marshy wetland into a city of over 430,000 inhabitants by 1650.

Find the link to the article in the comments!

ABOUT THE PHOTO

The former main gate of a feudal lord’s residence, as it looked during the 1890s. Now popularly known as the Kuromon, this gate was originally the main gate to the Edo mansion of the Inaba Domain, now part of Tottori. It was originally located in Marunouchi. Designated an Important Cultural Property in 1951, it was moved to the Tokyo National Museum in 1954. Unattributed, hand colored albumen print, Pump Park Collection.

17/07/2026

EDO: JAPAN'S NEW CENTER OF POWER

This photo shows the residence of the Owari Tokugawa clan in Ichigaya, ca. 1872. During the 1600s, over 250 feudal lords built multiple estates like this in Edo (present-day Tokyo). They transformed a marshy wetland into Japan’s new center of power and a sprawling metropolis.

Since February, I’ve been researching how Ueno became one of Edo’s most distinctive entertainment districts before it was destroyed by the 1923 earthquake that leveled Tokyo and surroundings. It was a vibrant maze of geisha houses, rendezvous teahouses, and top-class restaurants, many with a breathtaking view of the lotus-filled Shinobazu Pond.

My latest article traces the origins of Ueno through the story of a 54-year-old mother who was taken hostage in Edo by Tokugawa Ieyasu just before the pivotal Battle of Sekigahara.

She was no ordinary hostage. She was Hōshun’in (1547–1617), the widow of Maeda Toshiie (1538–1599), one of the great generals of the Sengoku, or Warring States, period. Yet Hōshun’in was far more than a general’s widow. She was a skilled diplomat and political figure in her own right.

Her fourteen years as a hostage in Edo coincided with a historical transformation. Following Sekigahara, leading daimyō began visiting Edo to pay homage to Ieyasu. In return, they received land in Edo to build vast residences, like the Owari estate in the photo. Many also voluntarily sent their sons or other close relatives to Edo, often receiving rewards in return.

Over the following decades, these voluntary acts of loyalty evolved into sankin kōtai (alternate attendance), under which daimyō alternated between their domains and Edo. Their wives and children remained permanently in Edo. From an isolated frontier fort, Edo exploded into Japan’s largest city.

Hōshun’in played an important role, yet her own voice is largely absent from the official narratives. However, some 113 of her letters remain. As these are translated into modern Japanese and more of her letters are discovered, her voice is slowly returning to us. They help us see the transformation that made Edo Japan’s new center of power in a new light.

Find the link to the full article in the comments.

05/06/2026

A CASTLE IN A MARSH

Last month, I briefly introduced the area in front of Tokyo’s Ueno Park just before the 1923 Great Kantō Earthquake turned it to ashes. It was a vibrant maze of geisha houses, rendezvous teahouses, and top-class restaurants, many with a breathtaking view of the lotus-filled Shinobazu Pond.

Before diving deeper into Ueno, I decided to go back in time to better understand how its unique culture emerged. My latest article explores how Tokyo, then called Edo, was established by the ambitious warlord Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543–1616).

Over a decade before becoming sh**un, he built a stronghold in what was then a marshy, low-lying wetland, far removed from the centers of power in Kyoto and Osaka. It was on the very edge of what the elite considered the civilized world.

In this challenging landscape, Ieyasu and his successors built a radically new social order that transformed Japan. Squeezed between the powerful forces unleashed by this new order and the natural splendor of Shinobazu Pond, Ueno’s unique culture was born.

This article explores Edo before Ieyasu’s arrival and what he built there.

The text, images, and the maps that I created show the Tokyo area in a way we very rarely get to see.

Find the link in the comments!

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The photo shows Edo Castle between 1872 and 1874. In the center is the Sakash*ta Gate; in the background, the Fujimi Yagura turret. Both still exist today. The massive castle, built in a marsh, was the heart of a new social order from which the unique culture emerged of Tokyo’s Ueno district.

07/05/2026

TOKYO’S UENO BEFORE THE QUAKE

Before it was razed by the terrifying fires of the 1923 quake, the area in front of Tokyo’s Ueno Park was a vibrant maze of geisha houses, rendezvous teahouses, and top-class restaurants, many with a breathtaking view of the lotus-filled Shinobazu Pond. It was a place where geisha, art, and power met and mingled.

Ueno was one of early 20th century Tokyo’s most vibrant social hubs. It attracted a huge range of people: students, professors, authors, poets, artists, businessmen, government officials, and so on. Many came for the cherry blossom and lotus flowers at Shinobazu Pond, others for the geisha parties.

During the 1910s, Ueno’s geisha district counted some 348 geisha and maiko in 139 geisha houses. Three of these geisha achieved national fame.

Ueno was a diverse and almost bohemian place, full of energy and dreams. Visiting it was an adventure.

Yet, surprisingly little is known about what it was like. There is a mountain of historical material on Ueno Park, but almost nothing on the vibrant entertainment and commercial hub right in front of it.

Over the past three months, I have dug deep into newspapers, magazines, books, directories, credit registers, and even court records from the late 1800s through early 1900s.

I have uncovered compelling firsthand accounts and stories. In some cases, the data tells its own story. Of the roughly 240 businesses I have identified so far, about 30 percent were owned or managed by women.

Today, I published the first article in a series that will introduce this forgotten chapter of Tokyo’s history.

Find the link to the article in the comments.

ABOUT THE PHOTO

A view on the area between Hirokōji Avenue and Shinobazu Pond as it looked just before the 1923 earthquake. The large building in front is one of the area's two department stores. Behind it are geisha houses. Along the edge of the pond are rendezvous teahouses and restaurants.

22/03/2026

SHINOBAZU BOOK STREET
ONE BOX BOOK FAIR

The 26th Shinobazu Book Street One Box Book Fair is scheduled for Saturday, April 25th, 2026 (11:00〜16:00).

First launched in 2005, this unique book fair attracts book lovers from across Japan. What makes this event special is that regular people sell their used books from a single box at locations scattered throughout Tokyo's Yanaka, Nezu, and Sendagi districts (Yanesen), neighborhoods known for their Showa-era charm and countless temples.

Chat with the vendors and discover what makes the books they are offering special.

One Box Book Fairs (一箱古本市, Hitohako Furuhon Ichi) were started in Yanesen and have become popular in many other locations as well.

Incidentally, every year the Shinobazu Book Street organization prints a map with locations of bookstores in Yanesen. You can pick up a copy at one the district's bookstores.

For more information about their activities, visit their blog at https://shinobazukun.hatenablog.jp

22/03/2026

FUN BOOKSTORE IN TOKYO'S YANAKA DISTRICT

I was at the Yanaka Branch of Taito City Library yesterday, near Tokyo’s Ueno Park, to do research for my next article and wandered about the neighborhood a little. Near the library, I stumbled onto a charming tiny bookstore, Boogooz, and started chatting with the owners, Mr. and Mrs. Mukai.

They told me that they used to work as graphic designers for a book publisher. They are now retired and opened the bookstore to sell their huge collection of books which they amassed for inspiration for their work. They don’t sell the books for profit, Mr. Mukai explained — the low prices of their books reinforced that statement.

I got the impression that they were looking for loving homes for the books that they cherished for so many years.

The store is very small, but full of beautiful books, many related to art, design, photography and cooking, but also lots of novels. The majority are in Japanese, but there are some in other languages as well. I even found several in Dutch, purchased because they admired Dutch graphic design.

Yanaka is part of the "Yanesen" district, which includes neighboring Sendagi and Nezu. It is a nostalgic neighborhood with countless temples and traditional buildings and shops where the feeling of a Showa period “sh*tamachi” (downtown) survives to this day.

If you can make some time, please go and visit the shop. Even if you can’t find any books you want the atmosphere is nice and the area is full of charming boutiques, shops, and temples.

NOTE

Mr. and Mrs. Mukai can only accept cash, so come prepared!

https://www.boogooz.jp