Nobukuni Enami – Japanese photographer of the early 19th and 20th centuries

Nobukuni Enami was a Japanese professional photographer born in Edo (present-day Tokyo) in 1859.

Better known as T-Enami, he studied under the noted photographer Kazumasa Ogawa (Isshin) from 1885 to 1890. A couple of years later, he moved to Yokohama to set up his photography studio on Benten-dori Street.

Color photography had not yet been invented, so the practice of hand-coloring black and white photographs or glass slides became common practice, resulting in Yokohama’s characteristic photographs and a tourist export item. on a par with ceramics and lacquer.

From the late 19th century to the early 20th century, many foreign tourists came to Japan and bought pictures taken by local photographers for tourists. The photos showed typical views of Japan from daily life, streets, landscapes, cherry blossoms to Japanese customs and local people.

This technique makes the photographs look like paintings, a true work of art!

If they cross their eyes in front of the stereoscopic images they can be seen in 3D. It may be difficult to achieve, but it’s worth it ^^

The following is my favorite ^^;

With the arrival of foreigners, photographs and postcards became popular “souvenirs.” Enami sold tourist photographs, mainly photo albums containing around 50 photos.

As a curious fact, it is not known for sure what the “T” in “T. Enami” represents. Some say that it is a trade name that apparently suited both Nobukuni and his son Tamotsu, who took over the studio when Enami died in 1929. Others say that the “T” could stand for “Toshi” since the kanji for “Nobu” in Nobukuni could also be pronounced as “Toshi.

Enami’s work also includes black and white photographs depicting the icons of ancient Japan in highly artistic compositions.

There are many places where Enami’s work is preserved; university bookstores, local archives, private collections and photography museums. His photos and images are part of several books dealing with photography and is one of the best examples of early 20th century photography in Japan and in the world.

Enami was the only Japanese professional photographer known to have worked in all artistic and commercial formats of his day. Many are his contributions to the world of Japanese photography, the most important being the large format images, the slide lantern, the stereoscopic images and hand-colored photographs.

The following video shows what the images would look like in a stereoscopic.