A Tourist's Album of Japan
Collection Overview
Katherine Wolcott and her uncle, Robert Hull Fleming, compiled this photo album on their visit to Japan in 1909. Part of a larger Asian trip, the two stopped in Japan and collected photos, postcards, bookmarks, and other materials. Fleming was a...
Show moreKatherine Wolcott and her uncle, Robert Hull Fleming, compiled this photo album on their visit to Japan in 1909. Part of a larger Asian trip, the two stopped in Japan and collected photos, postcards, bookmarks, and other materials. Fleming was a graduate of the University of Vermont, and in 1929 Katherine Wolcott helped to fund the construction of the Robert Hull Fleming Museum in memory of her late uncle. This album, a memento from their trip, was part of Wolcott’s own collection.
There are nearly 40 leaves of collected photographs and postcards, numbering two to three per album page. The pictures range in content, some depicting staged photos of daily life while others portray landscapes and countryside. The album itself measures approximately 11 x 14 x 4 inches and is currently housed at the Robert Hull Fleming Museum at the University of Vermont.
Wolcott’s album captures a unique view of Japan at the brink of burgeoning Western influence. After defeating the Russians in the Russo Japanese War (1904-05), Japan began to cement itself as a global power, and its efforts to modernize began to attract Westerners. The images in this album depict a Japan with a strong national heritage and cultural appreciation as well as a newfound embrace of modernization and technology.
Most of the pictures in the album sold commercially as a form of postcard. In the early 1900s, the Japanese populace began consuming millions of these types of commercially produced picture postcards. Eventually, the medium became so popular that it started to replace the more traditional wood block print. The citizenry sought pictures of their budding nation, wanting to hold a still image of the rapidly modernizing and changing countryside.
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Additional Content
Pages
- Title
- Cherry blossom festival
- Date Created
- 1909
- Title
- Cherry blossom festival in full swing
- Date Created
- 1909
- Title
- An elderly man getting his hair styled
- Date Created
- 1909
- Description
-
It looks as if the man is getting his hair pulled back into the traditional Samurai hairstyle of the top knot (Chonmage).
- Title
- Elderly man with a bow
- Date Created
- 1909
- Description
-
An elderly man is posing in a clan kimono with a "Yumi" (Bow) in his left hand. The bareness of his left arm suggests that the man is a practitioner of "Kyudo" (Japanese Zen Archery).
- Title
- Employees outside a tea house
- Date Created
- 1909
- Title
- Fan crafter with a customer
- Date Created
- 1909
- Description
-
There are two main types of fans in this man's shop. The folding fan - known as the "Sensu," and the hand fan - known as the "Uchiwa."
- Title
- Female musician with koto and Ōtsuzumi
- Date Created
- 1909
- Description
-
The instrument leaning against the wall behind the woman is a Koto. The drum she is holding and the one laying on the floor next to her are Ōtsuzumi.
- Title
- Five women on a bench
- Date Created
- 1909
- Description
-
Five women, dressed in elegant kimono's, sit astride a wooden bench. The picture is hand colored.
- Title
- Four women picking plants
- Date Created
- 1909
- Description
-
It looks like the women are picking tea leaves. Less labor intensive then traditional rice farming, but still a difficult job.
- Title
- Four women preparing a meal
- Date Created
- 1909
- Description
-
The four women are engaged in various tasks. The woman on the farthest left is grinding something within her bowl, while the woman to her right is dicing a radish. The two women on the right are tending a fire.
- Title
- Group of farmers tending to their crops
- Date Created
- 1909
- Title
- A group of female performers
- Date Created
- 1909
- Description
-
The woman on the right is holding a Shamisen, while the other women strike poses.
- Title
- Groups of people eating lakeside
- Date Created
- 1909
- Description
-
A group of women are eating together by a lake. A group of men are in the background, and appear to be eating as well.
- Title
- Priest holding a religious accoutrement
- Date Created
- 1909
- Description
-
A man dressed in highly formal attire, holding what appears to be some form of altar in between his hands. The long sleeves and exaggerated hat suggest either a religious or upper class background.
- Title
- A public park
- Date Created
- 1909
- Description
-
What appears to be the entrance to a public park. If you look closely, you can detect the mixing of cultures. Some men wear the traditional robe, but also don a western hat.
- Title
- Rural farmer
- Date Created
- 1909
- Description
-
The man in this picture is wearing a straw raincoat, as well as the other traditional attire of a rural farmer. In his left hand, he holds a plant and what looks like a hoe. The other hand is carrying a container.
- Title
- A rural Samurai
- Date Created
- 1909
- Description
-
The Samurai in this picture is wearing a straw raincoat in addition to his swords and clothing.
- Title
- Rural worker carrying his tools
- Date Created
- 1909
- Title
- Samurai bowing before their lord
- Date Created
- 1909
- Description
-
The important figure is stepping into a palanquin, about to be carried to his destination by his bodyguards.
- Title
- Sandal shop owner with a customer
- Date Created
- 1909
- Description
-
The Japanese Sandal is known as a "Geta" and was the most common piece of footwear throughout most of Japan's history. Geta can have varying amount of pegs, or none at all. When they don't have pegs, they are sometimes known as "Zori."