Late Meiji Japan
A serene framing of a country in rapid transformation
Alex Q. Arbuckle
c. 1910
Starting with a series of policies in 1633-39, Japan began a period of prolonged isolationism. Motivated in part by European traders’ attempts to convert the Japanese to Catholicism, the policy of Sakoku, literally meaning “closed country,” made it a capital crime for a foreigner to enter Japan or a Japanese to leave. This lasted until the return of foreign trade in 1853, the 1867 ascent of Prince Mutsuhito to the Chrysanthemum Throne and the replacement of a feudal shogunate with an imperial government.The new Emperor named this regime Meiji, meaning “enlightened rule.” In the half century between the Emperor's restoration in 1868 and death in 1912, Japan was radically transformed from an isolated, fractured backwater to a united industrial nation and major international player. By the end of the Meiji period, Japan was positioning itself as a peer to and competitor with the wealthy nations of the West. Railroads and telegraph lines unified the country. Textiles, especially silk, became major industries. The government subsidized the recruitment of Western technological experts and sent thousands of students to Western schools.
One of the new technologies brought back to Japan was photography.In 1908, Herbert Geddes, a manager for Canadian import/export corporation G.R. Gregg and Company, was sent to work in Yokohama, a major hub of foreign trade.While posted there, he made many photographs of the land and people, which were hand-colored and sold as fanciful postcards to foreign tourists.Taken from a Western eye, the photos focus on traditional and “timeless” signifiers of Japanese culture, from carefully landscaped gardens to diligent craftsman and artisans. Less prominent are the newly adopted technological advances that were rapidly creating a new way of life for many Japanese as the Meiji era ended and the Taishō era began.
