Result
（相撲）

(Sumo wrestlers) （相撲）

SHIMOOKA Renjo 下岡 蓮杖

SHIMOOKA Renjo (1823-1914), is known has the father of photography in the Kanto region. It is said that in about 1844, he encountered photography at Shimadzu domain residence in Edo and decided to master photographic techniques. In 1860, he went to Yokohama, Japan’s newly opened port, and interacted with foreigners. He and Anna Schoyer, wife of Raphael Schoyer (d. 1865), an American merchant from Baltimore, taught each other Western and Japanese painting techniques. Through those connections, he discovered an opportunity to study photography. Then in January of 1862, when the American photographer John Wilson (1816-1868), who had been working Japan, left Japan with the first Japanese embassy to Europe, Shimooka acquired his entire set of collodion wet-plate photography equipment. He showed his first work as a photographer in the spring of 1862.
Collection of
Tokyo Photographic Art Museum
Title
(Sumo wrestlers)
Original title
（相撲）
Artist Name
SHIMOOKA Renjo
Year
1863-1875
Material / Technique
Albumen print
Accession number
10105383
Tokyo Photographic Art Museum “Search the Collection”
https://collection.topmuseum.jp/Publish/detailPage/43437/
Metadata

About the creator

下岡蓮杖 / SHIMOOKA Renjō

from Art Platform Japan: https://artplatform.go.jp/resources/collections/artists/A1468

Date of birth
1823-03-24
Birth place
Izu Province
Date of death
1914-03-03
Death place
Tokyo
Medium
Photography
Gender
male
Update date
2025-09-01

Identifiers

APJ ID
A1468
VIAF ID
21979557
NDL ID
00736498
ULAN ID
500673751
AOW ID
_f3a84092-5a88-43b0-81f0-3d391462cd17
Wikidata ID
Q1324419

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