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/
