Animated Color Stereoviews of Late 19th Century Japan

T. Enami (1859-1929) recorded life in Meiji-period Japan on a 3D stereoview. Based at his Yokohama studio, Enami achieved the effect by capturing two photos of the same scene, shifting slightly his angle a little between takes. When looked at through a stereoscope, because each eye sees a slightly different image the overall appears in three dimensions.

 

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Enami worked with black and white film before artists brushed in the colors.

 

8 1/2 SUMO WRESTLERS with CEREMONIAL GARB (Or, How Come They Ain't FAT ?)  A beautiful, hand-colored stereo-photo by T. Enami, ca.1898-1905.   View number S-363 from Enami's 3-D Catalog.   ♥ LARGE SIZE --- HIT THIS LINK to enjoy the richness of the image :   www.flickr.com/photos/24443965@N08/2327829579/sizes/o/in/...   NOTE : This image is FREE TO DOWNLOAD and RE-BLOG, along with all the rest of my old photo collection posted here. Thanks in advance for proper collection credit and links.   *   8 1/2 men ? Yup. The guy on the very left moved his head around just a bit during the relatively slow exposure. His head is transparent --- through his chin and mouth --- against the large white stripe, but his body is solid against the lower red stripe.   In Japanese ghost lore, it is usually the BOTTOM half that fades out, with the head being solid. Leave it to the the Sumo guys to come up with a new take on the old "Shinrei Shashin", or "Ghost Photo".

 

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1908 Sears catalog:SEARS & ROEBUCK wanted to offer Enami's views as a 100-view set in their "Big Book" catalog of 1905. They obtained non-exclusive rights to the real-photos from Ingersoll, and then converted them to 3-color "Litho-views". With Sears' catalog having a print run of 6,000,000 copies a year, ENAMI'S set of Stereoviews became a best seller for them, and remained a regular catalog item for 6 years. - Okinawa Soba

1908 Sears catalog:SEARS & ROEBUCK wanted to offer Enami’s views as a 100-view set in their “Big Book” catalog of 1905. They obtained non-exclusive rights to the real-photos from Ingersoll, and then converted them to 3-color “Litho-views”. With Sears’ catalog having a print run of 6,000,000 copies a year, ENAMI’S set of Stereoviews became a best seller for them, and remained a regular catalog item for 6 years. – Okinawa Soba

 

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Japanese Girls in Kimono at the Entrance to an INN Near the Genkyu-en Gardens in HIKONE (玄宮園)

Images via Okinawa Soba’s Flickr, PinkTentacle

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