Felice Beato's Japan

The main take away from this essay is that the subject matter and composition of the photographs, and really of any art at the time, is completely different depending on the origin of the creator. The photographs in this album were by Felice Beato, an Italian photographer, and really one of the first foreign people to take photographs of Japan and other East Asian countries. From Beato's previous work as both a military photographer and having photographed in India, China, and Crimea, he was knowledgeable in what exactly foreigners liked about these Eastern countries. He also demonstrates through his captions a working knowledge of many internal Japanese events, such as the Treaty of Kanagawa. His images show that the things Westerners were most interested in were the living conditions of the Japanese, and their religious centers such as shrines and temples. The images of Kamakura are the most telling of this. Kamakura is home to many temples and the ~50 foot tall Daibutsu, and even today is a tourist destination for many Westerners. However, a lot of Beato's images contain Westerners, rather than any native Japanese people. This is interesting because back when these images were taken, some of the areas Beato visited would not quite be overrun by tourists yet. He obviously chose to include the Westerners as a stylistic choice, most likely to give the viewers of the album back home a sense of "these people look like you and are here! You can be here too!"

Images for this album were selected carefully by Beato based on their appeal and if they were considered picturesque. Some of the images evoke nostalgia for pre-Industrial revolution America, such as the images of The Tōkaidō. The images also included a practices and customs in the captions, showing that the images could be used for more than aesthetic purposes. The images from Kamakura talk about how horses are not allowed up the paths and how it is routine to donate money or buy food from venders. There is also some discussion of any "bad events" to fall any traveler in the area, because this would be more enticing to visitors. People enjoy visiting spots where bad things occurred, and Beato capitalized on this when he photographed and described a certain route in Kamakura where two westerners were murdered. This album was explicitly created for a certain audience, and despite the time difference between then and now, I don't think the audience has actually changed all that much. I think people are just as interested in visiting Buddhist Temples and Shinto shrines, and walking down old back roads in rural Japan.  The three important take away-s from this essay were that there is a noticeable difference in what an artist focuses on depending on their country of origin, Beato catered specifically to his foreign audience as tourists, and the most important things to westerners at this time were shrines, temples, and older, beaten paths.

The first image i selected is a photograph of the stairs leading to the Hachiman shrine in Kamakura. The image is relatively empty of people, and has at least 4 "buildings" featured in it. Kamakura was chosen by a daimyo in 1333. The story is that the daimyo chose the water-covered area, prayed to the god of the ocean, and threw his sword into the water. The water then receded and opened up an area of land. The ocean is actually visible from the Hasedera (Hase Kannon) Temple about 2 hours away. The caption for this image contains more myth than information, but it's important to know the myths surrounding an area based on religious faith such as this space is. The shrine is dedicated to a deity of war, which makes sense, following the legend. The Shrine today stands as one of the most important areas in Kamakura, and is constantly flooded with tourists. Including this image in the album, along with the caption, was a good way to incorporate some Japanese lore into the album while still showing off something beautiful and tangible. 

This image is interesting because it shows off the fishing town aesthetic of Yokohama, but the caption describes all of the construction and work that went into connecting this area to the The Tōkaidō and building ports. The image doesn't seem to be of the new construction, but rather of the area pre-western influence. This image almost strikes me as an image of pre-post-gentrification images. If someone had taken a picture of these humble houses on the water, and then an image of all of the trading ships and new piers, i think the images would read much more negatively. Instead, Beato decided to either use an older image, or take an image from a different angle, while discussing the work going into bringing this area up to trading standards.