Takashima, S., The Hanami (Flower-Picnic), oblong folio with silk-covered boards, with...

Takashima, S., The Hanami (Flower-Picnic), oblong folio with silk-covered boards, with twenty-five coloured collotype photographs reproduced and published by Kazumasa Ogawa, twenty-four with English captions, Yokohama, Hong Kong, Shanghai & Singapore: Kelly & Walsh, 1897

Note: Kazumasa Ogawa (1860-1929) was a Japanese photographer and publisher who pioneered the process of photomechanical printing and opened Tokyo's first photography studio in 1884. His publications of folios such as the present example aimed to popularise Japanese culture with Westerners in the late 19th century. This folio contains illustrations of Japanese Hanami celebrations, which focus on the enjoyment of sakura (cherry blossom) and ume (plum blossom) with an emphasis on its ephemeral beauty. The images are of well-known locations of sakura in Tokyo: Uyeno Park, Mukōjima, and Koganei.