The restaurant 'Ogiya' in Odji

Category

Library Item

Item no

15145

Title

The restaurant 'Ogiya' in Odji

Description

The multileveled wooden building of the Ogiya restaurant sits on the edge of the Otonashi river. The building has many balconies, which overlook the water. It is a traditional Japanese building and some paper walls ('shoji') are visible on the inside. A man sits next to it, intentionally posing for the photographer and surveying the scene from the right bank.
The stream of the river seems slow and it reflects the building on the side. On the left is the landscaped garden of the restaurant, with mature and new trees, stepping stones, rocks arrangements and a stone lantern.
This photograph paints a serene picture of an urban area, depicting Japan as a place of peace and serenity. This effect is accentuated by the slightly faded colours and the stillness of the scene.

Artist / maker

von Stillfried-Ratenicz, Franz

Date

1881

Size

19.5 x 24 cm

Type

Photograph

Location

Art and Design Library

This item is part of a collection of prints from the studio of Baron Franz von Stillfried-Ratenicz, an Austrian photographer practising in Japan in the late 1870's. Von Stillfried ran a studio in Yokohama at the same time as his brother Raimund, who was also known as 'Baron Stillfried'. This caused a great deal of confusion with the local residents and visitors to Japan in the Meiji Period, and with art historians today.

This album, which dates from 1879-83, comprises 67 separate mounted prints presented in a lacquerware box. Albums of this kind were popular among foreign tourists, who frequently selected the individual prints they wished to include from the studio's collection. Many of these albumen prints were hand tinted. This was a laborious process for which von Stillfried employed, at the height of his success, a substantial number of Japanese workers.

The history of the Ogiya restaurant dates back to 1648 when some Yazaemon settled up a simple tea stand in the street. Mount Asuka and the Takinogawa River (of which Otonashi is part of) were a popular spot to enjoy autumn colours and cherry blossoms. The Oji Inari shrine was also a popular place of worship and attracted many visitors. The site was the head Inari shrine in the eight provinces of the Kanto region and was said to enshrine the Inari Daimyojin deity. Legend also says that after being transformed into court ladies at the nearby Shozoku Inari shrine, foxes would visit Oji Inari and also gather there on New Year's Eve. In addition, the site was famous for being the location of a famous Rakugo tale, 'Oji no Kitsune' ('The fox of Oji'), a comical story about the fox living there and a man visiting the shrine.

Ogiya restaurant was one of the many teahouses and hotels that were built at the foot of Mount Asuka to receive the worshippers. It was particularly appreciated for its fine cooking and the Kamayaki Tamago (a kind of pan-fried egg omelet) is still famous today. Hayafume Takehiko is the current owner of the restaurant and the 14th generation since Yazaemon to run it. Today, the fivestorey building is made of concrete and the restaurant occupies the second floor.

In the Meiji Period, the image of the restaurant by the river was well-known by the public as many artists would reproduce it. Felix Beato took a similar pictures with the caption 'Stream with a rushing waterfall', and another photograph was published in The Far East magazine (1872) with the title 'Waterfall at O-jee from the Tea-House Garden'. As a result, the restaurant was also famous among Western visitors to Japan. The famous artist Ando Hiroshige also produced a woodblock print of Ogiya restaurant and garden as part of his 'Grand series of famous restaurants in Edo'.

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Related subjects

Landscape > Landscape architectural facilities > Gardens

Landscape > Water > Rivers and streams

Places > Asia > Japan

Sport and leisure > Sports and recreation facilities > Parks