A street in Hasse Village (today Miura City)

Category

Library Item

Item no

15132

Title

A street in Hasse Village (today Miura City)

Description

Houses line the street in Hasse, Japan. The walls are made of wattle and daub and have a wooden structure. The roofs are thatched and they have low covered porches. Drainage ditches run in front of them. A round roofed building - probably a temple or a tea-house - lies on high ground behind the houses.
Many people are visible in this street and two in the background are seen carrying a large wooden barrel. Many are pausing for the photograph and look directly at the camera. Many wear working outfits and two men on the right-hand side of the picture wear long trousers. One of them is wearing a white towel around his head in the hachimaki style and the other one has a topknot. Some women and children are trying to hide behind the buildings on the right side of the picture.

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 village of Hasse and the surroundings were badly shaken during the 1923 The village of Hasse and the surroundings were badly shaken during the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake. Earthquake. The epicentre was only a few kilometres away in Sagami Bay; however no major tsunami was recorded. Because of this earthquake, the whole geographical area was lifted by about ten metres before going back to its original level a few days later.

In 1930, Hasse Village joined Misaki Town and Minamishitaura Town to become Miura City (Kanagawa Prefecture).

Exhibitions with this item

Other views of this item

Related images

Related subjects

Architecture > Architectural features > Roofs

Homes > Residential buildings > Houses

Places > Asia > Japan

Transport > Infrastructure > Streets