How colorized photos helped introduce Japan to the world

The best hand-colored photos of the 19th century came from Japan.
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For over 200 years, Japan isolated itself from the outside world by forbidding most foreigners from entering the country. But in 1854, a US naval expedition of warships forced Japan to open its port cities, resulting in a flood of curious travelers from Europe and North America, who established businesses there. Photography became a leading industry in newly opened Japan, to satisfy a market of curious outsiders who wanted to know what the country and its people really looked like.
Foreign photographers like Felice Beato and Baron Raimund von Stillfried established photo studios, and they employed fine artists from the Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock print industry to carefully apply watercolors to their prints. Eventually, those same apprentices dominated the market with their own photo studios.
By the 20th century, mainly due to the advent of amateur photography, the souvenir photo industry in Japan declined. But for the last half of the 19th century, photos made - and carefully hand-colored - in Japanese photo studios were important documents for how the world came to know Japanese culture.
Further reading:
A Good Type: Tourism and Science in Early Japanese Photographs, by David Odo
www.peabody.harvard.edu/node/...
Sites of “Disconnectedness”: The Port City of Yokohama, Souvenir Photography, and its Audience, by Mio Wakita-Elis
heiup.uni-heidelberg.de/journ...
Photography in Japan 1853-1912, by Terry Bennett
www.tuttlepublishing.com/book...
Darkroom is a history and photography series that anchors each episode around a single image. Analyzing what the photo shows (or doesn't show) provides context that helps unravel a wider story. Watch previous episodes here: • These photos ended chi...
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[@bag3lmonst3r72]

Typical Japanese. Embrace a new technology and make it 10 times better. These photos are gorgeous.

[@mdel5384]

Their attention to detail and commitment to producing nothing but top-notch quality of anything is really something.

[@KittRembo]

Considering how they did woodblock print paintings it’s not surprising

[@qOvob]

They took Germany's mid 20th century ideologies and made them 10 times better too.

[@norwegiannignog2470]

@LateralRazor kodak, nokia, etc. Calm down. not everything has to be white to be right.

[@iot1452]

CottonBalls what’s that supposed to mean? The Japanese dominated the electronics and automobile industry until the 2000s because of exceptional quality and real innovation. It was no scam. But today, we can see how Japan has lost its edge when it comes to innovation because it never quite recovered from the crash in the 90s.

[@zasterahasalwaysbeenhere]

"Open the country. Stop having it be closed."

[@letrang00]

bill wurtz reference

[@aishvetorah5704]

" they actually drop 2 "

[@mohdadeeb1829]

It's the First day of School and I think I might quit .

[@a_yan6581]

*Hire a Samurai*

[@mohdadeeb1829]

@@a_yan6581 Rich people who could hire a Samurai hired a Samurai Poor people who could not hire a Samurai didn't hired a Samurai

[@211teitake]

I had no idea about all this history and I'm Japanese.

[@lgbtqiarights]

nice! how is japan?

[@mohdadeeb1829]

Love Japanese from where de heck I am .

[@yonathanasefaw9001]

Really? That is odd.

[@yonathanasefaw9001]

What do you know about your country?

[@mohdadeeb1829]

@@yonathanasefaw9001 TBH Nobody knows about their History other than Professors and Mappers .

[@RADIOTHEARTIST]

It interesting knowing that majority of camera companies are in Japan and the Japanese photography industry has changed the world.

[@janbonne]

YUS! Such a wild thing in WWII shifts in photography industry history is amazing to learn about

[@hilal_younus]

Sony

[@hilal_younus]

H. Commander Sony makes good cameras.. (I have a sony slr with me)

[@ADeeSHUPA]

@instagram Vidéo Are You A BoT

[@DanHarkless_Halloween_YTPs_etc]

Yeah, this video did a good job of establishing the history that helped lead to Japanese companies becoming so huge in the camera world. As a fan of art, photography, and Japan, I expected the vid to be interesting, but I learned a lot more than I expected.

[@AverytheCubanAmerican]

"But in 1854, a US naval expedition of warships forced Japan to open its port cities" *Knock knock, it's the United States*

[@Kelgo102]

“No oil ;(“

[@ViraL_FootprinT.ex.e]

Common theme in world history. However them closing their doors to the missionaries probably did wonders tbh.

[@noticemesenpai69]

ᵉˣᵉ.ᴛⁿⁱʳᵖᵗᵒᵒғ_ʟᵃʳⁱᴠ yeah. Otherwise it would have been colonized like the rest of the world

[@pinkdeer4305]

bill wurtz!

[@dayangmarikit6860]

Knock knock let me introduce you to freedom.

[@ruchithranasinghe1783]

Hol'up... So you're telling me people weren't black and white in the old days

[@hououinkyouma2476]

You mean grey my friend

[@dboyagod]

Awful joke! Your a disgrace to our country!

[@dboyagod]

Ruchith Ranasinghe jk 😂

[@fbaallied]

You tellin' me Europeans didn't invent color photography? 📸

[@adrees]

Ah I see you too are a man of culture

[@ieditwhatiminterested5341]

I was born and raised in Japan, when we study Japanese history, we see Ukiyoe or ancient style paintings which have quite unique features only to imagine people in the old time. So actually these photographies make me feel that they were actually looking almost the same as us nowadays.

[@chrischrischrischris5174]

One thing I find interesting is seeing how the way people wore clothing developed in this period, though. People looked the same, but their kimono shifted from being worn with a deep V-shaped collar and an obi worn relatively low, to - in the early 1900s - being worn with collars crossed really high on the body, and the obi worn really high up. As someone who wears kimono, I'd like to see people wear it like they did in the early Meiji period again. There's something very fashionable about the way they wore their clothes, and it looks more comfortable, too.

[@bt4043]

I'm from India, and we actually learned about Japanese woodblock paintings and ukiyoe, the floating world, in history. The artisan painting is still fresh in my mind, it's a beautiful piece of art.

[@leo19751984]

Let’s be friends! I would love to learn so much from Japan, but having an interpreter it’s something I can’t afford. lol. Do you still live in Japan? Where did you learn english?

[@PETBOY]

Japanese prints were created by importing techniques from China and the Western. For ex, Nishiki-E 1765(Japan prints), Jieziyuan Huazhuan 1679 chinese painting manual) Lines and colors are almost the same.

[@Donnguri07]

わかります。いざ写真で見せられると少し不思議な感覚がします。

[@thehellyblog]

I did a course on Coursera last year and it highlighted a lot of this but VOX does it best ☺️

[@thelegendarymastermind7262]

Hey Helly

[@georgge8281]

What is the name of the course? Can I have the link?

[@Ms.-Lily]

You are here again?

[@rafidehsan6307]

@Chickenpeter twytterFeeder no

[@jacquelinele9170]

@Chickenpeter twytterFeeder some of us like learning

[@djmiscreola9999]

Next video: How anime helped introduce Japan to the world.

[@mohdadeeb1829]

I wrote that comment 30 mins Earlier, No likes Your comment younger than me, more likes .

[@mohdadeeb1829]

@@SKNNYKNGPN Shut up Hater!

[@mohdadeeb1829]

@Libby V!rG!N- S3X : TAP H3R3 Anime culture may represent Japanese culture but Anime normal life doesn't .

[@Tokuijin]

Mmm, uh-uh, nope.

[@RoseRocket]

@@mohdadeeb1829 it really be like that tho 😔

[@WayneDavisDA_ILLESTalive14]

Now I’m thinking about all the art that was lost after the bombings. I generally just think about all the art that was lost in war.... ugh it’s sad.

[@itsakorgi5874]

How about the _lives_ ?

[@absinthe4969]

@@itsakorgi5874 everybody already talks about the lives that were lost. nobody's talking about the art enough, though

[@WayneDavisDA_ILLESTalive14]

itsa Korgi ....

[@michaelsemyanovsky9638]

Not only that but a lot was also lost in Japan's earthquakes and fires unfortunately. That's why there only few of the historical buildings left.

[@unclesam5230]

America and her democracy for you

[@Monosekist]

And now, nearly every professional camera is made by a Japanese company. Sony, Canon, and Nikon seem to have the industry cornered.

[@user-dj6lj1dl1c]

Mᴥāz Kalīm did you really need to add the r things

[@anaa9245]

Fuji is pretty solid too

[@fiatlux8828]

They stumbled upon that by accident too. Originally they were making knockoffs of German designs but they were really high quality knockoffs. When the Korean War broke out American photojournalists and war photographers used these lenses on their German-made cameras and they grew in popularity from there. The camera and optics industry in Germany had all either been destroyed in the war or ended up in Soviet possession so Japan pretty much took over. It's also the same reason why there's also really high quality Soviet lenses out there too.

[@stxfdt1240]

@@fiatlux8828 lol stop discrediting them...they earned it

[@skiran69]

@@maazkalim yaa.. just found out that Canon has the most no. Of Patents in AI in the world.

[@JacobCarlson]

Japan was like: "Photography? That's cool... It's ours now!" And they've been dominating the photography market since 😂

[@SciFactsYT118]

Random fact: The world's deepest postbox is in Susami Bay in Japan. It's 10 metres underwater.

[@kandapasek]

Okay...

[@snowballicious1161]

Great big story ;-;

[@Greatcountry37]

snowballicious cookie Nooo you reminded me that they closed down 😭

[@seraby7151]

@@snowballicious1161 😭😭😭

[@lalaland2107]

Is a postbox like a mailbox?

[@hpsmash77]

no wonder "made in japan" is the synonym of high quality

[@Helperbot-2000]

And germany and sweden

[@hpsmash77]

@@Helperbot-2000 yeah

[@Ikaros23]

In the beginning it was not. They went from mass production of simple cheap products, to the « made i japan» high quality as we know today first in the late 80s early 90s. The artisan products that are exported today was back in the day only for local consumption. That is they where not strategicaly exporting it.

[@kddiodox]

@@Ikaros23 First of all, japonisme was a tremendous cultural fever in the west, so Japan was expecting thousands of cultural exports. Japan has been making high-quality crafts for centuries. Second, The western bourgeoisie didn't like facing Japanese industrial competition, yellow peril racism has always been rampant alongside japan bashing , western analysts (out of the mainstream media paid off by wealthy western magnates) could have been found praising Japanese quality easily. For example, Fritz Haber, inventor of the Haber Bosch process, who visited Japan in 1924, he thought highly of the standard of Japanese technology and originated a number of proposals for technico-industrial cooperation between Germany and Japan. One of his idealistic proposals gave rise to the establishment contract of Ost Lurgi. The purpose of Ost Lurgi was to transfer Japanese technology to Germany

[@user-cs4js1ts3l]

That was stunning! I grew up in Japan and still had no clue about these photo artisans. I used to think photos drove ukiyoe prints to extinction, but no, tradition and artistry really lived through. I just wish you'd put Japanese subtitles on so that I can show it to my grandparents!

[@aur9035]

They have auto translate!

[@mikemulto2378]

And this goes shows how Japanese are eager to innovate even in the old times.

[@d.a.nicholaus]

The fact that the best camera brands are also from Japan 🇯🇵!

[@corporategunner5972]

Random Fact: The oldest corporation in the world is from Japan and is thriving to this day.

[@yonathanasefaw9001]

Is that Nintendo?

[@luciferdiablo4890]

Is it the yakuza

[@RFLCPTR]

@@yonathanasefaw9001 Nintendo is not old ;)

[@yonathanasefaw9001]

@@RFLCPTR Oh yes it is before they made consoles they made cards and that was back in the late 1800's.

[@the0ne809]

@@yonathanasefaw9001 Samsung used to sell fish.

[@wiva4707]

U.S Whenever someone has something they want: Open up your ports or we'll open it up for you.

[@TheSundayShooter]

*Don't be Xenophobic bro, let foreigners in, 'cmon- diversity is our strength, bro*

[@wiva4707]

The Sunday Shooter *yeah man it’s totally not like we have a huge racism problem back in o ur country*

[@shrayesraman5192]

European countries went to war and go to war because they don't like people they wanted land or they wanted to take stuff... America went to war to sell things to you!

[@wiva4707]

Shrayes Raman lol true copied but true

[@TheSpiralProgression]

Open the Country. Stop having it be closed

[@nuance6631]

This is basically, “How did the death of Archduke Franz Ferdinand lead to the creation of anime.”

[@EvilishDem0nic8732WhatItDo]

Trash

[@anaszia6934]

Why is it trash?

[@adiabd1]

Umm no Japan almost did nothing in WWI

[@nuance6631]

Adi Abdillah nah chief you’re missing the point, there’s a meme about how since the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand lead to the domino effect of WW1, therefore leading to the formation of the axis powers w Japan later on with them losing. Afterwards the US poured money in aid, helping japan go through their ‘economic miracle’, thus creating anime in the process.

[@rihonin]

trash?

[@julydaydreamer404]

I love how there are these bitsies of history and information that seems simple and nonimportation, but makes a great impact in the history that we end up overlooking.

[@imjudging9024]

Ouh, Japan has talented artists from a long time ago...

[@mohamedramadan8028]

0:23 I want that as a wallpaper

[@stellar927]

Cool name hah

[@rssyng]

Same

[@snaik9141]

Same

[@charina_custodio]

The best kind of is from Japan. Japanese are really skilled.

[@kendallfort3724]

The perfect editing makes it's so easy to get lost in these videos. Great job once again!

[@Sicaoisdead]

Japan has such a rich history and culture. I find myself learning new things about the country/people all the time.

[@KendrixTermina]

I love how you illustrated this with Japanese paintings about the subject, sort of showing the events from their PoV

[@FranticEnemy126]

I love this series so much don't discontinue it

[@dongilpark2701]

The photos have artistic mise-en-scene. Japan was so special to foreigners in the 19th century. Their culture was unique, enough to be fascinating. The photographer translated their old paintings into new photos. The works are beautiful.

[@rachel_sj]

I love Ukiyoe and other Japanese woodblock prints and early photography. Out highly skilled Japanese painters to work on coloring photographs and the work is stunning. I’ve always loved them!!

[@VonFels]

I happened to stumble across a visiting exhibition of these hand painted Japanese photos as well as the 53 Stations to Takaido at a small university gallery. It was amazing and I felt extremely fortunate to have seen it.

[@abdulrashid2143]

Actually this is one of the best documentary I am working with photo restoration and colonization services to the old photos from last 3 years and i cannot describe the feeling and emotions which cam created through restoring old photos

[@BayuAH]

Six seconds ago published? Wow!

[@XD-gf3sk]

Six minutes ago published? Wow!

[@crimsonfrogy]

Fourteen minutes ago published? Wow!

[@homiecrab]

I watch too much Vox it’s a bit of a habit.

[@PHlophe]

Page, ain't it good .

[@ZhouMama69420]

You can never have too much of Vox.

[@sriyasodharmma4021]

hey guys i'm really confused is there any difference between vox news and fox news please reply quickly

[@homiecrab]

KP39566 most definitely

[@itsyodoom9180]

KP39566 fox is a right wing media

[@sakura9731]

I love how innovative Japan is. Even today. It's amazing

[@rjfaber1991]

I love how the unit and building cards in Total War Shogun II: Fall of the Samurai mimic this same coloured-in daguerrotype style. I always just thought of it as being very fitting for the mid to late 19th century though, I wasn't aware the Japanese in particular were noted for their skill in colouring these early photographs.

[@matthewct8167]

I know right? So authentic to the age.

[@trochou]

I just learned about Kusakabe Kimbei a week ago. Love his work. Perfect timing Vox 👍🏻

[@ricardoterrazas]

The history of photography is so cool

[@atharvpande4071]

history of photography is so deep and inspiring

[@HuyLy94]

3:15 This looks like a proper colour film photo

[@koffz-nl2118]

Right?! They had wayyyy too much time on their hands

[@dayday6829]

@@koffz-nl2118 or more talented than you

[@koffz-nl2118]

@@dayday6829 that for sure lol

[@JBColourisation]

i'm always so impressed by what hand colourists were able to do during this time, it's a lot easier for people like me to use Photoshop now!

[@mii2158]

No wonder they are still good at creating colourful anime.

[@inkhwon]

Where's your profile picture from? It reminds me of something East Asian related I've seen before but I can't quite pinpoint the name of it.

[@tommykaung5882]

They see animations as an art medium unlike the west(mostly US) who see them as a family entertainment.

[@mii2158]

Cranberry This is a symbole of Ryukyu Kingdom which existed in East Asia from 1429-1879, where now belongs to Okinawa Prefecture in Japan.

[@szecr]

@@inkhwon same, I know exactly what you're talking about but I don't know what it's called.

[@jrbaskind]

The pictures are so beautiful!

[@0777coco]

reminds me of a book i have called "the paper time machine". it contains old images colourised with modern means & it's awesome.

[@0777coco]

@@maazkalim essentially just colourised old images from the invention of photography to the end of black and white images, summed up in one project. the video reminded me of that surreal feeling of seeing, say, civil war soldiers or the times square as it was nearly a century ago in full colour.

[@MortyMortyMorty]

This was really interesting and beautiful!

[@midnightexpress1711]

This was a beautiful report!

[@JoeAzzi]

loved this video so much. amazing job

[@suryaandrahuldev6263]

Hey Guys,I Am from India.I Love Japan and there culture ,and biggest fan of Japanese animation and their High tech Revolution, Which led to make Japan 3rd highest GDP in the world.💓💓💓😎

[@wabisabi6875]

Excellent series! I'm hooked!

[@blueamberphoto]

Love it! More photography videos please. 😊

[@yadisfhaddad722]

Beautiful video, and pictures. Thank you.

[@taakotuesdays]

this was fascinating thank you

[@lindsaychristensen2848]

Well done… great information!

[@elisat.3511]

I love this video! Thank you

[@willypataponk]

Very nice video! Congrats to the creators!

[@emanuelcarvalho8510]

love it

[@luciegagnon1238]

Very interesting subject and video! Well done!

[@baraah720]

This is so interesting!!

[@F3ngles]

The photo on the left @1:41 looks like Togakushi near Nagano. If you have never been, I highly recommend going - they have 800 year-old cedar trees there.

[@tsubasamarya2815]

That's why I love Japan so much.

[@adrees]

The skill and the beauty

[@delatifaaa]

not first, not last. but great video man. im very inlove with your videos! im very interested in these kind of videos. may be a little boring but i learned alot from these kinds of videos from this man who made those videos. well, great job is all i can say. keep it up!

[@vibacar93]

really great and educational video for a photographer my self

[@rajanrao]

"You're gonna trade with us, and you're gonna like it" - Oversimplified

[@MakeMoneyGuide]

Reliable and humurous, the kind of resource I'm looking for!

[@yonathanasefaw9001]

Nice photography! I want to live in Japan one day!

[@Jesse__H]

This was really great. I would've been happy if you'd lingered twice or maybe even three times as long on each photo/comparison. So much to see and appreciate! I guess i can watch it in slow mo playback but then you sound drunk ;)

[@jothishprabu8]

Turn down the volume then

[@Jesse__H]

@@jothishprabu8 *GENIUS!*

[@andrewwilliams762]

They must've had flash photography by the time photography got to Japan. Those pictures are beautiful. And to pose like some of the models did, would've been impossible to not blur without flash photography.

[@curtis9464]

More Darkroom episodes please, one of the best series after Borders

[@JakeTheBear1]

This video needs a Japanese subtitle! So that the people from Japan can realize how they were a great part in the development of photography. Such a great documentary!

[@lovely-mk4rt]

Beautiful with great information 🌺 mahalo

[@mookie714]

I really love that picture of the woman with the umbrella!

[@brendan7213]

Vox seriously has some of the most beautiful thumbnails and graphics on youtube

[@gcampbell1448]

What does this guy have against staged photos. American Gothic was staged and that's not a problem for most art critics...

[@Zackaboi]

Always wondered how they got colour, this educated me

[@EVA-ki5vw]

It began in Europe. Great! Would love to know more about this too

[@1darkironman1]

love their anime and manga art

[@michaelkingy355]

I loved it, more!!

[@jaojao1768]

Great video!

[@buzzbuzzthebee]

Great, thanks

[@Whatsayoutuber]

This was so cool

[@trevor9934]

I really enjoyed this video and it was timely as we have a recently-opened exhibition of photography in New Zealand throughout the 19th century that had two books released with it. One on the course of photography itself, and another on women in photography - something seriously neglected. Many of these women began as retouchers and colourizers, and a few highly-skilled artists were brought over from Japan.

[@wildswan221]

Great history lesson!

[@whereaboutsunknown3822]

It's amazing how far we have come in a just a little over 100 years!

[@Rondoz11]

Brings it to life.

[@virtuousvibes2852]

From Chinese painting to ukiyo-e to premium hand colored photos Sugoi

[@lukedanielbarlis5988]

Wow. This is why I love japan

[@PKMNFan4664]

A picture is worth a thousand words.

[@__dane__]

This is really cool

[@chansaicommerce1721]

AMAZING !!!!

[@kappiiee]

I've seen those samurai photo's through out the internet alot, never knew they were models portraying a thing of the past. In old armour. Interesting glance of Japan's history.

[@Volt_Crank]

Mind blowing

[@CEKROM]

6:45 Great foto

[@alypixar4690]

Great video

[@tamagries2951]

Japan basically made a Netflix adaptation of themselves, and it went beautifully.

[@ivanbarbosa81]

love this channel.Amazing to find out that Japan closed its boarders back in the 17th century to shut outside influence.

[@ray101892]

Even with the old black and white camera tech, japanese costumes, landscapes and buildings are so ridiculously photogenic that it's no surprise people want colored versions.

[@xgamergamer7282]

japan one of the greatest country ever..

[@skiran69]

@Izúre Lem get lost troll.

[@leninkhuman6401]

This chanel is so underrated

[@JavierFernandez01]

Nice one.