CDV of Ikegami Shiro Shimooka Renjo
[Japan] A very unusual portrait of a Satsuma samurai named Ikegami Shiro posing with a wooden bucket and ladle as if drinking water during battle. He wears a distinctive yak-hair wig (kumage-gashira) over his helmet, a feature which was adopted in the late 1860s by samurai of several clans, including Satsuma, Chōshū and Tosa. Shimooka’s studio was frequently patronised during the Boshin War (1868-69) by samurai while passing through Yokohama on their way to take part in the fighting against supporters of the shogun in the north of Japan.
Fascinatingly, a woodblock printed sugoroku by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi published during the Satsuma Rebellion of 1877 shows a samurai dressed the same way and in almost the exact same pose as in the photo and identifies the subject as Ikegami Shiro (1842-1877), one of the commanders of the rebel Satsuma forces. He was the son of a doctor but didn't like medical studies so didn't take over the family business. He studied under Saigo Takamori, played parts in the Seinan War and ended up disembowelling himself along with Saigo and the other Satsuma samurai during the siege of Kagoshima in 1877. The only major difference between the photo and the woodblock printed illustration is the substitution of the object hanging from the subject’s spear with a severed human head for dramatic effect. This is the first such photo we have found that has been basically copied for use in a woodblock print.
[Yokohama] Shimooka Renjo. c1868.
9.1 x 5.6cm.
In fair condition. There is some old, faint spotting and a slight loss of contrast. Otherwise good. p37011783
Note that this listing is only for the photo (A copy of the woodblock print can be provided).
