I received this photo copy from Asada san the day before yesterday. This is the first time I see my great grandfather's younger-days photo. I'm intrigued by it. His nose is distinct like my grandfather's. I wish I inherited his nose. Mine is tiny. It's hard to see, but I think his ears were pretty large.
It's strange. I feel close to him as though I've known him all along. To my mother and aunt, he was a god because he took them in after the parents' divorce. He told stories before they went to sleep.
明治三十一年五月廿六日寫 陸軍歩兵大尉正七位勲六等功五級山田記慣
May 26th, 1898. His long title. Yamada Kikan
「牛込士官学校前」写真館
In front of Ushigome Military School. Ushigome is Shinjuku today.
The name of the photo studio is Tannendo.
18 comments:
What a great picture! I was surprised to hear you say he took your mom and aunt in after their parents' divorce. Was divorce common in Japan all those years ago? I'm not trying to pry into your personal situation, I am just curious about divorce in general. In the US and Canada divorce happened back then, but it was quite rare.
Kristie,
Divorce seemed rare then. It brought much shame to the families for sure, so they kept quiet for many years. Probably there is a lot I don't know about my relatives and ancestors.
But because I've been blogging and reading history books, I discovered a new relative and had an opportunity to refresh existing relationships. Right now, we enjoy talking through email.
Back to divorce, I've been reading and observing what people say about it and divorcees in their ancestors. And I started to believe that there were more divorces in Japan than we used to believe. People in general tend not to talk anything negative about own families to avoid scandalous rumor. That's what I think. That basic behavior of covering up negatives is similar across cultures. What do you think?
Yes, I think all cultures prefer to cover up negative behaviour. Maybe more so in the past than now though, at least in the West. I'm not sure if that holds true for Asian cultures.
Kristie,
Isn't that a truth?! I don't know the condition of other Asian countries well, but in Japan, it is happening. We are fed up with lies.
Wonderful picture. He seems to move out of the stillness of a photo and say 'hello' (or its equivalent).
You have Grt Grandfather's eyes.
Have you thought of trying to preserve this picture and if possible restore a copy of it?
ZACL,
I realized that the reason I felt close to him when I first look at the photo was the property manager I've known for a while looks like him especially around eyes. In this photo, his eyelids look single, but the second photo of him I received yesterday show double lids. Two photos must have had taken in the same period, but they look different person. According to Asada san, the medals on his chest seem similar. I trust Asada san on this judgement because all medals look same to me. And I dislike looking at medals. If I look at them close and long enough, I'll have urge to rip them apart and throw away, not the photo but medals.
I have Korean friends and many Chinese friends.
About preserving and making a copy, I think the one you see is good enough. What do you think? It satisfied my curiosity, and now my family members and relatives can download if they want to.
Regarding preservation and restoration: it has to be your decision. From what I can see, there has been some deterioration of the photo. The details appear to be faded. If you know someone who is able to use photo editing software like Photoshop, it may take a little bit of time to do, (maybe an hour or so) but it would not be a difficult job.
I scan my photos at the highest resolution that I can and save them as is. Then I work on a copy of the first scan, if attention is required. Some photos need a quick little bit of resolution, others require a little more input. If there is any writing on the back of a picture, I scan that too, and yes, if it needs a little help, I do that on a copy.
I don't even know how to scan a photo. I've never done it. Once a scanner came with the PC I bought, but I never used it.
Asada san has been learning this process for me. To me, the photos he sent me are much better quality than my past photos. I simply took photos of old photos. So, if the needs of showing better picture arrive, my kids know they can be improved. I don't have a plan to do that. After I die, my children can do it if they choose.
Gosh Keiko, I sincerely hope you will be around for a long, long time.
:)
You, too, ZACL! Look at this way. My way of not improving photos has advantage. It covers my wrinkles. Hahaha
LOL....You mean your Gt Grandfather has your wrinkles!!!!! That's novel.
;)
Keiko,
I hope you don't mind, but, much to my surprise, I was able to copy the photo to my desktop. So, I did a little photo-editing and I can tell you, Gt Grandfather does not seem to have any wrinkles.
I would happily send you the edited photo, if you would like it, however, I cannot find an email address to send it to, attached to an email.
You can make mail me at, seren27dipity@gmail.com
My goodness! You did for me?! I just sent you my reply.
LOL about wrinkle. I meant because my way is lazy way, even the photos of me are all blurred so that my wrinkle will not show up as much.
You should have the copies by now. Enjoy!
ZACL,
Thank you! Yes, it made a big difference. The top photo is sharp. But I like the color of the original one. It give an oldish feeling, and the tone is softer. What do you think?
The fading of the copy picture you posted, will give an additional softer effect to what was exposed at the time the picture was made. It was probably taken, in soft lighting, using a studio camera with a film plate. You can now see Gt GF's eyes more clearly. Those old sepia pictures were wonderful. It would be rather special to have the negative plate in good condition.
It is better to work from a copy of the original photo rather than a copy of a copy. However, there was sufficient information there for me to see that there was degradation of the original picture, so, at least, you have a back up copy in case the original photo deteriorates too much to capture the details.
ZACL,
Because I wanted to see his ears, I appreciate your editing. In this photo, his left ear is quite clear, and his head looks pointed, but the other photo I received is not. I guess we look differently from different angle. Also the studio must be different.
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