About This Site

Photographs on this exhibition

The photographs used here were taken from the albums and photo books possessed by the NDL, especially from the following materials:

  • Scenes in the eastern capital of Japan. Ogawa Kazumasa Shuppanbu, 1911 (Call Number: YDM24109)
  • Album of Tokyo by the phototypie. Egi Syoten, [1893?] (Call Number: YDM24055)
  • The century album of Tokyo views, Japan / Kojima Mataichi, 1909 (Call Number: YDM23880)
  • Nihon no meisho (Scenic spots in Japan) / Segawa Mitsuyuki (ed). Shiden Hensansho, 1900 (Call Number: YDM23032)
  • Tabi no iezuto (Souvenir of trips). Mitsumura Shashinbu, 1898-1902 (Call Number: YDM22666)

Explanation about the photographs, etc.

The title of each photograph is transcribed without modification.
For photographs which are referred to in materials contained in the Digital Library from the Meiji Era (Japanese only) or the Rare Books Image Database (Japanese only) on the NDL website, links are provided to corresponding sites. In addition, persons related to the photographs contained in the NDL Electronic Exhibition "Portraits of Modern Japanese Historical Figures" are linked to their corresponding pages, and portraits and biographies of the persons can be checked.
Photo titles and sources whose English titles cannot be confirmed in the original have been romanized in [ ].

Plans

For buildings such as schools and park sites with detailed plans, links are provided to their plans which are available as imaged.

Address Notation

The addresses given for the Meiji era are those of the end of the era, mainly referred to in Chiseki chizu (Cadastral map), 1912 (Call Number: 430-156) and the descriptions on the linked pages in the Digital Library from the Meiji Era.

Columns

Columns were written by the staff of the Research and Legislative Reference Bureau and Reference and Special Collections Department.

How to search for old photos

The materials below are the photo books possessed by the NDL, classified by theme and posted with details of contents. Try these materials to search for old photos.

  • National Diet Library Inventory of Photographic Collections 1868-1926 (Comprehensive list of the details of contents of photo books and albums possessed by the NDL-Meiji, Taisho version), Reference Service and Bibliography no.33, Nov. 1987 (Call Number: Z21-291)
  • National Diet Library Inventory of Photographic Collections 1926-1945 (Comprehensive list of the details of contents of photo books and albums possessed by the NDL-pre-Showa version) / National Diet Library. 1999, Kinokuniya Shoten (Call Number: KC711-G5)

References

  • Meiji Taisho Showa Tokyo shashin daishusei (Corpus photos of the Meiji, Taisho and Showa eras) / Keisho ISHIGURO. Shincho-sha, 2001 (Call Number:GC67-G239)
  • Yomigaeru Meiji no Tokyo : Tokyo jugoku shashinshu (Recalling Tokyo of the Meiji era : a photo album of 15 districts of Tokyo) / Tetsuo TAMAI (ed.), project by Keisho ISHIGURO. Kadokawa Shoten, 1992 (Call Number: GC67-E215)
  • Edo Meiji Tokyo kasane chizu / project by Toyomi KOJIMA, production by Keiji NAKAGAWA, APP Co. 2004, Maruzen (Call Number: YH251-H153)

Update Information

Provision started on August 29, 2007.

Link

Links to this content are basically free. For linking, the banners below are available.

Contact

For utilization of the images or data posted in on this exhibition, see Site Policy on the NDL website.

Any information of dead links or errata sent to the following address will be appreciated.

  • webcont@ndl.go.jp
  • Reference Service Planning Division
  • Reference and Special Collections Department
    National Diet Library
  • 1-10-1 Nagata-cho, Chiyoda-ku
    Tokyo, 100-8924
    Japan
  • FAX: +81-3-3581-2290