Photographer and printer. In 1882, he went to the United States to study photographic technology and learned about collotype printing, including the latest photographic techniques, at a photo studio in Boston. After returning to Japan, he opened the photo studio Gyokujunkan in Tokyo, and built Japan’s first collotype printing factory in 1887. At the request of the Ministry of the Imperial Household in 1888, he accompanied the antiquities research team led by KUKI Ryuichi and photographed cultural properties. He also participated in the research on Nikko’s art history conducted by Ernest Fenollosa, and established the Kokugasha company with OKAKURA Tenshin. In 1889, he published the first issue of Kokuga, an art magazine. He was the first photographer to become an Imperial Household Artist, in 1910.