Use of Large Format Photographs on the Research of Early Railways in Japan

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  • Saijo Hiroshi
    Editor in chief of The Journal of Railway History, The Railway Historic Preservation Press

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  • 大判印画の詳細読解による鉄道開業時の史実解明
  • オオバン インガ ノ ショウサイ ドッカイ ニ ヨル テツドウ カイギョウジ ノ シジツ カイメイ

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Abstract

<p>Visual image of early Japanese Railways is hardly obtainable due to the lack of drawings and photographs of the era. Most equipment and materials were imported from western countries, no record was seen how the assembly of cars or laying track or bridge construction were made. The train operation, how many cars in a train, how average travelers took train ride, how freight trains were operated, etc., all are yet unclear. The “Yatoi”, mostly English engineers who worked in Yokohama or in Kobe, took photos for their communications. As the term of them in Japan were two to three years, they wrote reports of their works in the English technical journals with figure for the next job hunting. Photographs then popular were souvenirs for foreign travelers, so the subjects were mostly landscapes and lives in Japan. Fortunately, some large format prints of Kobe or Yokohama taken from hill sides included railway stations. We clarified unknown sides of early Japanese Railways by reading details of photographs taken by Yatoi or as souvenirs.</p>

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