Ichiki Shirō

. Kyoto: Tankōsha, 2000. ISBN 4-473-01750-8]

Ichiki was born in Satsuma Province (now Kagoshima Prefecture) in Kyūshū. He excelled in the study of topics related to gunpowder production in the Takashima-ryū school of gunnery. This talent was recognized by Shimazu Nariakira, the daimyo of Satsuma, who selected Ichiki to be one of his close, personal retainers. In 1848, Shimazu obtained the first daguerreotype camera ever imported into Japan. Ever fascinated by Western technology, he ordered his retainers (including Ichiki) to study it and produce working photographs. Due to the limitations of the lens used and the lack of formal training, it took many years for a quality photograph to be created, but on September 17, 1857, Ichiki created a portrait of Shimazu in formal attire. All this was recorded in detail in Ichiki's memoirs, which were compiled in 1884. [Anne Tucker et al., "The History of Japanese Photography". Yale University Press, 2003. ISBN 0300099258]

This photograph became an object of worship in the Shokoku Shrine after Shimazu's death, but it later became missing. [Darwin Marable, " [http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-3890400/Through-the-Looking-Glass-How.html Through the Looking Glass: How Japanese Photography Came of Age] ". World and I, May 1, 2004.] Lost for a century, the daguerreotype was discovered in a warehouse in 1975 and was later determined to be the oldest daguerreotype in existence that was created by a Japanese photographer. For this reason, it was designated an "Important Cultural Property" by the government of Japan in 1999, the first photograph ever given this honor. [Philbert Ono, [http://photoguide.jp/txt/PhotoHistory_1999 PhotoHistory 1999] , 2002.]

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