Suzuki Shin'ichi I

nihongo|Suzuki Shin'ichi|鈴木 真一|Suzuki Shin'ichi|1835–1918 [Bennett gives 1919 as Suzuki's year of death, "OJP", 291.] was the older Japanese photographer of that name.

Suzuki was born as the third son of a family named Takahashi [Written nihongo2|高橋. His full name was written nihongo2|高橋真一; this may well have been pronounced Takahashi Shin'ichi but the given name may have had a completely different pronunciation; no reference yet seen specifies the reading. Bennett gives his name, without kanji, as "Takahashi Yujiro" (i.e. Takahashi Yūjirō). "PiJ", 169.] ) in Iwashina (nihongo2|岩科村) (now Matsuzaki, Shizuoka) in July 1835. Both his parents died when he was young, and in 1854 he moved into the Suzuki family (by the custom known as "muko-iri" [nihongo2|婿入り] ) in Shimoda when he married Suzuki Yoshichi's daughter, working in the family "aramono" [Things made of wood, wicker, etc.] business. The same year, a major tsunami (resulting from one of the Great Ansei Nankai Quakes) destroyed the building and ended the business.

At first working in sericulture, Suzuki often traveled to Yokohama, where he soon apprenticed at the Yokohama photographic studio of Shimooka Renjō in 1867. [In 1866, according to Bennett, "OJP", 291.] In 1872–1873 he was commissioned by J. R. Black, publisher of "The Far East", to produce a photographic series documenting rural life. Images from this series continued to appear in Suzuki albums until the 1880s. [Bennett, "OJP", 291; "PiJ", 171.] In November 1873 Suzuki set up his own studio, producing portraits and souvenir albums. The same year, Okamoto Keizō nihongo2|岡本圭三, [Bennett, "PiJ", 169.] a successor of his at Shimooka's studio, married Suzuki's daughter, and Okamoto joined the Suzuki family ("muko-iri" again). Okamoto became Suzuki Shin'ichi II, and the older photographer thereupon changed his own name. [To nihongo2|鈴木真, but no reference yet seen specifies the reading of nihongo2|真. Probably it was simply Shin; conceivably it was Makoto or something else.] About this time Suzuki may have studied photography under Yokoyama Matsusaburō. [Or Yokoyama's student may have been Suzuki Shin'ichi II, the records are not specific. Yokoe, 183; Bennett, "PiJ", 83.] In 1884 he moved to a newly-built, western-style two-storey studio. A branch studio was opened in Kudanzaka, Tokyo and operated by Suzuki II. [Bennett, "OJP", 236. There is no evidence of the Tokyo studio after 1903. Bennett, "PiJ", 171.] Suzuki's photographs were highly acclaimed and he won an award for them in 1877, and in 1889 he and Maruki Riyō were commissioned to photograph Emperor Meiji and his wife. Purchasers of his works were mostly foreign residents and visitors, and in addition to sales from his own studio, Suzuki's photographs were distributed by Sargent, Farsari & Co. [Bennett, "PiJ", 169; "OJP", 233.] His studio was advertised as early as 1880, in "Keeling's Guide to Japan", and subsequently in the "Japan Directory" until 1908, offering daguerreotypes, photographs (including large format hand-coloured albumen prints), and Suzuki's innovation of photographs printed on porcelain, the latter selling for 12 yen each. [Bennett, "OJP", 236, 253, 274; "PiJ", 171.] These advertisements indicate that from 1893 the Yokohama studio was run by I. S. Suzuki, that is, Suzuki's son Izaburō. [Bennett, "OJP", 253, 274.] Suzuki Shin'ichi retired in 1892 and he died in December 1918 at the age of 83. [Bennett, "PiJ", 171.]

Notes

References

* Bennett, Terry. "Old Japanese Photographs: Collector's Data Guide" London: Quaritch, 2006. ISBN 0955085241 (hard)
* Bennett, Terry. "Photography in Japan: 1853–1912" Rutland, Vermont: Charles E. Tuttle, 2006. ISBN 0804836337 (hard)
*ja icon "Nihon no shashinka" (nihongo2|日本の写真家) / "Biographic Dictionary of Japanese Photography." Tokyo: Nichigai Associates, 2005. ISBN 4-8169-1948-1. Pp. 223–4. Despite the English-language alternative title, all in Japanese.
*ja icon Kaneko Ryūichi. "Suzuki Shin'ichi". "Nihon shashinka jiten" (nihongo2|日本写真家事典) / "328 Outstanding Japanese Photographers." Kyoto: Tankōsha, 2000. ISBN 4-473-01750-8. P.186. Despite the English-language alternative title, all in Japanese.
* Yokoe, Fuminori. 'Part 3-3. Yokoyama Matsusaburo (1838-1884).' In "The Advent of Photography in Japan/Shashin torai no koro", Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, and Hakodate Museum of Art, Hokkaido, eds. (Tokyo: Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture; Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography; Hokkaido: Hakodate Museum of Art, 1997).

External links

*ja icon [http://219.165.117.2/FMPro?-db=m_faq_02.fp5&-lay=web&-format=p01f.html&-max=all&-sortfield=NO&NO=115&-find Suzuki] within the Matsuzaki town site