Uchida Kuichi
Kuichi Uchida (Japanese内 田 九 一; * 1844 (traditional date: Kōka 1) in Nagasaki, † February 17, 1875 in Tokyo ) was a Japanese photographer. He was best known for his recordings of the Emperor Meiji.
Uchida Kuichis interest in photography probably comes from contact with Johannes Pompe van Meerdervort, a Dutch chemist who taught at the Naval Training Center Nagasaki. The early 1860s, he met and then photographed with collodion wet plates at Ueno Hikoma. At first he made his money in the import and sale of photographic accessories. Together with Morita Raizo in 1865 he opened the first photographic studio in Osaka, a year later a studio in Bashamichi, Yokohama and 1869 then one in the Asakusa district of Tokyo. His life in 1870 as the basis of a Kabuki play.
In Tokyo, Uchida Kuichi was considered one of the best portrait photographers. In 1872 he received from the imperial court to order, take the first official photographic portrait of the Emperor Meiji. This showed him in the traditional Hofgewand. Due to the fear that the portrait could be taken as too backward in the public perception, was photographed in October in the year after, the Emperor again by Uchida Kuichi, this time in west -inspired uniform and with short haircut and beard. The recording was now the official imperial portrait.
However, the traditional dress in the reception of the Empress Haruko from 1872 presented no obstacle for publication as an official portrait dar.
These portraits were necessary for the exchange according to diplomatic protocol. Deductions were issued to local government agencies and public schools. The sale, however, was prohibited, but he flourished widely, as do the woodcuts, engravings and lithographs from the imperial countenance, which had hitherto never known to a wider public.
1872 documented Uchida Kuichi on a tour of central Japan and Kyushu in the entourage of the Emperor the places visited and the prepared receptions. The emperor himself, he was not allowed to take pictures.
Uchida died in 1875 of tuberculosis Kuichi.
As part of the preparations for the new constitution in 1888 Edoardo Chiossone was commissioned to portray the emperor with Conté crayon. This drawing was photographed by Maruki Riyo and the prints were considered as a new official portrait.
The recordings Uchida from the imperial couple also served as the basis for paintings. So they were sent to Giuseppe Ugolini to Milan, which it drew up two oval oil paintings that were issued after their arrival in 1875, among other Staatsportäts Ugolini in the imperial palace. 1880 painted Takahashi Yuichi on behalf of Genrōin another picture after photographic template.