19th century Japan vs today in photographs

I recently found an article with photographs of 19th century Japan.

And it made me curious to know how some of locations that still exist today look like.

1. Kameido-Tenjin Shrine

It’s almost the season for wisterias and one of the best places in Tokyo is the Kameido-Tenjin shrine. While the photograph doesn’t explicitly says it’s from this shrine, I’m pretty sure it is.

There are also a few ukiyo-e depicting the wisterias of this shrine for more references of the past.

2. Kobe

Here’s a photo of Kobe in the 19th century. Kobe doesn’t have a lot of flat land, it goes up to mount Rokko very quickly.

While I don’t have the exact location, it seems pretty close to the shore, just a little bit up the hill.

Here’s a photo I took by night from a friend’s house that is a bit further up the hill than the old photo.

No more empty land or farm fields of course.

I also have a photo from the top of mount Rokko that is not only showing Kobe but also Osaka (in the distance).

3. Buddha from Kamakura

Kamakura is 1hr south of Tokyo with a suburban train. It was a capital of Japan at some point so there are a lot of historical sights to visit. And there’s also the beach.

The main attraction is the Daibutsu, the giant buddha statue.

The temple is pretty different and it’s less cluttered so you can see the statue better. But it also has lost the gold on its forehead.

From the information I could find, the whole statue might have been gilded (covered thinly in gold) at some point because there are still some traces on some parts of the statue even today.

4. Hakone Hot Springs

Hakone is a very popular destination for hot springs. You can also catch a pretty good view of mount Fuji on good days.

Here’s a picture I took from the ropeway station that goes from the city of Hakone to lake Ashi.

You can see some man-made construction. There are also a few pipes to get the water to the inns down the mountain.

Clearly not as beautiful at the 19th century photo.

The final destination of the ropeway gets you to lake Ashi as I told you but this picture is only possible if you take a boat next to the ropeway station or go to another part of the lake.

I didn’t have time to do it when I went there sadly. But here’s a photo anyway, just not from me.

5. Gion

Here’s Gion, the geisha district in Kyoto. It’s probably Hanamikoji street.

And because I like ukiyo-e, here’s one of Gion.

Traveling back in time

Here’s the link again to see more old photos of Japan.

By spotting the differences between the 19th century photos and today, I got to understand some things better.

I wish photography was older because relying on ukiyo-e and paintings to see how the past was can be pretty unreliable, and lacking details.