[Iseyama] Noce [sic, i.e. Noge] Hill at Yokohama (Spring). Hand-colored albumen print

Yokohama, Meiji period (after 1870).
19.9 × 26.3 cm.

Probably Kanamaru Matashiro studio. Captioned "А 91. Noce Hill at Yokohama (Spring)" in the negative.

The photograph depicts the great torii of Iseyama Kōtai Jingū (伊勢山皇大神宮) on Noge Hill, Yokohama, in cherry-blossom season. The shrine was established on the hill in 1870 by the Kanagawa prefectural authorities, as a spiritual focus for a port city exposed to Christianity and foreign influence; at its formal dedication in 1871 the hill was renamed Iseyama. Its grounds and approaches were planted with cherry trees, making it one of Yokohama's foremost places for blossom viewing. According to the city's official history, the blossoms and the great torii rising above them could be seen from ships entering the harbour, and the spot was famous even among foreigners — which explains its popularity with the Yokohama photographic studios.

Only the posed women in kimono and the blossoms are colored, while the onlookers gathered on the steps behind them are left in monochrome, emphasising the staged character of the scene.

The attribution rests on the lettered numbering: a closely related view, "A 88 None [sic] Hill at Yokohama (Spring)", is recorded by Terry Bennett as by the Kanamaru studio (Old Asia Photography, Japanese Numbers List). Another print from the same negative, with the same caption, is in the Nagasaki University Library (no. 2769, photographer unidentified).

Binding & condition

Unmounted, held with archival photo corners in a modern card window mount (not attached). Good: small light crease to the upper part of the image, not breaking the surface; light rubbing; verso clean.