160302-0049 - Motomachi

People walk in front of shops at Motomachi shopping street in Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture, ca. 1907 (Meiji 40).

The tall building on the right is the Tamamura photography studio at No. 16 Sannomiya.

Japanese photographer Kozaburo Tamamura (玉村康三郎, 1856—1923) opened his first studio in Tokyo’s Asakusa in 1874 (Meiji 7). The main Yokohama studio was opened in 1883 (Meiji 16). The first Kobe branch was opened at No. 193 Motomachi in 1899 (Meiji 32).

By 1909 (Meiji 42), Tamamura and Company was the largest tax-paying photographic business in Japan.

In the early 1900s, the Kobe branch was managed by Teijiro Takagi (高木庭次郎), a formidable photographer himself. He took over the Kobe branch in 1904 (Meiji 37), but continued to use the Tamamura name until 1914 (Taisho 3).