Tomishige Rihei was an important 19th and early 20th century Japanese photographer.
10 Facts About Tomishige Rihei
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Tomishige Rihei was a pioneer of wet-plate photography in Japan and was noted for his excellent large-format, albumen landscapes.
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In 1854 Tomishige left his hometown of Yanagawa for Nagasaki, where he started his career as a merchant.
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Later that same year, Kameya left Nagasaki to open a photographic studio in Kyoto, so Tomishige Rihei continued his photographic studies under Ueno Hikoma.
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In 1870 Tomishige Rihei decided to move to Tokyo, but he ended up in Kumamoto where he opened a studio; probably the first in the city.
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The photographs from this commission became particularly significant since the castle was destroyed in the 1877 Satsuma Rebellion, and Tomishige Rihei's images are among the few showing the structure before its destruction.
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Tomishige Rihei's studio was destroyed on the same occasion, but rebuilt the following year.
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Tomishige Rihei was the most popular professional photographer in Kumamoto, and many soldiers and generals came to him to have their pictures taken.
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Tomishige Rihei took photographs of the novelist Natsume Soseki, Hannah Riddell, Nogi Maresuke, Prince Kitashirakawa Yoshihisa, Viscount Kawakami Soroku, Kodama Gentaro and Lafcadio Hearn.
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Tomishige Rihei sent photographs of Japan to various international contests including an international health exhibition held in Dresden, Germany in 1911; he used the name of his son in this case.