Following more than two centuries of isolation, the opening of Japan to international trade in the mid-nineteenth century inaugurated a period of unprecedented interaction between Japan and the West. It also ushered in a period of political opposition and unrest that ultimately resulted in the overthrow of the Tokugawa Shogunate and re-establishment of imperial rule.

During this time advances in photographic techniques were introduced from Europe and quickly mastered by Japanese photographers. Photographic studios, some established by foreigners, others by Japanese, conducted a thriving business in the trade ports, especially Yokohama, to meet foreign demands for souvenir images of Japan and its rich traditional culture. While photographs by Europeans, such as Baron Raimund von Stillfried, whose studio Kusakabe Kimbei purchased, depict Japan from an outsider’s point of view, the works of Japanese photographers, especially those showing famous places, beautiful women, popular actors and entertainers, traditional customs and legends, echo in their subject matter and aesthetic approach the ukiyo-e (“pictures of the floating world”) woodblock-print tradition.