The Old Days

This photograph of a family was taken by Ito Jintaro in around 1930. We can tell from the accumulation of snow in the background that this was taken in around January. We can also tell from how they are dressed that it could be a special occasion, possibly New Year’s Day. The New Year break is the most important holiday in Japan. It has been celebrated on January 1st (Gregorian Calendar) since 1873, five years after the Meiji Restoration. The holiday is associated with many traditions such as making mochi, ringing a temple bell 108 times, visiting a shrine, sending...

This photo was taken by Ito Jintaro in around 1930. It shows children and their teacher in front of their school. The boy in the front row second from the left is Mr. Oda, who is now 90 years old.  The teacher was from a family that owned a ryokan, a traditional Japanese inn, in the Shimoyachi district of Nakatsugawa. The main village school was also located in the Shimoyachi district. For many kids who lived in the Takeya district, on the outskirts of Nakatsugawa, the main school was as far as 5 kilometers from home. They had to walk...

This photo was taken by Ito Jintaro in around 1930, and these are people who were living in the Iwakura district of Nakatsugawa village in those days. The setting is Iwakura “bunko”, which was later rebuilt to serve as Iwakura’s community center. A bunko was a branch of a main school. Children used the bunko during the winter when a commute to the main school becomes very challenging. Nakatsugawa gets its first snow in around mid-November, or sometimes earlier. All the hard farm work of the summer and autumn is over.  But more work will soon follow because the snow...

This is a photo taken by Ito Jintaro in around 1930.  The woman sitting down is Hirayama-san (still single) and the one standing up is Hazesaki-san (married). These women, who were sisters, and their husbands, who were brothers, lived in the same house and worked together in the fields. Both women passed away some 20 years ago at around the age of 90. Harvesting would have made October a busy month for them. After the Meiji era began in 1868, Japan imported farm machinery from the West, but for years many continued to plant and harvest using basic tools. Machines...

This is a photo of the Iwakura district of Nakatsugawa, taken in around 1930 by Ito Jintaro. During the late Edo Period (1603-1868), Mt. Iide became a popular focus of mountain worship in Tohoku. Climbers from many places would travel to Nakatsugawa to climb to the peak of the mountain.   Iwakura is not far from the foot of the mountain, and climbers would stay the night in Iwakura before they began their climb. They would also visit Iwakura Shrine to pray for safety. In Shinto, it is believed that spirits called kami (神) dwell in mountains, waterfalls, rocks, forests, trees,...