Hand-Colored Photos Turn Early 20th Century Japan Into A Dream World

Nobukuni Enami, also known as T. Enami, was a photographer and studio owner in Yokohama from 1892 until his death in 1929. He made thousands of stereoviews, lantern-slides and postcards in his lifetime, which are essential in the pictorial history of the Meiji and Taishō eras.

The resort village of Hakone on Lake Ashi

Morning light on the winter shores of Lake Yamanaka, with the Mt. Fuji in the background

The Antique Dealer, c. 1892-1895

A basket, brush and broom seller, c. 1892-1896

A goldfish seller

The Japanese version of the cold lemonade stand: a man serving amazake, a low-alcohol or alcohol-free sweet drink, made from fermented rice, c. 1892-1895

Blowfish lanterns, c. 1897-1900

Unwinding silk from cocoons

Babysitters, c. 1898-1903

Working dogs

Selling flowers in front of a milk shop

A komusō (characterized by a straw bascinet named tengai worn on the head), a mendicant monk of the Fuke school of Zen Buddhism, playing on the Japanese bamboo flute (shakuhachi) while begging

The broom seller

Boys on their way to school

Hot water for Japanese troops in China, during the Russo-Japan War, 1904-1905

An umbrella maker

Drying umbrellas, c. 1905-1915

Mt. Fuji through dead trees and veiling clouds, c. 1906-1912

A maiko and an obi in the Genkyu Gardens of Hikone, near Kyoto

Sweeping snow

Reading a love letter, c. 1908

Geisha on a jinrikisha

Tea pickers on a green hill, c. 1910-1915

A water wagon man keeping the dust down in a high class neighborhood, c. 1905-1920

Drying tea

A geisha makes some music for her dancing maiko sisters, c. 1925

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The photos are from the Flickr stream of Okinawa Soba.