Posted 4 years ago
racer4four
(620 items)
I bought this Japanese scrapbook on an off chance and even though I cannot read hirigana or kanji it is really interesting.
It was started in the year Showa 5, or 1930, and the initial pages have newspaper clippings about current events. Some look to be about the Sino-Japanese war that began that year.
After a gap of blank pages there are about 20 pages of glass products. It looks to be a self made catalogue with individual pieces shown in a drawing or photo, listed by type and with sizes noted. The writing is all in English and although it is well done the occasional spelling error makes me think it was written by an English speaking Japanese person. Perhaps it was used as an order or sales tool for overseas buyers? I haven't identified yet which company produced the glass but most carry the same brand.
The next section carries a self made toy catalogue, again in English, with a variety of tricycles, pedal cars, prams, and other toys. Fantastic group.
The last section has had pieces removed. There are witness marks of glued in paper much like the glass photos, but they are gone and there is no writing to identify what was there.
It's a very cool bit of history and of course I'm pretty excited to see pre war glass listed. It's already given me one answer.
The base book itself is really well made with a wired double spine and very thick cloth-covered covers. At almost 100 years old it's still very sound with some darkening of the paper the only thing aging it.
I'm still having fun going through it!
That is so interesting!
My kanji are almost nonexistent, but for what it's worth... in the first photograph, the 3 characters on the left (from top to bottom) are Ueda Nishi. Ueda can be a family name (literally "above the rice paddy"), but it's also the name of a city in Nagano prefecture, and Nishi means west or western. Unfortunately I don't know the 4th kanji at all.
I hope you can find someone who is able to read more for you!
P.S. I'm not sure, but the 2nd character in the 2nd column looks a lot like kotobuki (longevity), which could be part of the name of a business.
Very cool- I adore the fact some pages look so ancient and some look really contemporary
What a fascinating scrapbook, the various photos showing segments of the person's life, the interest in glass, cycles and the military were all an important part of his or her life - nice find!
Thanks Rhineisfine for the translation. My camera translator was pretty useless (it often is with Japanese) and I relied on the seller for the little info I have.
Ueda also seems to be a pretty common name but it does give me something to go on.
I'm having a lot of fun with this book!
Thanks Lauren.
Looking at this makes us realise humans haven't changed a lot in so many ways.
Jenni I ummed and aahed about buying this for ages, not because it was expensive but just because I didn't need more useless stuff around (I have enough)
There wasn't a lot of pics on the sale site in Japan so bought it eventually feeling hopeful.
The toy section in particular is a lot of fun.
Thanks for the love :)
Thanks Thomas my muso friend!
Stay well and safe mate.
Karen very nice find, you gone have way more fun coming for sure, great piece that survive, and the effort that someone put in it, just for you to find.
Alan
Thank you Alan it is such an interesting find.
Hope you stay well.
That's very interesting and a fair thesis about why the scrapbook changed suddenly. The unrest in Japan at that time was intense, and it was a very dangerous period.
Great comment thanks Renedijkstra.
very cool..