Ichiki Shirō, 市来 四郎 was born in Satsuma province, Japan on December 24, 1828. He rose up within the castes of Satsuma’s feudal society by showing an exemplary skill in the production of gunpowder and was selected by the Satsuma’s daimyo (feudal lord), Shimazu Nariakira to be his personal retainer. Fascinated by western technology, in 1848, Shimazu obtained the first daguerreotype camera ever imported into Japan and encouraged his retainers to study it and learn to create photographs with it.  Continue reading Shimazu by Ichiki -the oldest daguerreotype by a Japanese photographer →