Tomishige Rihei

Who was Tomishige Rihei?

Tomishige Rihei was an important 19th and early 20th century Japanese photographer. He was a pioneer of wet-plate photography in Japan and was noted for his excellent large-format, albumen landscapes. Tomishige is especially renowned in Kyūshū.

In 1854 Tomishige left his hometown of Yanagawa for Nagasaki, where he started his career as a merchant. When this career proved unsuccessful, in 1862 he became an apprentice to Kameya Tokujirō, an early local photographer. Later that same year, Kameya left Nagasaki to open a photographic studio in Kyoto, so Tomishige continued his photographic studies under Ueno Hikoma. The two developed a lifelong friendship. In 1866 Tomishige returned to Yanagawa, where he opened his own photographic studio, but the business was not a success, so in 1868-1869 he once again worked under Kameya as apprentice in Nagasaki.

In 1870 Tomishige decided to move to Tokyo, but he ended up in Kumamoto where he opened a studio; probably the first in the city. The local army garrison commissioned him to photograph Kumamoto Castle.