Theater Street Osaka: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

Hand-tinted, mounted, albumen print of the Dōtonbori Theater district in Osaka, by an unidentified maker, from the late 19th century, titled ‘754 Theater Street Osaka.’ The image shows a view of Dōtonbori, a theater district located in Osaka. Pedestrians walk the street, many of whom are holding parasols or pointed umbrellas. In the foreground is a large theater, likely the Asahiza, one of five principal theaters in the district. There are flags, banners and lanterns hanging from the building. In the foreground is a market selling food items and two rickshaw carts, a common mode of transport during the Meiji period. The outside of the theater, the clothes and parasols of the passers-by, and the flags and banners have been hand-tinted with shades of red, pink and green. The Dōtonbori district of Osaka was a popular tourist destination of the Meiji period (1868-1912), and frequently appears in 19th century travelogues aimed at Western tourists and in souvenir albums that highlight its theaters, teahouses, and canal.

With Japan's rapid modernization and the influx of tourists from the late 19th century, commercial photography flourished as a lucrative industry, and photography studios sprung across the port city of Yokohama. By the 1880s and 1890s, many studios were owned and operated by Japanese photographers, who actively selected models, composed scenes, and applied hand-coloring. This photograph was likely produced by a Japanese photography studio and was assembled into a souvenir album along with photographs 2013.0327.0003 to 2013.0327.0013.

The Dōtonbori Theater district was an influential cultural centre for Kabuki theater and puppet theater. Of the five principal theaters of the Meiji period, Nakaza, the last theater to close, shut in 1999. Many older theaters were destroyed by US military campaigns in WWII or closed as the popularity of live performances declined. There are still theaters operating in the district today where people continue to enjoy performances.

Materials, dates and provenance

• date made: 1880s
• maker: Anonymous
• Object Name: Photograph
• Object Name: photograph
• Physical Description: paper (image material)
• Measurements: overall: 10 1/2 in x 13 5/8 in; 26.67 cm x 34.6075 cm
• Measurements: image: 8 1/8 in x 10 1/2 in; 20.6375 cm x 26.67 cm
• place made: Japan: Gifu, Osaka
• Subject: Shopping
• Subject: City landscape
• Subject: Street
• ID Number: 2013.0327.0004
• catalog number: 2013.0327.0004
• accession number: 2013.0327
• Data Source: National Museum of American History

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.