I believe you are looking at a group of farmers/townsmen (or perhaps a
troupe of entertainers) dressed up and posed for a photo by a European
photographer. None are wearing two swords, symbol of the Bushi class,
they are wearing brightly patterned expensive looking Hakama and
kimono, like a daimyo might wear, yet none of them seem to possess the
dignity one would expect of persons of that class. Men and women are
mixed together but without anything to indicate their status in the
group or with whom they might be associated (women were more like
possessions in those days so one would expect a female to stand
respectfully behind her father or husband while he was seated or in
some other way indicate her place in the group). A woman of good
breeding would never expose that much skin or any hint of her
underclothes in so public a display as a photograph.
To me at least this is not a photograph of samurai but one of many
posed photos taken by photographers like Beato and others who were in
Japan just after the fall of the Shogun...
-t
On Sep 12, 2004, at 11:19 AM, dcress wrote:
> Hello,
> Can anyone help me identify the persons in the URL below. The photo
> is a carte-de-visite taken in the late 1860's to mid 1870's. All the
> adult males appear to be holding samurai swords. I can provide
> closeups if anyone needs more details. Any help would be greatly
> appreciated. Thanks for your time, David Cress
> chenderson34@...
> http://home.carolina.rr.com/imagesetc/samurai.jpg
>
>
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