Renjo Shimo-oka Memorial

Public Art: Renjo Shimo-oka Memorial
Sculptor: © Mitsuaki Tanabe
Description: The bronze sculpture of a box camera
balanced atop a oval type plinth is dedicated to Renjo Shimo-oka (1823-1914), the first Japanese
photographer.
Date Unveiled: 1987
Location: The Renjo Shimo-oka Memorial is located
outside the Bashamichi Square Building, Yokohama, Japan.
Inscription:
"In Memory of Renjo Shimo-oka, Founder of Photography in Japan" |
Things You May Not Know About Renjo Shimo-Oka:
Shimo-oka is famous for photographing the fire which broke out on SS America while docked in Yokohama
harbor.
He is also the founder of lithography in Japan.
Shimo-oka learned the art of photography from Dutchman Henry C.J. Heusken, who was an interpreter for the first
U.S. Ambassador to Japan.
Trivia:
Japanese Sculptor Mitsuaki Tanabe is well known for creating wild rice seed sculptures. On April 1, 2008 his
9metre, 250kg "A Seed of Wild Rice MOMI-2008," sculpture was installed by the Global Crop Diversity Trust at
its headquarters in the U.N.'s Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) building in Rome.
|