Tōkyō geigi chū hyaku bijin
- Gallery: Room 94
- Culture: Meiji Era
- Made in: Tokyo-to
- Date: 1891 (photographs); 1891-95 (album)
- Object type: album, photographic print
- Materials: paper
- Museum number: 2025,3019.1.1-50
- Museum: The British Museum
- Collection record: British Museum website
- Image © The Trustees of the British Museum, shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence.
Listen to the free audio guide
About this object
Before you is “Tōkyō geigi chū hyaku bijin,” an album of photographs capturing fifty elegant geisha from early Meiji Era Tokyo. Each portrait is carefully mounted on a separate page with corner mounts, preserving the details of each performer’s name and district of work. Notably, these photographs were displayed at Ryōunkaku, Tokyo’s first skyscraper, where each image was paired with a bonsai tree and bamboo barrier for protection. The background for each image is consistent, featuring the same window, lanterns, and the name “Ryōunkaku,” allowing the geisha’s expressions to take center stage. Geisha portraits often aim for a sense of mystery and tradition, and these photographs successfully do so, offering a rare glimpse into how the culture was promoted to the public during the late 1800s.
See it in person
Tōkyō geigi chū hyaku bijin is on display in Room 94 at the British Museum on Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, London — free to enter. Choose British Museum on audioguide.london and take a photo of it to hear this free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
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