Comments on: Nishimura, Sannomiya, Kobe, Japan

By: BSV

BSV — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 07:34:58 +0000

This might help.
http://www.frommers.com/destinations/kobe/D50669.html

By: Lorelle VanFossen

Lorelle VanFossen — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 16:44:34 +0000

Lovely creative story with no factual support. It would be nice to put a name on the face and learn the specifics, as well as why my grandfather treasured this photograph while protecting her family today, if they are truly at risk. Thanks.

By: lansdell christie

lansdell christie — Mon, 19 May 2008 11:38:12 +0000

the woman in the old photo is the great great grandmother of a very beautiful young woman who now lives in sapporo where she has escaped the prying eyes and cameras of the papparazi who are paid by powerful yakuza gangsters to find and return her to her great great grandmother’s ancient palace in kobe where they plan to imprison and worship her. the beautiful young woman spends her time playing the koto and composing songs about ancient japan. these sentimental songs are so inspiring that they have fired the imaginations of many powerful corporate executives in tokyo and nagoya [to whom she sends her music]. These men dream of finding and marrying her, but she has remained elusive in her old quiet house in a crowded neighborhood where no one knows her. she remains secluded there waiting in her courtyard for the return of kunzunru nakashima, a local cobbler’s brilliant son who taught her to play the koto before he left japan to study the ancient oud music played by berber tribesmen in the atlas mountains of northern morocco. sometimes when this troubled young musicologist dreams of her he composes tragic haunting love songs which he sends to her by Email.

By: Lorelle VanFossen

Lorelle VanFossen — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 02:22:53 +0000

@tim nishimura:

Any of them photographers, models, or geshias in Japan in the 1920s?

By: Lorelle VanFossen

Lorelle VanFossen — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 02:16:03 +0000

@Alex Eyre:

That’s another idea. However, there is no helpful information on the back of the photograph.

By: Alex Eyre

Alex Eyre — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 16:49:34 +0000

Photographs from this period (and into the 70’s) in the West bore the name of the photographer (or photographic studio) inscribed on the front, especialyy those images used to promote the photographer’s services. This might simply be a ‘glamour’ card (although the subject doesn’t look like she’s feeling very glamorous) used as advertising. I think that you are looking at an image taken by a (Mr.)Nishimura in Sannomia, Kobe, Japan and that any information about the subject would be on the reverse of the image.

By: tim nishimura

tim nishimura — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 07:59:37 +0000

my last name is Nisimura and my family has been here since the early 1900s there are still many nisimuras over in japan.

By: Lorelle VanFossen

Lorelle VanFossen — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 17:11:14 +0000

There is no relationship between this woman and my grandfather.

I’m searching for information about her and her life and activity to try to understand why this photograph was so treasured in my grandfather’s photo album. If she was a “modern” geisha or entertainer, then that would tell me that he may have attended her programs several times or many times. If she was a friend, that that would be more information. We know nothing about my grandfather from this time period so I’m trying to fill in a few blanks, and hopefully someone who is related to her may recognize her, too. Filling in a few blanks in their family research.

At the time this photo was taken, Americans were in Japan after World War I, though not as many as after World War II. Some areas of Japan catered to Americans, so it is my guess that this woman was a form of entertainer who catered to Americans. Still, the specifics would be nice to know.

Thanks for the information.

By: zichi

zichi — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 11:08:30 +0000

The photo is signed in English, so I doubt it was taken by a Japanese. The woman is dressed in expensive western dress and expensive pearls, so probably not your standard Japanese family of the time. Kobe is famous for pearls. It could be that she was married to a non Japanese. Gaijin actually means “outsider” and is a term not only applied to foreigners. Nishimura is a famous coffee shop. Sannomiya is the main central area of Kobe which at that time was all low level building. It’s possible that the writing refers to this coffee shop which was and still is in Sannomiya. Great coffee, and great cakes! The woman is unlikely to be related to your grandfather.

By: Kana

Kana — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 19:53:12 +0000

I dont have any information on the woman. But my first guess is that she was not a geisha. This is a professional photograph, and had she been geisha she would have appeared in professional geisha attire. But her dress is very western. She may have been an entertainer, singer or something similar. Her dress suggests she was attempting to appeal to the american or western lifestyle.
Gaijin means foreigner. So it could easily be some sort of ‘port’ city. Where military and foreign goods were in constant traffic.
Surnames generally originate from cities, representing where the family started. At least in european countries, I cant gaurantee the same for Japan.
My suggestion would be to see if the cities,streets,buildings that share this name have some similarities, a common ground they originate from.
I did a quick wikipedia search and didnt come up with anything on Nishimura, and the only thing on Sannomiya was it was a main train station in Kobe.
Id do a search to see what were popular first names for girls of that era. It may have easily been a stage name if nothing else.
Do you feel you are related to this woman? Or was it simply that you found this photograph? It just easily could be that your grandfather attended a show she did, and that was a souveiner and nothing more. Or it could be much more.
Im just curious what lead you on this search.