Recognized as one of the most commercially successful Japanese photographers from the 19th century, Kusakabe Kimbei, professionally known as Kimbei, started his apprenticeship at a young age. At the age of sixteen, Kimbei left his hometown in Kofu and went to Yokohama where he entered the studio of British photographer Felice Beato during the 1860s. In 1870 he went to work at the studio of Baron Raimund von Stillfried, an Austrian photographer who had bought the studio of Beato. Kimbei’s new studio benefitted greatly when Stillfried left Japan in 1886; Kimbei inherited the majoity of Stillfried’s stock, in addition to other stock from his original teacher, Beato.

Employing the traditional method of the albumen printing process, Kimbei then meticulously hand painted each and every print. By combining his own studio portraits and landscape views of Japan with the reprinted works of Beato and Stillfried, Kimbei created some of the most sought after albums. Selling almost exclusively to wealthy Western tourists visiting Japan, as well as exporting his albumens to other countries, Kimbei’s work came to represent the concept of Japan’s exotic uniqueness to the world. The impressive popularity of Kimbei’s work among foreign collectors made him far more widely recognized overseas than in his own country. Kimbei continued to operate his business until 1913.