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The Namazu, also called the Onamazu, is a creature in Japanese mythology and folktales. The Namazu is a gigantic catfish said to cause earthquakes and tremors. Living in the mud under the Japanese isles, the Namazu is guarded by the protector god Kashima, who restrains the catfish using the <i>kaname-ishi</i> rock. Whenever Kashima lets his guard down, Namazu thrashes about and causes violent earthquakes.<br/><br/> The Namazu rose to new fame and popularity after the Ansei great earthquakes that happened near Edo in 1855. This lead to the Namazu being worshipped as a god of world rectification (<i>yonaoshi daimyojin</i>), sent by the gods to correct some of the imbalances in the world.<br/><br/> Catfish woodblock prints known as <i>namazu-e</i> became their own popular genre within days of the earthquake. They were usually unsigned and often depicted scenes of a namazu or many namazu atoning for their deeds. They were quickly squashed by the Tokugawa Shogunate, the prints censored and destroyed, with only a handful surviving to this day.
China: Asia-Pacific Steamship poster featuring the Great Wall of China and listing, above four steamships, a list of destinations in traditional Chinese.
Oriental Steamship Co advertisement featuring a young woman holding a folding fan.
Vientiane, formerly Sri Sattanak, was razed to the ground and looted by Siamese armies in 1827. The city was left in grave disrepair and became overgrown and nearly unpopulated until the French colonists arrived and took over the region in 1893. Vientiane became the capital of the French protectorate of Laos in 1899 and was rebuilt with renovated Buddhist temples surrounded by French architecture. Vientiane remained the ‘chef-lieu’- the district capital – of French Laos until 1949.
Admiral Sir William Hutcheon Hall, KCB, FRS (c. 1797 – 25 June 1878), was a British officer in the Royal Navy. He served in the First Anglo-Chinese War and Crimean War. In China, he commanded the iron steamship Nemesis of the East India Company.<br/><br/> In November 1839, Hall obtained command of Nemesis of the British East India Company in China, where he served in the First Anglo-Chinese War (1839–43). The ship's first engagement was against Chinese forts and a fleet of junks in the Second Battle of Chuenpee on 7 January 1841. He was Mentioned in Despatches for his part in the battle. He was also present at the Battle of First Bar on 27 February.<br/><br/> In commemoration of his service, he was commonly known in the navy as 'Nemesis Hall'. William Dallas Bernard, an Oxford graduate who studied life and customs in China, used Hall's notes to write an account of the war in the 'Narrative of the Voyages and Services of the Nemesis from 1840 to 1843' (1844).
Osaka Mercantile Steamship poster featuring a kimono-clad young woman and the company flag.
Wat Phumin was constructed in 1596 and is famous for its cruciform viharn ubosot (many temples in the Nan area combine these two buildings into one) and well preserved Tai Lue murals depicting everyday life in the 19th century.<br/><br/> Nan dates from the mid-14th century and for much of its history was an isolated kingdom. The present day city spreads out along the Nan River's right bank.
Korean Mail Steamship Co., 1918
Osaka Mercantile Steamship poster featuring an old sailing ship and the company flag.
Osaka Mercantile Steamship Co poster featuring a large bird (maybe a sea bird, but with a head that looks more like a cockerel) carrying the company flag.
Osaka Mercantile Steamship poster featuring a young woman in kimono and girl child.
Osaka Mercantile Steamship Co., poster featuring an attractive, kimono-clad woman with a pair of binoculars. Tradition meets modernity.
The Nitta Maru was a Japanese ocean liner owned by Nippon Yusen Kaisha. The ship was built in 1938-1940 by Mitsubishi Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. at Nagasaki, Japan. The vessel's pre-war design anticipated passenger service; but when work was completed, the onset of war had created somewhat different priorities. The vessel was created as a sister ship of the Yawata Maru, and the Kasuga Maru. Each in succession was re-fitted as a troopship; and each was later converted to an aircraft carrier. In 1941, Kasuga Maru was re-commissioned as the Japanese aircraft carrier Taiyō and in 1942, the Yawata Maru was recommissioned as the Japanese aircraft carrier Unyō. In November 1942, the Nitta Maru was recommissioned as the Japanese aircraft carrier Chūyō.<br/><br/> None of the 'Three Sisters' survived the war. The Chuyo was torpedoed and sunk on 4 December, 1943, with the loss of about 1,250 lives. The Taiyo was torpedoed and sunk off Cape Bolinao, Philippines, on 18 August, 1944, with only 26 survivors. The Unyo was torpedoed and sunk on 17 September, 1944, with the loss of approximately 240 lives.
Japan Mail Steamship Co. (NYK) poster featuring a young kimono-clad woman.
Japan Mail Steamship Co. (NYK) advertising poster featuring a young woman in a kimono with a parasol taking a small boat out to an ocean liner. The map (bottom left) shows a trans-Pacific route to North America.
Japan Mail Steamship Co. (NYK) poster featuring a young kimono-clad woman reclining above a map of Hokkaido, northern Japan, showing maritime links with southern Sakhalin and the Kurile Islands - both in 1909 under Japanese administration.
Oriental Steamship Company poster featuring a traditionally clad young woman in kimono holding a pair of binoculars while being instructed by a smartly clad officer. Tradition meets modernity in this Chinese language poster presumably aimed at the Chinese passenger market.
Osaka Mercantile Steamship poster featuring a beautiful Japanese woman elaborately clad in traditional kimono (1909).
Cherry blossom and castle epitomise the aesthetic appeal of Japan in the 1916 NYK Line steamship poster.
The Osaka Mercantile Steamship Company, in the form of a gigantic sumo wrestler, bestrides the trade routes of the world in this 1916 advertising poster.
The American businessman Edward R. Cunningham (1823-1889) was instrumental in the founding of the Shanghai Steamship Company, and was its president (1862-1864).