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Kusakabe Kimbei (日下部 金兵衛) (1841–1934) was a Japanese photographer. He usually went by his given name, Kimbei, because his clientele, mostly non-Japanese-speaking foreign residents and visitors, found it easier to pronounce than his family name.<br/><br/> Kusakabe Kimbei worked with Felice Beato and Baron Raimund von Stillfried as a photographic colourist and assistant before opening his own workshop in Yokohama in 1881, in the Benten-dōri quarter, and from 1889 operating in the Honmachi quarter. He also opened a branch in the Ginza quarter of Tokyo.
A ,i>maiko</i> is an apprentice geiko (a type of geisha) in Kyoto, western Japan. Their jobs consist of performing songs, dances, and playing the shamisen (three-stringed Japanese instrument) for visitors during feasts.<br/><br/> Maiko are usually aged 15 to 20 years old and become Geiko after learning how to dance (a kind of Japanese traditional dance), play the shamisen, and learning <i>Kyō-kotoba</i> (dialect of Kyoto), regardless of their origins.
Kusakabe Kimbei (1841 - 1934) was a Japanese photographer. He usually went by his given name, Kimbei, because his clientele, mostly non-Japanese-speaking foreign residents and visitors, found it easier to pronounce than his family name.
Irezumi (入れ墨, 入墨, 紋身, 刺花, 剳青, 黥 or 刺青) is a Japanese word that refers to the insertion of ink under the skin to leave a permanent, usually decorative mark; a form of tattooing.<br/><br/> The word can be written in several ways, each with slightly different connotations. The most common way of writing irezumi is with the Chinese characters 入れ墨 or 入墨, literally meaning to 'insert ink'. The characters 紋身 (also pronounced bunshin) suggest 'decorating the body'. 剳青 is more esoteric, being written with the characters for 'stay' or 'remain' and 'blue' or 'green', and probably refers to the appearance of the main shading ink under the skin. 黥 (meaning 'tattooing') is rarely used, and the characters 刺青 combine the meanings 'pierce', 'stab', or 'prick', and 'blue' or 'green', referring to the traditional Japanese method of tattooing by hand.