The Flickr Nakatsucity Image Generatr

Insurance agencies rank fishermen as one of the more hazardous working environments in the hourly changing conditions at various hours and tide conditions, currents and winds, seasonal storms and so on. On this mild November day under light breezes, it does not seem to be a bad occupation, though. Collective ownership of harvesting rights keeps each section of coastal fisher controlled and conserved for future productivity. And while the physical traces of past generations may not be evident, the organizational system of fishing has continued for a very long time, indeed. So the sea belongs to any exploration of the past-present relationship that people experience and live through.

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The shape of roof, size of construction, and pattern of low upstairs and large main floor suggests 1915 to 1925. But the door and window frames are much newer than that, possibly fitted as replacements to wooden frames installed originally.

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As one of the classic flavorings in Japan for centuries, soy sauce (along with salt, vinegar, ginger, sugar) has been brewed for generations with regional variation in saltiness and umami (mellowness). Several buildings in this part of central Nakatsu have been part of brewing and selling soy sauce for a long time. The ones in this photo have the boxy look of Meiji or Taisho periods: pre-1925.

In the lower right corner, lining the street are small history markers about local historical figures of this place. Since modern soy sauce benefits from claims of historical continuity (brand benefit), it is no surprising to see effort and expense to preserve some of the old parts of the business property and to allow historical signage to stand next to the buildings, too.

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The sturdy building on the left side of the photo could be 1990 give or take 10 years. And the tiled roof on the main gate into the temple compound has wood that seems less than 40 years old. But the street side wall in red brick show weathering and small brick size to suggest 1920, plus or minus ten years.

This kind of thinking about layers of dates is reminiscent of archaeology and its expertise in documenting and puzzling out layers of deposition, including confusing cases of anomalies when part of a newer time horizon somehow gets pushed into the older time horizon below it.

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Erasing the utility wires overhead and the mini-car, as well as the asphalt and the parking lot (gap in row of buildings), this scene could be how things looked 100 years ago: low houses and shop fronts facing onto each other in a relatively narrow street.

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Photographs present a moment frozen in time, whether a fraction of a second in a horse race or the fall colors one afternoon on a mountainside. But his photo takes as its subject the business operations that have ceased, or at least are suspended for the time being. It is a frozen moment for a building that has frozen in time.

Looking at the functional design, it has the look of early 1950s, rather that WWII and before to include substitution of aluminum door frames at a later time.

Since this location is a few km east of Nakatsu city center where land is less crowded with buildings, it could be possible for the foreground land to have been open always, rather than to be the absence of a former house now torn down.

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The morning shadows and miscellaneous things parked in front of the neighboring houses give a homey look to the street. At the bend in the lane the upstairs of the house has lost part of the plaster exterior. So the wall structure shows in the sun: wattle and daub. The wood-framed windows could be 50 or more years old, too. So the overall look of the place goes back to the 1950s or before that.

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Assuming the metal sheath over the dark brown house covers thatch last laid down in the 1940s, this building is the oldest in the picture, say, built in 1930. Everything surrounding it replaced an earlier building, possibly from a similar time as the dark brown one. The only exception is the foreground open field. Whatever once stood there never was replaced. Perhaps wartime vegetable gardens occupied the space left behind from tearing down something previously on the ground. Continuing with dates to guess: the light brown siding of the right-hand house is maybe c. 1985 and the beige building with two gables is 10 or 15 years after that, say 2000.

Taken all together the buildings in this photo are a kind of composite for many parts of central Nakatsu, with housing stock of different decades standing together, but with anything before 1950 relatively rare to see.

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This view from the 13th floor at city center looking to the west shows the narrow back streets and closely built homes and businesses, following the pattern before industrialization when agriculture was the basis for the overall economy and land was conserved for production. Buildings had to be concentrated to leave productive land for farming.

Compared to the single-minded search in this project for old buildings among the mostly post-1950 cityscape, the people living and working in and around Nakatsu are concerned about making a living, meeting expectations, and following rules. There are times and places to dream dreams, wonder about the larger workings one's life fits into, and even to notice reminders of earlier livelihoods and lifetimes. But most of the time, for most residents, the past is not urgently pressing on their attentions.

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The fine condition of the walls and roof, as well as a fresh covering at the base of the left side make the building seem 50 or 60 years old. But the design of the gatehouse in front of the living area dates to the days of samurai authorized to wear either one or two lethal swords and in some cases to use them. In other words the construction of this building on stone foundations could go back to the 1880 or before the Meiji period altogether, say the 1860s. In all those decades the wood siding, the roof tiles, the window frames, and so on will have been replaced with age. But the skeleton and shape and stature may well be original.

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Car drivers of today are accustomed to big roads in straight lines, but before this city street was paved it was gravel and probably had no reason to be so wide. And since people of 100 or 400 years ago were not has heavy or tall as today, the scale of buildings and street-width relative to a small person makes a bigger impression than it does to modern minds.

Learning to read the traces of the past is not only about distinguishing between original material and later substitutions or revisions altogether. But also it is worth seeing those authentic remainders in something like the eyes of the people alive at the time of building and living/working there: appreciating the choice of materials (status, fashion) and the size (scaled to people of the time) and the mental frame of reference (a lifetime often was lived within a relatively small radius; how big a person of the time could dream; what things the person might know to compare things with). Taking all the differences of long-ago people of 1874 or 1904 to everyone alive in 2024, this street scene can reveal a little more than just looking at it exclusively in 2024 terms.

With little electricity, internal combustion engines, and few bicycles, the pace of movement and ideas would be slower. Many of the houses that may have existed in 1904, say, no longer stand. But when they did, there would be a mix of new ones, 20-year-old ones, and some from 50 or 70 years earlier, perhaps. In that situation, reputations and memories and personalities would fill the streetscape with meanings. Little would be anonymous or go unnoticed like in 2024. So not only would the visible streetscape differ, but also the ability of people to read the social clues and meanings back then differs to modern ways of seeing and judging and responding.

Today there are still a few physical reminders of those earlier times when grand or great-grandparents were growing up. But looking for those traces, it functions as an opportunity to expand from that fixed point into a larger social experience and cultural landscape that everyone knew back then as a common story or shared sense of place, both for dread and for delight.

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Workers in stone must know their creation is long lasting. After all, the things of wood or metal disappear, but the elements of buildings and monuments made of stone persist. And yet in the mind of the person or persons shaping this sturdy Shinto gate the task was like many other jobs: meet the expectations of the customer as they specify (or if they leave the discretion in the craftsman's hands) and deliver something in a timely way to be proud of. In other words, the longevity of the torii is not uppermost in the carver's mind. The job is right now for present purposes. The fact that it will outlive the person requesting it and the person making it is not so important. Only people generations after the making and installation will have reason to perceive historical depth when looking at it.

By extension from stonework to other physical traces identifiable here and there in 2024, the things like ruins, and repaired or replaced buildings mimicking their original form also share these qualities of the stone torii here: once they were new. Only now do they seem significant or rare. The special "historical flavor" that 2024 people see only developed year by year, it was not part of the creation of it. Something "historical" today did not start out that way, which is to say that the past-present relationship is not so much based on what the old materials carry with them from earlier hands and minds. Rather the qualities in that relationship comes from present-day perceptions projected on (or perceived in) the older materials.

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A dozen names come up in a search of early photographers in Japan, some foreigners and others Japanese born and raised. In some of those photos (and woodblock prints before that) you can see houses and shops with the proportions and scale of this one. So the builders of this house had been trained by masters from the feudal time that ended in 1867. For example, a carpenter reaching the stage of master at age 30 in 1867 would have born in 1837 and would train younger generations until he turned 60, suppose, thus 1897. An apprentice working with this master as late as 1895 then might go on to build in that method and design for another 25 or 30 years: from 1895 to 1920.

Following this reasoning, the state of art or standard of practice in the 1900 to 1920 period could include builders conversant with the older feudal houses, in other words. So even though this one has the feudal look of the 1800s, it may well date to 1910 or even 1920 possibly.

See also, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photography_in_Japan

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Looking over the low wall of the neighboring hospital, this clinic for ear, nose, throat complaints shows the wooden exterior in the back of the building and the stone-like layer on the sides (and front) of the building. See also the photo taken from the street-facing side.

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The wood-frame windows upstairs look original to the time of construction, but the metal-frame doors are more recent. All three houses seem to have the gas supply lines turned to the off position. And the unchecked weeds also point to absence of residents this year, at least. But when these side by side houses were built to replace what stood before, there would be plenty of activity, not just from the builders but also from the people moving in and living out their lives for decades to come.

World events and politicians come and go, life events arise, and the years pass with gradual aging of the outside and inside of the houses. Conveniences and modern comforts come into the lives of people there until they move away or die. The last one residing there finally comes to the day to leave for the last time and turn out the lights and turn off the gas supply. Then the fate of the houses standing empty rests with legal experts creating categories, exceptions, and requirements for caring for akiya (vacant housing stock).

In this photo the first impression for most people might be "akiya" or "out of fashion, old-style." But upon further reflection these are time travelers that come from different times but which offer a point of contrast and comparison to the way things are going now, for good or for bad.

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The untended garden and dark interior suggest that no medical consultations have been offered here for several years. The porch in the front was popular in the 1920s and 1930s around Japan, allowing people to get in and out of vehicles without getting wet (on larger installations), or pedestrians to shake off their wet things before entering the building, as in this example.

If indeed the building was in use from 1930 to 2010, for example, that span of 80 years means that two or three generations of ear, nose, throat doctor worked here, perhaps in the family line.

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At 190 sq. miles (492 sq.km) there is a lot of ground and a lot of lives to take account of in the passage of centuries locally. These shelves of the city library are crammed with work of hundreds of contributors to chapters, and single authors dedicated to their writing project. There are lifetimes of searching and composing gathered here. And yet, only a very small group of names and persons are engaged in deeply or from many angles. Most of the people who passed their days in and around these rivers and mountains go unrecorded. Still, having a stack of stories and incidents to explore is far better than having none at all.

With respect to the photo-based search for traces of those earlier times, it would be valuable to read all these pages (in Japanese), but that is many lifetimes of study. Instead it is worth simply asking how the written (and sometimes illustrated) accounts here might enter into average residents' relationship between the past and present. In other words, whether or not reading these interpretations and selected facts, how do written histories shape people's imagination and assumptions about where to find the past all around, and how it might play a part in current conditions and, indeed, in influencing future responses to changing times.

In a time of prolific Internet sources and distractions, it may well be that few people visit these bookshelves or have heard of the personages and events being introduced to readers. But even if there are just a few people keen on past chronologies and cause/effect, maybe those same people engage in debates and discussions about current and emerging issues. When few people have expertise, then it is those few who play an important role in weighing history and viewing today in that larger sweep of time.

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Robbery is deterred by having fewer windows. And privacy from conversations overheard is also unlikely in this 1800s or early 1900s design. Its height and volume set it apart from neighboring buildings. And the whitewash or plaster has been well maintained so the sturdy house or shop/storehouse may date from 100 years ago or before that without showing much wear and tear.

Looking at house catalogs from today, it is clear that many of the old design features have changed. Tiles, natural light, sliding doors, and careful use of wood for structure and for finished appearance may be in common then and now, but today's house will have modern conveniences not added in (here) but integrated throughout the building project. And much more light and air circulation will be featured today than yesterday, too.

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In the background the sounds of metalwork in a factory contrast the silence in the foreground house. Its sturdy build-quality suggest that it belonged to a wealthy person or at least someone whose prospects were good and expectations were high. The roof tile seems all right, so maybe its been replaced after the original ones wore out. The twin brick posts that accent each end of the street side could easily come from 1900 to 1930, based on size and weathering. But without a document search or conversations with neighbors, it is hard to pinpoint how many Novembers this house has seen.

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Until around 1900 just about everybody was associated with a Buddhist temple as a legacy from the administrative state of the central government in Edo (Tokyo). But in 2024 there are fewer and fewer family lines that maintain ties to the ancestral temple where their grandparents and those before that may keep a collective, family tomb to hold cremated remains. The explosion in population after 1880 and therefore also the rising numbers of people dying 60 or 70 years later meant that temple capacity was strained. So many cities created non-denominational, secular sites for family and individual deposition of cremains.

This photo to the north of Nakatsu city center along a very broad but little trafficked boulevard seems to have no nearby Buddhist temple. Nor is there a prominent sign of the city's own services. Perhaps the neighborhood or a private company established this resting place. In any case, it differs to the standard pattern found in many other parts of the islands for municipal government or else private temples to receive cremated human remains.

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