『Photos Tell the Story: A Century of Kameda』📘 Published January 1, 1990, by Kameda Town, Edited by the Photo Collection Editorial Committee
【Introduction to Niigata Antiquarian Books】🧐
『Photos Tell the Story: A Century of Kameda』📘
Published January 1, 1990
Published by Kameda Town
Edited by the Photo Collection Editorial Committee
A navy-striped cloth cover and a Japanese paper slipcase—when you open it, a century of Kameda quietly unfolds, from images of farmers harvesting rice in flooded paddies to aerial photographs of the Kameda Industrial Park.📖
A "whole century" photo collection of Kameda, compiled by the town to commemorate the 100th anniversary of its municipal organization.
【Commentary on Contents, etc.】🧐
⚫︎ The book's binding itself is an homage to Kameda's local industry.
The navy-striped fabric wrapping the cover evokes Kameda-jima textiles, allowing you to touch the town's memories before even handling the contents.
The slipcase is covered in Japanese paper with the title "Photos Tell the Story: A Century of Kameda" written in brush calligraphy on the spine, standing out as an item carefully finished for presentation and preservation.
⚫︎ The table of contents consists of 11 chapters: "Cultivate," "Weave," "Produce," "Trade," "War," "Public," "Disaster," "Festival," "Trees," "Leap," and "Worship."
Covering everything from agriculture to textiles, commerce, wartime, festivals, and urban growth, this structure, which categorizes a century of a town by theme, forms a regional history system that transcends a mere administrative commemorative publication.
Below is an introduction to some chapters that personally caught my interest.
⚫︎ In the "Cultivate" chapter, there are farmers rowing boats out into rice paddies to harvest rice.
The pre-mechanized agricultural landscape of Kameda is carefully recorded, including family-wide leveling work, puddling using horses, farm tools called "goro," and spreading fertilizer by having cows pull manure buckets.
Each caption holds the warmth of daily life, such as "Family-wide leveling work, sometimes helping each other in the village."
⚫︎ The "Weave" chapter follows the rise and fall of Kameda's textile industry.
From photos of the Nisshin Dyeing Co., Ltd. Kameda Thread Factory (around 1943-1944), to recreational scenes of weaving girls around 1935 when the pine forests of Mukoyama were still healthy, to the factory being forced to close during the war due to a lack of thread distribution—the intersection of the textile industry and the waves of the era is condensed into one chapter.
⚫︎ The "Disaster" chapter is a record of flood damage known as the Kizu-gire and Sogawa-gire. The flooding of Honcho 1-chome, people traveling by boat, and people evacuating to the Sotsuji Temple bell tower—vivid photographs convey that Kameda is a town that has long fought against water.
⚫︎ In the "Trade" chapter, the former bustle of Kameda is lined up, such as the Sangu Market, shopping streets, and market scenes from 1960 and 1984. Illustrations of market sketches (early Showa era) are also included, making it highly dense as a resource for commercial history.
⚫︎ The "Festival" chapter includes the heat of the festival in color photos, such as the procession of the Kameda Festival's Oiwa Manto, the Tarukko groups of Kameda Higashi Elementary School, and the grand ensemble of flutes and drums.
The presence of this chapter, where color is inserted into a book that is mainly black and white, is significant.
⚫︎ The "Leap" chapter contains records of industrialization in the late Showa era, such as the Kameda Industrial Park, machine tool factories, and printing complexes, documenting Kameda's transformation from a farming village to an industrial city.
The typical transformation of a regional city in the latter half of the 20th century, from agriculture to industry, is condensed into this one volume.
📖 A "cross-section of history" told by paper—in 1990, Kameda Town looked back on a century through photographs.
The rice paddies where they harvested rice by boat, the factories where the weaving girls commuted, the muddy currents of the Kizu-gire, and the nights when the Oiwa Manto paraded—everything is quietly contained within this navy-striped cover.
This volume is an irreplaceable regional monument, recording the century of the town of Kameda with pride. 😌
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