IDNO

N.121258.HNL

Description

Mikimoto Kokichi (left), the man often credited as the founder of the world's first cultured pearl industry, stands next to the scientist Nishikawa Tokichi (right) who invented an important technique for culturing pearls. They are waiting to meet James Hornell on the landing platform on Tatoku island, which was the first site for Mikimoto's cultured pearl farm. [HE 18/9/2014, record updated HE 11/08/2022]

Place

E Asia; Japan; Kansai; Mie prefecture; Shima Peninsula; Ago Bay; Tatoku Island [Bay of Agu; Tadoka Island]

Cultural Affliation

Named Person

Mikimoto Kokichi; Nishikawa Tokichi

Photographer

Hornell, James

Collector / Expedition

Hornell, James [visit to Japan via Saigon, Hong Kong & Shanghai [May 15th-August 12th 1907]

Date

16 July 1907

Collection Name

James Hornell Collection

Source

Hornell, Charlotte (Mrs)

Format

Glass Negative Quarterplate

Primary Documentation

Other Information

N.121249.HNL - P.121272.HNL were found unaccessioned in Drawer C.44 of the Photo Store, in a cardboard box, now numbered C648/

Related Archive: Hornell describes his journey through Japan in his diary stored in the Cambridge University Library Haddon papers 10.065. 1907 Japan Diary. He talks about his visit to the Mikimoto pearl farm from July 16th to 17th on p 189 where he describes, "I was met by a boat from Mikimoto's place + takn there. It consists of a fine range of buildings on a small island (Tadoka). A little harbour + landing place has been formed on the South side + everything bespeaks order, good organisation + prosperity." [Hannah Eastham 01/09/2017]

Named Person: The identity of this man is verified by images of Mikimoto Kokichi at the age of 50 years old from 1908 published in Eunson, R. 1956. The Pearl King: The story of the fabulous Mikimoto (London: Angus & Robertson) p. 88-89. Images of Mikimoto wearing this outfit were found in the archives of the Mikimoto Pearl Island Museum by H. Eastham during Crowther-Beynon 2014/15 project, "The Pearl King and James Hornell in Japan." [HE 18/9/2015]

Biographical Information: Mikimoto Kokichi is often cited as the founder of the world's first cultured pearl industry. Born in Toba, Shima province in Mie prefecture, Japan in 1858, he grew up as the son of a noodle maker. In 1893, Mikimoto was successful in creating hemispherical pearls and started his own cultured pearl business, eventually generating enough capital to open up his own jewellery store in the Ginza area of Tokyo in 1899. He established stores in other countries around the world with the first overseas location in London opening in 1913. Eunson, R. 1956. The Pearl King: The story of the fabulous Mikimoto (London: Angus & Robertson) tells the story of Mikimoto and says: “Kokichi Mikimoto was generally accepted as one of the wealthiest men in Japan. The Pearl King died in 1954 aged ninety six. (p 30) [HE 23/9/2015]

Named Person: Nishikawa Tokichi developed a technique to stimulate the production of a pearl by transplanting a small piece of the mantle tissue with a nucleus into the body of an oyster. He submitted a patent for this invention in 1907 which was granted in 1917 (No. 30771), known as the ‘Nishikawa method’ or ‘Piece method.’ This formed the basis of one of the most important scientific techniques still used in pearl cultivation today. [HE 23/9/2015]

Biographical Information: Nishikawa Tokichi was born in Osaka in 1874. He graduated in Zoology from Tokyo Imperial University (today the University of Tokyo) and first met Mikimoto Kokichi after he investigated ‘red tides’ (toxic algae blooms) which had been occurring at the Mikimoto pearl farm. Nishikawa married Mikimoto’s second daughter, Mine, in 1903. He began work in 1906 on spherical cultured pearls working between the University of Tokyo's Misaki Marine Biological station and the Mikimoto Research Laboratory on Tatoku Island. Nishikawa died young at the age of 35 in 1909, only two years after submitting his patent for the "piece method." This image therefore represents one of the last images of an important scientist shortly before his death. [HE 23/9/2015]

Place: Tatoku Island (Tadoka Island) is currently an uninhabited island originally belonging to Shinmiura village in Ago Bay. Mikimoto Kokichi procured borrowing rights to use it as a base for his first experiments on pearl cultivation in 1896 (see Mikimoto Pearl Island 1994, Kokichi Mikimoto Memorial Hall (Mikimoto Pearl Island Museum Publication). Mikimoto is said to have been the first to give the island its name Tatoku "田徳島" meaning "Paddy Field of Virtue." After a recommendation from visiting government ministers in October 1899, the Japanese characters for Tatoku were changed to "多徳島" meaning “Field of Many Virtues” (see Mikimoto Corporation, 1995, Kagayaki No Seiki (Century of Brightness) Mikimoto Shinju Hatsumei Hyaku Shunen Kinen (100th Anniversary since Mikimoto’s Discovery of the Pearl), p. 59.) In February 1907, Mikimoto is reported to have transferred his research activities to a site on the mainland, where the current Mikimoto Research Institute is based today (Nagai, K. 2013. A History of the Cultured Pearl Industry, Zoological Science, 30(10) (Zoological Society of Japan), p.789.789). In the course of fieldwork for the Crowther-Beynon 2014/15 project: "The Pearl King and James Hornell in Japan" a boat trip around Tatoku Island verified this location. Buildings on the island are no longer standing as the island was badly damaged by the Isewan typhoon in 1959. Hornell’s photographs therefore represent some of the few surviving examples of this historically important place. [HE 23/9/2015]

Date: In 1907, Nishikawa Tokichi submitted a patent for the ‘piece method’ (inserting a small spherical piece of shell into the soft tissue of a pearl oyster to induce the formation of a round pearl), a technique that still forms the basis for production of cultured pearls today. In that same year, another Japanese inventor, Mise Tatsuhei, submitted a patent for an ‘injector,’ a needle used for inserting pearls into the mantle of an oyster. In 1907, Mikimoto Kokichi significantly expanded his business, founding his first gold factory for jewellery in the Tsukiji area of Tokyo in April of that year. On account of the combined successes of Mikimoto, Nishikawa, and Mise in 1907, this is the date often considered the birth of the cultured pearl industry in Japan (Akamatsu, S, 2013, The Textbook of the Pearl). Hornell was visiting Mikimoto’s pearl farm at an extremely important date for Japan’s cultured pearl industry. [HE 23/9/2015]