Camera obscura

A camera obscura is a box with a small hole or slit in one side, sometimes with a lens installed, allowing light to enter the box in just such a way that it projects an inverted (upside-down) image of the external scene onto the interior, opposite, side of the box. Unlike perspective boxes, which had images painted or objects inserted inside the box to create an artificial scene, the camera obscura is empty and projects inside itself an image of whatever is outside the box. These were among a number of European optics-related items introduced into Japan in the Edo period, originally enjoyed as curiosities and later, in the case of telescopes, microscopes, and certain other items, as vitally useful tools.

The earliest known mention of a camera obscura imported into Japan is seen in a 1646 entry in the Dagregister, the Dutch East India Company official logs.

Later, in the mid-to-late 18th century, the camera obscura seems to have become more widely known, and accessible, to figures such as Shiba Kôkan who enjoyed, experimented with, and wrote about European inventions.

References

• "What is a Camera Obscura?", Camera Obscura & World of Illusions, website (Edinburgh, Scotland). 10 June 2020.