Samurai posing in front of the Sphinx in 1864.
Following “Emperor Komei’s order to drive out the barbarians” in 1863, a Japanese embassy set out for Europe on December 29, 1863, headed by Ikeda Nagaoki, governor of Chikugo province.
His goal was to persuade France to accept the closure of the Yokohama port to foreign trade and allow Japan to retreat into isolation once more. The mission inevitably failed.
In 1864, on the way to Paris, the Ikeda mission visited Egypt.
The travel was commemorated in one of the most extraordinary images in 19th century photography: the members of the embassy, dressed in winged kamishimo costumes and jingasa hats, wielding their dreaded long (katana) and short (wakizashi) swords, standing before the Sphinx.
The photograph was taken by Antonio Beato (c. 1825-1903), brother of photographer Felice Beato.
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