金田ケン子（宮城）

About this photo

A full-length photo in which a whitish obi stands out clearly against a light background. There is a kanzashi (hair ornament) in her upswept hair, crests can be seen on the sleeves of her dark kimono, and round floral motifs are scattered over the hem. White cloth shows from inside the hem. The name under the photo reads "Kaneda Kenko (Miyagi)."

She won second place in a newspaper's beauty photo contest. Nihon Bijincho (Album of Japanese Beauties), published in 1908 (Meiji 41), grew out of this contest. The judging was done from photos alone, and 13 people served as judges, including the Western-style painter Okada Saburosuke, the sculptor Takamura Koun and the kabuki actor Nakamura Shikan.

Susomoyo, with patterns placed only on the hem, is a style seen from the middle of the Edo period. In the Meiji era it was no longer told apart from edozuma, which places patterns diagonally on the tsuma (the front edges of the kimono), and kimono like this are now called tomesode. Since tomesode are formal wear for married women at celebrations, she too may have been married.

Glossary