14.00 USD
Great image of the Riogoku Family, a troupe of Japanese acrobats who enchanted circus and vaudeville goers in the UK during the early 1900s. They played the London Hippodrome in 1907 in costumes that were said to have cost 2000 pounds (1907 pounds, quite a lot), the stage hangings for their act were all of silk, woven in Japan, it was said, a costly and elaborate display of Japanese art.
Certainly the costumes they're wearing in this image are fantastic!
In 1917, in Maryborough Australia, they performed with Wirth's Circus. A reviewer/advertiser had the following to say:
"The Riogoku Family of Japanese acrobats are wonderful Risley and equilibristic performers. Seven in number, they are far ahead of anything in their line which has ever been shown in Australia. One trick consists of a man lying on his back balancing a boy on the top of a mountain of stools from which he dives and is caught by the feet by the balancer."
At the time our photo was taken, they were 8 in number, rather than 7. The "trick" described is actually "Risley," the term used at the beginning of the review. Everyone knew what Risley was back then. It was any number of variations on the trick described...lying on the back and balancing, bouncing, tumbling objects, but most particularly members of your act, in the process.
This trick was probably invented by some particularly playful caveman...certainly fathers and mothers have been practicing (hopefully gentler) variations of it with their babies since time began :) but the modern "circus" version was developed by Richard Risley Carlisle (1814-1874) an American pioneer entertainer, acrobat, and impresario, who, in those wild old P.T. Barnum days, actually had a lot to do with introducing Japanese culture and theater to the West. He also, apparently, introduced "Circus" to Japan. There is a book about it:
"Professor Risley and the Imperial Japanese Troupe," subtitled How an American acrobat introduced Circus to Japan, and Japan to the West. i2012. Frederik L. Schodt,
Absolutely fantastic card for our "Under the Bigtop" section. Some wear, a small nick along one edge.
Please examine our high res scans for detail.
Postage is for first class shipping in a secure photo mailer, and we happily combine shipping on all paper goods. If you purchase two cards, we will refund the postage on the second card, and when you purchase three or more cards from us at the same time, your shipping will be entirely free, except for international orders which, because of sudden increases in international shipping rates will still be charged one card's shipping fees on orders of three or more.
And please come visit our blog at:
redpoulaine.blogspot.com
where we post biographical and historical tidbits, images of cards and photographs for sale, some already sold but remembered fondly, related images of historical interest and sometimes even images of items that have not yet arrived in the shop, but that are expected to arrive soon, as well as coupon codes, links to other related sites, and more!