GROUP OF THREE EARLY JAPANESE MILITARY OFFICER PHOTOGRAPHS: a.: Lieutenant Gener

[Japan c. 1870's]. Three sepia-toned carte d'visite, each is 5.5 x 8.5 cm., and then mounted on a larger card, very good, toned as usual. QUITE SCARCE ! This is an unusual and RARE group of Japan's elite military officers. Seldom found, three early ca.1870's photographs of Japan's leading military officers. Each is studio posed, the officers are finely uniformed in full military dress uniforms with hip swords. Two wear white gloves. All three of these men were graduates of the Japanese Military Academy. * EACH OFFICER IS IDENTIFIED WITH HIS NAME ON THE BACK: a. Lieutenant General HASHIMOTO Katsutaro b. Major General MATSUMOTO Kana-e c. Lieutenant General HOSOKAWA Tadayasu * Each verso [back] shows a faint pencil name in Japanese Kanji, identifying each officer on the photograph. * CONDITION: Each photograph image is very clear, with the usual minor fading/toning, expected of an item made in the ca. 1870's. The verso [back side] are blank, except for the officer's names, lightly penciled in. Each card has rounded corners as issued by the photographer. All in all very nice examples. * Early sepia-toned photographs of Japanese military men are scarce and are seldom found. Even more rare, is to find them with the name of the person photographed! Therefore, identified photographs are again exceptionally obscure and RARE ! * .