Ten small (3 1/2 x 5 1/2 in) black and white photographs of the Fujiya hotel and associated buildings and facilities. The photographs has a descriptive captions incorporated into the image indicating they were a commercial souvenir type item as opposed to personal photographs. Some of the photographs show US forces personnel and military vehicles. One photograph ("Cascade Room") shows military personnel in uniform and on the bandstand/stage the Eight Army insignia is displayed. The photographs appear to date to the late 1940s to the early 1950s.

"Main Building and Dinning  Room" 
Fujiya Hotel Miyanoshita Spa, Japan
 

"Entrance"  Fujiya Hotel Miyanoshita Spa, Japan


"Tea Lounge"  Fujiya Hotel Miyanoshita Spa, Japan


"Dining Room"  Fujiya Hotel Miyanoshita Spa, Japan


"Perpetual Spring"  Fujiya Hotel Miyanoshita Spa, Japan


"Kitchen"  Fujiya Hotel Miyanoshita Spa, Japan


"Cascade Room"  Fujiya Hotel Miyanoshita Spa, Japan


Pavilion Chrysanthemum  (Kikuka So) Fujiya Hotel Miyanoshita Spa, Japan


Pavilion Chrysanthemum  (Kikuka So) Fujiya Hotel Miyanoshita Spa, Japan


"Swimming Pool"  Fujiya Hotel Miyanoshita Spa, Japan

 
A Brief History of the Fujiya Hotel (Fuji View Hotel).

The hotel was founded by Mr. Sennosuke Yamaguchi. Yamaguchi was a delegate on an early Japanese diplomatic mission to the United States and Europe (Iwakura Mission, 1871~1873). Because of this experience, he was determined to create a Western style hotel in the Hakone area catering to the tourist trade. On his return to Japan he purchased an established Japanese inn, the "Fujiya Ryokan" in Hakone. This was a large two story Japanese style (non-Victorian) building configured in a "L" shape with two major wings. He renamed the Japanese inn the Fujiya Hotel and by 1878 it was catering to foreign tourists. This building was destroyed by fire in December of 1883. By 1885 Yamaguchi had reopend the hotel on an interim basis as a one story Japanese style inn which was know as the Aerie. This building remained, at least as late as 1894, even after the new Fujiya Hotel was opened.

Although the details are not clear, sometime between 1878 and 1883, Yamaguchi began construction of a grand replacement for the Japanese inn buildings using the Victorian style of architecture that was developing in the treaty ports. While the new hotel was still under construction, it was destroyed by fire in 1883. Construction restarted in 1884 and by 1891 the main building of the new Fujiya Hotel was completed. In many photographs of the 1891 Fujiya Hotel a two story Western style building is seen to the right of the front of the hotel. This building was apparently completed in 1886, before the main building. It later came to be know as the Hermitage. The main building was distinguished by its Western construction combined with a tile roof and Japanese style gables. Basil Chamberlain Hall moved into the hotel ca. 1891 and resided there for 20 years. While the hotel advertises that it was founded in 1878, it appears very unlikely that guests were regularly accommodated in the main Western style hotel building until 1891. The hotel came under the management of H.S.K. Yamaguchi (1882-1944), the founder's son, around 1907 and remained so until his death in 1944.

In 1906 two Victorian style cottages (Comfy Lodge and Restful Cottage) were added. The hotel complex was severely damaged in the great earthquake of 1923. The buildings were repaired and restored. By 1930 the hotel was rebuilt and a great dining room was added as well as the Restaurant House. A large sun porch was added to the front of the main building during this reconstruction phase (1923-1930). In 1936 construction was completed on another building in the Fujiya complex which was named the Flower Palace. The hotel complex underwent significant reconstruction in the 1960s also. Currently the hotel complex consists of 5 major hotel buildings; the Main Building, Comfy Lodge, Restful Cottage, Flower Palace and the Forest Lodge. In addition, the hotel has a limited number of rooms in the Kikka-so Inn which was built in 1895 as an Imperial villa.

The hotel has long been a must for the foreign tourist in Japan. Following World War II, the hotel served extensively as a "Rest and Relaxation" (R&R) facility for occupation forces. Throughout the years, the hotel successfully made the experience more informed and efficient by publishing English language guides, railway time tables and maps for the visitor. The hotel also published English language books with the intent of informing the foreign visitor on Japanese culture, customs and geography. These books were titled We Japanese and M.S.K Yamaguchi was the moving force behind them. By 1949 the publication had expanded to a three volume book set. This material is discussed below.

A Western visitor to the hotel in 1895 described it in these terms:

A few minutes' further walk brought me to Miyanoshita -- 1400 feet above the sea -- quite a little mountain village, but one of the best-known health resorts in Japan. The region is wild and picturesque, and on a commanding site facing the valley is the famous hotel Fuji-ya, which is kept in European style, and is much patronised by foreign residents of Tokyo and Yokohama. Another hotel, situated quite near it, is Nara-ya, but Fuji-ya received the larger patronage by reason of its superior accommodation, cuisine, and service. (Journeys Among the Gentle Japs in the Summer of 1895 with a Special Chapter on the Religions of Japan, by Rev. J. LL. Thomas, London, Sampson Low, Marston & Co, 1897, 266 pp, at page 73)

Fujiya Hotel Listing on this Web Site:

• Collotype Reproduced Photographs, 1892, K. Ogawa, The Hakone District, Illustrated by K. Ogawa, Photographer, in Collotype With Descriptive Text by James Murdoch, M.A., Plates II and III of this important photographic record of the Hakone district show pictures of "Naray's Hotel, Miyanoshita." The view in plate III has the characteristics of the main building of the Fujiya Hotel. If this is the case, this image could be one of the earliest images of the hotel (completed in 1891) that was mass produced via a photomechanical process.
• Albumen Photograph, c1897, Large (8 x 10 in) Tourist Trade Photograph "E6 View of Miyanoshita, Hakone" (showing Fujiya Hotel)
• Albumen Photograph, c1897, Large (8 x 10 in) Tourist Trade Photograph "E7 Fujiya Miyanoshita"
• Albumen Photograph, c1897, Large (8 x 10 in) Tourist Trade Photograph "E8 Fujiya Miyanoshita"
• Albumen Photograph, c1897, Large (8 x 10 in) Tourist Trade Photograph "564 Fujiya Hotel Hakone" by Reiji Esaki
• Albumen Photograph, c1897, Large (8 x 10 in) Tourist Trade Photograph "969 Fujiya Hotel at Miyanoshita"
• Guide Book, 1897, Notes For Tourists to Miyanoshita and the Immediate Vicinity With Complete Time Tables of Railway in Japan, Fujiya Hotel, Hakone, Japan, 1897 (Available, click here).
• Picture Post Card, c1900, Hand Tinted (color added) Collotype Picture Post Card "Fujiya Hotel, Miyanoshita Hakone"
• Guide Book, 1903, Notes For Tourists to Miyanoshita and the Immediate Vicinity, Fujiya Hotel, Miyanoshita, 1903 (Available, click here).
• Color Collotype Print, c1906, found in Sights & Scenes in Fair Japan by K. Ogawa, titled "Miyanoshita, a Favorite Hot Spring Resort, in Hakone Mountains." (Available, click here).
• Railway Time Table, 1913, Railway Time Table, Revised 21st May, 1913, Fijiya Hotel, Miyanoshita, Kanaya Hotel, Nikko and Lake Side Hotel, Nine Miles from Nikko
• Picture Post Card, c1915, Hand Tinted (color added) Collotype Picture Post Card, "Fujiya Hotel Natural Hot Spring Miyanoshita, Japan"
• Guide Book, c1920, Fujiya Hotel, Miyanoshita, Japan, Type I (Guide Book) (Available, click here).
• Guide Book, c1920, Fujiya Hotel, Type II (Guide Book) (Available, click here).
• Photograph, c1920, Fujiya Hotel Photograph.
• Commemorative Booklet, 1936, Commemorating Completion of The Flower Palace, Fujiya Hotel, 1936 (Available, click here).
• Set of Small Commercial Photographs, c1940, small hand tinted bromide photograph set (16 photos) of the hotel (Available, click here).
• Picture Post Card, c1949, Real Picture Post Card.
• Set of Small Commercial Photographs, c1950, ten different photographs (Available, click here).
• Hotel Brochure & Room Rate Chart, c1955.
• Hotel Handout, c1965, Hotel Flyer (Japanese Language)

• We Japanese, books, 1934 forward (numerous printings), eventually expand to a three volume set (1949). Latest printing confirmed thus far is 1964.

For a current satellite view of the Fujiya Hotel, you can visit this WikiMapia: Japan web page.