colored glasses
During the Yuan Dynasty (1615-1624), Japan was able to produce generally colorless glass. Adding colored glass to the lens becomes "colored glasses", that is, "colored glasses". This kind of thing also appeared in the edo period and is currently displayed in the "Glasses Museum" in Shibuya, Tokyo.
as for the newspaper, the news in the ruling and opposition parties on November 17, Meiji 7 wrote: "Some people say that glasses are good for presbyopia. In recent years, even young people have begun to wear colored glasses, which can avoid eye fatigue, is good for eyes, and can prevent dust, which is not necessarily a bad thing. It can be seen that the name at that time was "colored glasses" and it has become popular now. In other words, it is generally recognized that it should be equivalent to the current sunglasses. It is not difficult to imagine that the accuracy of the lens was not high at that time, which made people wonder whether it was really "good for the eyes".
Green glasses
Although they are colored glasses, what color are they? In Clara Whitney's Meiji Diary of Clara, the daughter-in-law of Sheng Haizhou, the Era Festival 5 and Meiji 9 on February 11th were described. There is a "man with big green glasses" among the dignitaries visiting the palace. In other words, at this time, the Japanese can already buy colored glasses somewhere.
This record is quite early, but the people on the boat in the illustration bought it earlier, so it can be speculated that westerners who came to Yokohama in the end of the curtain period (probably) used it to prevent ultraviolet rays on long-distance voyages, and later it also entered the market.
Clear your glasses
According to the November 1st of Tokyo Pictured News, in the 14th year of Meiji, "someone in Sakuya, a second-class wine merchant in Chiba Matsumachi, lent money to the ninth generation Toshiro Ishikawa. He went to Tuansi Lang's house several times to collect debts, but every time his family said that he was not here and could not see him. He thought Junichiro would go to his hometown Haruki to perform, so he ambushed near Imakawa Bridge in Kanda on the way, and a familiar rickshaw drove up.
The passenger "looks like a catfish in a suit, top hat and blue glasses". There is no doubt that this man is Junichiro ... Liu Wu thought so, so he stepped forward and stopped the car. He thought, "Today is finally here. You are all in the car. You can't say that you are gone. That depends on how you do it. " He looked carefully and found that the man wearing blue glasses was actually a spokesman (that is, a lawyer) entrusted to handle the group chores. Because senior officials at that time often had catfish-like beards, they were called "Duke of Catfish". It is speculated that some politicians wear blue glasses.
The image of colored glasses
According to the Tokyo Pictorial, on January 2th, 21, a man wearing "blue glasses" claimed to be a detective (criminal) of Gu Si Police Department, but he was actually a fake. It can be guessed that people called detectives in the police at that time often wore colored glasses. At the beginning of this chapter, the man who took the boat and wore colored glasses was the civil servant who was responsible for banning crimes before the establishment of the police department in Japan.
In addition, the man with colored glasses (pictured left) who appeared in the novel "Village Zhengkan Times" in Metropolitan News on July 27th, Meiji 32, was also a "detective" in the police. The same novel even describes a policeman wearing colored glasses on October 15th. (Right) In the illustration I have seen so far, colored glasses are not mentioned in the article, but the painter Matsumoto probably washed his ears according to the characters and made them wear colored glasses.
colored glasses can also scare opponents, which comes from the fact that even the weak can feel powerful characteristics. On October 2, 24, Meiji Tokyo Asahi Shimbun reported the robbery in Sanlun Village, Tokyo. The content is as follows:
They are wearing a gray hat and a black hat respectively, and both of them are wearing blue glasses and covering their faces with handkerchiefs. These two men with academic temperament bluffed and said, "We are patriots, and we need 2 yuan for political action recently.
I heard that your family is rich, so I came to borrow it from you. Although this is sudden, please take out your money at once and we will take action according to your reaction. But the host reacted calmly, so that the robber's momentum was suppressed, and he left his clogs and fled without looking back. This is an example where blue glasses don't work. What if it's black glasses?