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Uchida Kuichi (Japanese, 1844–1875) was born in Nagasaki, Japan. He is widely regarded as the most renowned Japanese photographer of the 19th century and, notably, was the only photographer permitted to take portraits of Emperor and Empress Meiji. After his father's death in 1863, Uchida was abopted by a physician who was studying photography with J. L. C. Pompe van Meerdervoort, a Dutch physician and chemist. While in his early teens, Uchida studied photography with Ueno Hikoma in Nagasaki, eventually opening the photography first studio in Osaka in 1865. He would subsequently establish studios in Yokohama and Tokyo, eventually receiving a reputation as the best portrait photographer in Japan. In the early 1870s, he became the first photographer commissioned to photograph Emperor Meiji, who was considered a living deity. Their first portrait session took place in 1872, when Uchida depicted the Emperor and Empress Haruko in full court dress and every day garments. In 1873, Uchida photographed the Emperor in his military attire, which eventually became the official Imperial portrait. Uchida's success was shortlived, after he died at the age of 32 of tuberculosis, in 1875.