Stillfried and Takebayashi travelled to Hokkaido in 1872. Takebayashi was Stillfried's assistant and learned photography from him. After Stillfried left Hokkaido, Takebayashi remained, taking photographs of the Ainu people. It is unknown which photographs are Stillfried's and which are Takebayashi's as none of them are labelled. Another name, Sohutomarko is thought to be a publisher but little else is known of them.