An omatsuri is a Japanese street festival. The one documented in this image likely took place in Edo (Tokyo) in 1862 when John Thomas Gulick (1832-1923) was visiting with Pruyn. It is among the first photographs ever taken of the city of Tokyo, and one of the only extant photographs made by Gulick. In January of 1863, Robert Hewson Pruyn sent a letter and a package containing photographs home to his wife Jane Ann Lansing Pruyn. This January letter is the only mention of Gulick in the more than 500 letters Pruyn sent to his family in Albany. "The smaller views were taken by a poor young man son of a Missionary in the Sandwich Islands Mr. Gulick I had the pleasure of getting the Ringleader (a commercial trade boat) to bring him here for half price + Mrs. Alden collected the money at San Francisco. I say this in order that if anyone wishes any of them they may send for them. He charges 12/ for them not mounted."