Sonia Favi<\/p>" }, { "label": "Publication", "value": "Tōto [Edo]: Owariya Seishichi" }, { "label": "Alternative Title(s)", "value": "赤坂全図; Genji saikoku - Imaidani Ichibēchō Akasaka zenzu; 元治再刻・今井谷市兵衛町赤坂全図; Translated title: Complete map of Akasaka" }, { "label": "Physical Location", "value": "The John Rylands Library" }, { "label": "Extent", "value": "Map height: 500 mm, width: 540 mm. Folded height: 165 mm, width: 90 mm." }, { "label": "Classmark", "value": "Japanese 200t" }, { "label": "Subject(s)", "value": "Early maps--Japan; Cartography--Japan--History--Maps; Tokyo (Japan); Kantō Region (Japan)" }, { "label": "Abstract", "value": "
Wood-block printed, commercial map of Akasaka, one of the districts of the city of Edo, in Japanese, one sheet, folded, oriented with east to the top right corner. The title is reported in the upper right section of the map, with the subtitle \"Genji saikoku - Imaidani Ichibēchō\" (元治再刻・今井谷市兵衛町 Re-engraved in the Genji era - [map of] Imaidani, Ichibēchō). The title also appears, with the subtitle \"Kaei shinkoku\" (嘉永新刻 Newly engraved in the Kaei era) on the surviving envelope, which also reports that the map was published in Tōto (\"Eastern capital\", i.e. Edo). A colophon in the lower right reportsthe name of the author, Kageyama Muneyasu, the date of publication of this second edition, Genji 2 (1865), and the name of the publisher, Owariya Seishichi. The map was part of the series Ōedo kiriezu (大江戸切絵図, Sectional pictorial map of Great Edo). A legend in the upper section illustrates the icons (symbols and distinct colours) used on the map for different types of warrior mansions, roads and bridges, tradesmen's houses and shops, temples, shrines and other topographical features.<\/p>
The map is printed in five colours, used to differentiate elements in the city, and, as was common, uses pictorial representation to highlight elements of the cityscape, such as temples and shrines. By the late Edo or Tokugawa period (1603-1868), maps of Edo had become commonplace, and new, sectional (and therefore very detailed) maps of the city became popular. They reflected the growth of the Edo metropolis and how commoners such as wealthy merchants, with their culture and lifestyle, had gained relevance within it. In these sets, the city loses its centre (usually identified with Edo-castle and the warrior district in one-sheet maps) and every part of the city is represented with equal importance. <\/p>
The shogunal vassal Sena Sadao (1716-1796) first drew a set of 8 small-sheet maps, on a scale of 1 : 5000, but they still only covered the central part of Edo. The maps were published from 1755 to 1775 by Kichimonjiya Jirobē. Later, in 1848-1855, another Edo publisher, Omiya Gohē, revised the series and enlarged it to 35 sheets, based on the map-making work of Takashiba San\u2019yū and Murakami Goyū. In 1850, the publisher Owariya Seishichi started releasing his own set, consisting of 31 maps published in the 1850s and 1860s (all present in the Japanese 200 series, with the exception of a map of Hatchōbori), and the series became the most popular one. <\/p>" }, { "label": "Bibliography", "value": "