Japanese Maps : Fujimi jūsanshū yochi zenzu

Japanese Maps

<p style='text-align: justify;'> Map of the area around Mount Fuji, in Japanese, by Akiyama Nagatoshi. The title is reported on the map and on a mounted cover label. The preface and postface date it to Tenpō 13 (1842). The map represents the thirteen provinces from which Mount Fuji was visible (Hitachi, Shimōsa, Kazusa, Awa, Shimotsuke, Musashi, Sagami, Izu, Kōzuke, Kai, Suruga, Shinano, Tōtōmi), covering roughly the whole Kantō region. By the end of the Tokugawa period (1603-1868), Mount Fuji, a long-revered religious site, had evolved into a cultural icon, at the centre of a thriving travel industry. Fuji confraternities (fujikō), based in Edo, organized frequent pilgrimages to the mountain, and its Sengen Shrine was home to an annual fire festival (hi matsuri) that attracted many visitors. The mountain was therefore a common object of representation, both in art and cartography. </p><p style='text-align: justify;'> This specific map (which was fairly popular and was reprinted up to the end of the Tokugawa period) worked at the same time as a route map, a regional map, a provincial map (and even as a city map for the city of Edo, which appears, highlighted in red and stylized, in the lower right section). Mt. Fuji, unusually represented from above, provides a theme for it. The map is very detailed, showing the borders and names of provinces and districts, castle cities and villages, highways, checkpoints and post stations, lakes, rivers and mountains, temples and shrines and other tourist spots such as hot springs, historical sites and so-called "meisho" (famous places). It includes a legend, illustrating the symbols used for notable spots, followed by explanatory notes, signed by the author.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'> The map is oriented with north to the top, wood cut (made with several maps, produced with different printing blocks, joined together in one larger map), with printed colours, and relief shown pictorially. It folds into original covers, with a mounted cover title. Cover description: cream colour burnished paper and flexible cover board; on the front, mounted cover title, in Japanese, text dark blue ink on white label (with Library's call no.: Japanese 29); on the back, mounted bookplate of Biblioteca Lindesiana (at the base of the bookplate in pencil is the notation: "17/D"). </p>


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