Japanese Maps : Shinzō saiken Kyō ezu daizen

Japanese Maps

<p style='text-align: justify;'> Map of Kyoto, in Japanese. The title is reported (hand-written) in a mounted cover label, with the subtitles "Tenpō kaisei" (Revised in the Tenpō era) and "kan" (complete). The colophon reports the names (and seals) of the author Ikeda Tōritei (also knowns as Ikeda Tōri) and of the artist Nakamura Yūrakusai (also know with his major "studio name", Nakamura Nagahide), as well as the place of publication (Kyoto) and the name of the publisher (Takehara Yoshibē), but no publication date. The subtitle suggests that it was published from revised blocks during the Tenpō era (1830-1844). </p><p style='text-align: justify;'> The map covers all of Kyoto (the area known as Rakuchū), as well as some of its surrounding hills (the area known as Rakugai), with relief shown pictorially, in a fashion that became typical for Kyoto maps in the second half of the 17th century, as the city and its outskirts, with their temples and shrines, historical sites, and other famous places, became popular travel destinations. The map has a legend, in the lower central, and is oriented with north to the left (if the colophon is used as reference). It is a wood block print, in colour, a single sheet folded into original titled covers, with annotations. Cover description: decorated ivory coloured paper and flexible cover board; in the front, mounted cover title in Japanese with red text on white label, and white label with black text (with the Library's call no.: Japanese 96); in the back, mounted bookplate of Biblioteca Lindesiana (at the base of the bookplate in pencil is the notation: "16/B"). </p>