Japanese Maps : Zōshū kaisei Sesshū Ōsaka chizu

Japanese Maps

<p style='text-align: justify;'> Map of Osaka, in Japanese. The colophon dates it to Bunka 3 (1806). The title is reported both on the map and in a mounted cover label. The preface (signed by Sōshii, 1738-1797) also reports the alternative title "Shinshū Naniwa chizu" (Map of Naniwa [Osaka], new edition) and mentions that the map was based on a previous chart by Sawada Kazunori (active from ca. 1744 to ca. 1764), titled "Naniwa no chizu" (Map of Naniwa [Osaka]). This was revised by Okada Gyokuzan (1737-1808[-1812?]) and Ōoka Naokata, and Akamatsu Kyūbē obtained the official permission for the publication of the resulting map by the end of the Tenmei era (1781-1789) (Japanese 103a, a later revised edition of this map, reports Tenmei 9, 1789, as the year in which the blocks were authorized). </p><p style='text-align: justify;'> The map is in wood block print, with printed colours, a single sheet folded into original titled covers, with relief shown pictorially. It is oriented with north to the left. In the lower left section, it includes two legends (illustrating the symbols used to identify the mansions of the warrior aristocracy, and those used to identify the different areas under the jurisdiction of Osaka castle), two plates with urban renovation works listed in chronological order, and two distance charts. It is one of the largest and most detailed commercial cartographical representations of Osaka from the Tokugawa period. Cover description: dark blue paper (front) and steel blue burnished paper (back), flexible cover board; in the front, mounted cover title in Japanese, text black on white and beige labels, and one with Library's call no.: Japanese 103; in the back, mounted bookplate of Biblioteca Lindesiana (at the base of the bookplate in pencil is the notation: "17/D"). </p>