Japanese Maps : [Jūsen] Nihon yochi zenzu

Japanese Maps

<p style='text-align: justify;'> Map of Japan, in Japanese. The colophon dates it to Tenmei 3 (1783), and reports the name of the engraver, Kishimoto Hikōemon, and the name of the publisher, Asano Yahē (Seibundō was the name of the associated shop). The title is in a mounted cover label, and in this copy the two initial characters are missing. The map is a wood block print, hand-coloured, a single sheet folded into original titled covers. In the top left side, a preface by Kunihiko (Shibano Ritsuzan, 1736-1787), dated Tenmei 3 (1893), reports that the map is by Sekisui (the Confucian scholar Nagakubo Sekisui, 1717-1801). </p><p style='text-align: justify;'> The map covers the area from Matsumae to Tanegashima, Yakushima, Kuchinoerabu, Kikaigashima, Tsushima, and includes Hachijō-jima and Ogasawara. It is oriented with North to the top. It shows longitude and latitude, but only reports numerical information about latitude (which goes from 42 degrees North to 30 degrees North). It includes indications about distances of sea routes and the Kuroshio Current, and information about the smaller islands included in the map. This map is a compact version of Japanese 121 and Japanese 123. Cover description: pale yellow burnished paper and flexible cover board; in the front, mounted cover title (partly missing), in Japanese, text black on white labels (one with Library's call no.: Japanese 120), and annotated number "6" in black ink; in the back, mounted bookplate of Biblioteca Lindesiana (at the base of the bookplate in pencil is the notation: "15/F"). </p>