Japanese Maps : Tōto Komagome hen ezu

Tomatsu, Masanori, active 19th century 戸松, 昌訓

Japanese Maps

<p style='text-align: justify;'> Wood-block printed, commercial map of Komagome, 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. The title appears as "Komagome ezu" (駒込絵図 Map of Komagome), 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 is part of the series Ōedo kirizu (大江戸切図 Sectional map of Great Edo), more commonly known as Ōedo kiriezu (大江戸切絵図, Sectional pictorial map of Great Edo), published in Tōto ("Eastern capital", i.e. Edo). A colophon in the lower right section reports the date of publication Kaei 7 (1854), the date of revision Ansei 4 (1857), and the name of the publisher, Owariya Seishichi. Kornicki (1993) attributes the map to Tomatsu Masanori. A legend near the title 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><p style='text-align: justify;'>The map is printed in five colours 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><p style='text-align: justify;'> 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’yū 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>