REKIHAKU

No.134 A Witness to History

Geographical information in Ryusen's maps of Japan

Figure 1: Map of the Seas, Mountains, Lakes and Lands of Japan. Published in 1691.
96.2 cm x 172.2 cm (Museum collection)

The maps referred to in Japanese as the Ryusen Nihon Zu are maps of Japan made by ukiyo-e artist Ishikawa Ryusen. They refer to two particular maps by Ryusen: the Honcho Zukan Komoku (Outline Map of Japan) originally published in 1687, and the Nihon Kaisan Choriku Zu (Map of the Seas, Mountains, Lakes and Lands of Japan), which was first published in 1691. Both of these maps were reprinted numerous times, with the latter published nearly 30 times in the following 100 years up until the end of the 18th century. It was, therefore, a map that became widely distributed among Japanese society during the middle part of the Early Modern period.

Closer inspection of this map reveals that the coastlines of the islands of Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu have certainly been drawn with their distinctive indentations. However, viewed against the geographical knowledge of the day, the form used by Ryusen was not necessarily accurate. This is evident when a comparison is made between Ryusen's map and the map shown in Figure 2 that had been published earlier. However, maps are not solely an attempt at accurate depictions. Another important role of maps is to provide various kinds of geographical information about the world in which we live. Viewed from this perspective, the maps of Ryusen contain a host of geographical information that far exceeds that of any other previously published maps of Japan. This, along with the illustrations and the beautiful colors adopted by the ukiyo-e artist, was one reason why his maps were widely accepted among Japanese society.

	Figure 3: Legends (From the 1691 Map of the Seas, Mountains, Lakes and Lands of Japan)
Figure 2: 1661 map of Japan. Published in 1661. 36.0 cm x 35.0 cm (Museum collection)	Figure 4: Kochi depicted with a large castle (From the 1691 Map of the Seas, Mountains, Lakes and Lands of Japan)

So what kind of geographical information is contained in this map by Ryusen? The legends included in the map (Figure 3) show that by using one large square, one small square and one circle Ryusen made a distinction between large castles, small castles and so-called " yashiki" castles, which were small and built in the style of a mansion. The map also tells us the names of the feudal lords of each castle and the incomes in koku of rice of each fief. The large squares depicting large castles (Figure 4) even include drawings of buildings and natural features within the castle compounds. Viewed from this perspective, one distinctive feature of this map is that its information is similar to that found in written directories of the Edo period that contained information on feudal lords.

However, the Edo Shogunate had a system whereby feudal lords were frequently transferred from one province to another. In his maps of Japan, Ryusen tried to keep pace with these changes and include the most recent information. For example, in the map published in 1694 (Figure 5) it gives Toda Yamashiro as the feudal lord of Sakura of Shimousa province and puts the annual income of the Sakura fief at 65,000 koku of rice. But in the 1701 edition (Figure 6), the feudal lord is Inaba Tango, and the fief's income is 103,000 koku of rice. This indicates that the results of the transfers implemented in June 1701 were included in this map. Again, if we look at Ako in Harima province we see that in the 1701 edition (Figure 7), the fief had an income in excess of 50,000 koku and that Asano Takumi was the feudal lord. But in the edition published two years later in 1703 (Figure 8), the fief's income is 33,000 koku and it was controlled by Nagai Iga. It goes without saying that this reflects the incident that took place at Edo Castle in 1701 which led to Lord Asano relinquishing his position and the well-known story of the 47 Ronin. One reason for the republishing of Ryusen's maps once every few years was to take account of these frequent changes in appointments of feudal lords.

Figure 5: Sakura on the 1694 Map of the Seas, Mountains, Lakes and Lands of Japan	Figure 6: Sakura on the 1701 Map of the Seas, Mountains, Lakes and Lands of Japan	Figure 7: Ako on the 1701 Map of the Seas, Mountains, Lakes and Lands of Japan	Figure 8: Ako in the Map of the Seas, Mountains, Lakes and Lands of Japan published in 1703

Ryusen's map also contains detailed information related to transportation. Shipping routes are drawn on the sea linking one port with another, with distances also included. Even though no shipping routes were drawn on the Pacific Ocean side of the Tohoku region, a certain amount of detail is provided about Japan's maritime transportation. There is, however, even more detailed information on land transportation routes. For example, the distances between stations on the Tokaido and the cost of travel by horse are given. The distances between stations are also given for other routes, including those on Nakasendo, Hokurikudo and Kisoji. This may well reflect the amount of interest in land transport at that time. It is interesting to note, however, that the Ooi River, over which bridges were prohibited during the Edo period, as was crossing by boat, is drawn much larger than any other river in Japan (Figure 9).
The map also contains abundant details on famous sites of historical significance all over the country, though there are far too many to list them here. To give a few examples, sites such as Mt Tsukuba (Figure 10), Mt Koya (Figure 11) and Itsukushima Shrine (Figure 12) include pictures, thus arousing the interest of map readers. The listing of the names of the counties in each province and Ichinomiya shrines in a large table at the bottom center of the map, and continued at the bottom right corner, is no doubt related to the naming of such sites.

Figure 9: Ooi River (From the Map of the Seas, Mountains, Lakes and Lands of Japan published in 1691)	Figure 10: Mt Tsukuba (From the Map of the Seas, Mountains, Lakes and Lands of Japan published in 1691)	Figure 11: Mt Koya (From the Map of the Seas, Mountains, Lakes and Lands of Japan published in 1691)	Figure 12: Itsukushima Shrine (From the Map of the Seas, Mountains, Lakes and Lands of Japan published in 1691)

Neither is this sort of geographical information confined to Japan. A table at the top left of the map (Figure 13) lists the names of the various cities and regions between China and Southeast Asia. It also lists distances in nautical miles from Nagasaki to as far afield as Holland.

Korea is drawn at the top left of the map and there is also the name of the Sea of Busan. The Ryukyu Islands are also pictured at the bottom left of the map and distances to both places are also given. Floating on the sea there is a drawing of a Chinese ship with a banner inscribed with the Chinese characters "Daimin" (Figure 14). The names "Raretsukoku" (this should be written as "Rasetsukoku" but Ryusen uses "Raretsukoku on his map) and "Kanto" (similarly, this should be "Ganto") are written to the south and north of Japan, denoting imaginary lands that became part of the spiritual beliefs of the Japanese during the Medieval period. The inclusion of these lands suggests an imagination that stretched far beyond the seas.

Figure 13: Shipping routes to and Shintan (China) and Tenjiku (India and beyond) (From the Map of the Seas, Mountains, Lakes and Lands of Japan published in 1691)	gure 14: Chinese ship (From the Map of the Seas, Mountains, Lakes and Lands of Japan published in 1691)

Hiro'o Aoyama
(Historical geography, Research Department)