[YAMAZAKI YOSHIMOTO]. 山崎義故.

大日本輿地便覽. 2巻. [Dai Nihon yochi binran. 2-kan].
[Greater Japan Atlas. 2 Volumes].

津. [Tsu]. 松月堂. [Shogetsudo]. Tenpo 5 [ 1834]. Stock ID #177389

2 volumes. Seventy-six double page colour woodblock maps (41 + 35), 26 x 18 cm, Japanese accordion style binding with decorative embossed paper covers very worn with considerable loss to surface paper on the covers. There is worming to many, but not all, of the pages, occasional light soiling to margins.

This beautiful woodblock atlas, produced in Tsu Domain in southern Honshu, begins with a map of Japan (Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu), which is followed by maps of the individual provinces (kuni) of Japan, and finally a map of the world.

The Japanese maps provide detailed information and some geographical features, showing mountains, roads, rivers, towns and offshore islands. The atlas begins at the central Yamashiro Province, where the capital Kyoto was located, and works outward, ending with Tsushima Province - the large island betweenJapan and Korea. Some larger provinces are given three or four maps. Interestingly, given the date of the map, only the very southernmost shore of Hokkaido appears, in rather sketchy form (shown as part of Mutsu Province), while the Ryukyu Kingdom (Okinawa) appears only as a very small and sketchily drawn island under the heading of Satsuma Province. This map also includes two small islands labelled 'Takeshima' and 'Iojima' (Iwo Jima), neither of which is located anywhere near the islands which have born these names in modern times.

The world map makes clear the effects on geographic knowledge of Japan's long closure to outside influence: California is mapped as an island and Australia appears, as it did on some 17th century European maps, as 'Magallanica' (here spelled 'Megalanika' - a name meaning Magellan's land', after the famous Portuguese explorer) and is joined to New Guinea to the north and to Antarctica at the south: examples of outdated geographical knowledge. New Zealand does not appear on the map.

When referring to this item please quote stockid 177389.

Price: $650.00 AU

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