[HOKKAIDO MANUSCRIPT MAP].

蝦夷圖. [Ezozu].
[Map of Ezo]

[Japan]. Late Edo? Stock ID #218440

Very attractive folding colour manuscript map of Ezo/Hokkaido, 82.3 x 165cm, folds into card covers with a title label on upper cover. Map a little time toned, card covers trifle insect damaged and marked. A very good copy of interesting and attractive map.

This large sized hand drawn map of Ezo [Hokkaido] and surrounding regions covers the area from the northern end of Honshu to Karafuto [Sakhalin], and the far northeastern Asian mainland. Beyond the Japanese territory, the map shows Russia (including Kamchatka), China and Korea, and the mouth of the Amur River. The map also covers the southern Kuril Islands of Etorofu [Iturup] and Kunashiri [Kunashir], as well as other islands around Hokkaido.

Several pieces of internal evidence suggest that this map may relate to the late 18th century growth of Japanese coastal trade around Ezo and as far as the southernmost ports of Karafuto. The distances of various sea routes from the ports of northern Honshu to landing points around the coast of Ezo and as far as southern Karafuto are marked in red, but it is significant that the person who produced the map was quite unfamiliar with the areas of Ezo north of the Oshima Peninsula in the far south of the island, and with all of Karafuto other than the villages on the southernmost coast. The shape of Ezo as drawn on the map is extremely forshortened, and the only part of Karafuto shown with even approximate acuracy is the shoreline of Aniwa Bay in the far south. Interestingly, the map's author has heard the names of some more northerly villages in Karafuto, such as Taraika, which he has added to the map, but he has guessed the shape of the island north of Aniwa Bay, making it much shorter and smaller than it is in reality.

There are indications that the map was drawn (or is a copy of a work drawn) before the end of the 18th century. For example, it does not include the name of the port of Hakodate in southern Ezo, which had become a significant trading and administrative post by the first decade of the 19th century, nor does it include Shiranushi, the prinicipal Japanese trading post in southern Karafuto, established by Matsumae Domain in 1790. It does, however, include a fairly detailed outline of the Kuril Island of Iturup (Etorofu), with a note that 'in recent years Ezo [Ainu] and Russians have been trading here'. Russians are known to have visited Iturup to trade and exact 'tribute' [yasak] from the local Ainu population from about the 1760s-1770s onward. The map provides a fascinating illustration of gradually increasing knowledge of the northern regions and northeastern Asian mainland in Edo Period Japan.

When referring to this item please quote stockid 218440.

Price: $1,250.00 AU

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