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The National Maps of Japan Compiled by the Tokugawa Shogunate

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The National Maps of Japan Compiled by the Tokugawa Shogunate Japanese Journal of Human Geography (Jimbun Chiri) Vol. 68 No. 1 (2016) 79–93 The National Maps of Japan Compiled by the Tokugawa Shogunate KAWAMURA Hirotada* (Received on 2 November, 2015; Accepted on 6 April, 2016) I Introduction Detailed notification for map-making II Correcting a Misconception of the So- standards called “Keichō Map of Japan” Suffering as a result of the big fire and Two types of national maps of Japan in the reproduction of the national map early stage of Edo IV The Genroku Map Compiled Through the Diary of the Edo-caretaker of the Hagi clan Strict Joining of the Borders Consistency of Type B and provincial maps Notification on the emphasis of border of 1638 mentioning The inspector national dispatch in 1633 and Strict checking of boundaries by officials the collection of provincial maps Requesting a coastline chart Compilation based on the secondary V The Kyōhō Map According to the Mountain reduced small provincial maps Direction Survey III The Shōhō Map of Japan: Reproduced Special attention given to the production of After the Suffering of the Big Fire this map Inoue commanded the following map Change in measurement method through a making project again change of a technical person Appointing a cartographer responsible for Existence of the original survey drawing each province VI Conclusion Abstract In recent years, research on the provincial map and national map of Japan was promoted, and the need emerged to correct the erroneous conventional view. By the way, introduction to overseas on the map proj- ects of Edo shogunate was extremely small up to now. Therefore this report is intended to introduce a sum- mary of the map projects of the shogunate government to the foreign country based on resent new results of research. Above all, a study would like to report an outcome of new research about the national map of Japan in Edo early stage when a condition of insufficiency was mistaken up to now. Next, while national map of Japan in shogunate was edited basically by joining of provincial maps in the whole country, I would like to make clear the difference in the manners of the joining in each time, and introduce the technical development process of the edit of national map of Japan. Key words: so-called Keichō map of Japan, provincial map, Revolt of Shimabara, administrative inspector, method of direction surveying * Former professor of Yamaguchi University E-mail: [email protected] 80 Japanese Journal of Human Geography (Jimbun Chiri) Vol. 68 No. 1 (2016) I Introduction It was a political tradition in Japan for the central government to prepare a complete map and cadastre of the country. The Tokugawa shogunate adhered to this tradition. The government ordered the major Daimyōs (feu- dal lords) of each kuni (province) personally to produce their own kuni-ezu (provincial maps), to be hand drawn in color and presented to the shogunate. From these provincial maps the government compiled a Nihon-sōzu (日本総図, national map of Japan), which traditionally comprised all 68 provinces. Each shogunate national map was huge, hand-drawn, and color-coded by province. For a considerable time, until now, the national map of Japan created by the Tokugawa shogunate government was considered erroneous a total of four times, (during the Keichō, Shōhō, Genroku, and Kyōhō eras) in all1). This is because it was generally known that the Edo sho- gunate government collected provincial maps from each province during all these eras, except the Kyōhō era. During that period, the national map of Japan was edited using the previous Genroku provincial map. Addition- ally, the shogunate finally collected provincial maps from the provinces during the Tenpō era; however, the map of Japan was not revised at that time, as Inō’s map already existed. According to the author’s research, six large projects were undertaken to compile official national maps of Japan. Any of these can be considered as having been completed during the 260-year Edo period, except for the final map by Inō, for which the date of completion are, in around Kan’ei 13 (ca.1636), Kan’ei 15 (1638), Shōhō the first (ca.1651), Shōhō the second (1669), Genroku (1702), and Kyōhō (1725). As for the “Dainipon-enkai- yochi-zenzu” (大日本沿海輿地全図, map of the coastlines of Great Japan), made by Ino Tadataka (伊能忠敬) was the first time shapes of the Japanese islands were drawn definitely through surveying, and that the map was not compiled from provincial maps. Moreover, the production of this map was a personal effort rather than the work of the government. For this reason, Ino’s map is not discussed further in this study. II Correcting a Misconception of the So-called “Keichō Map of Japan” Two types of national maps of Japan in the early stage of Edo Two types of old large manuscript maps of Japan exist today that are likely to have been compiled by the shogunate during the early Edo period: 1) the national map so-called “Keichō Nihon sō-zu” (慶長日本総図, Keichō map of Japan)2), that is kept at the National Diet Library, which has been well known since early times and is thought to be based on the Keichō provincial map; and 2) the national map of Japan, which is part of the Hasuike collection at the Saga Prefectural Library (referred to as the “Saga” map), comprising three parts, which has simply been described without serious deliberation, as having a similar history to the Keichō map of Japan3). The two are considerably similar, however the Saga map, the three parts of which together measuring 622 by 674 centimeters, is much larger (Figure 1A, 1B). It appears that the Saga map is older than the Keichō 1) T. Akioka introduced for map of Japan the shogunate made to be four times in his book (1971). Later, K. Unno showed a thought five times in the appended chart included in the book by J. B. Harley and D. Woodward (1994). 2) This map was shown in fig. 14 of the book by Unno, Oda, and Muroga (1972). Unno included this map also in J. B. Haley and D. Woodward (1994), and explained it briefly. The National Maps of Japan Compiled by the Tokugawa Shogunate (KAWAMURA) 81 Figure 1. Two types of national map of Japan in Edo early days. Above is the Saga Prefectural Library possession (Type A), Size of the original: 182×135cm (eastern part), 279×384cm (central part), 321×290cm (western part). Bottom is the National Diet Library possession (Type B) Size of the entire original 370×434cm. The top and bottom of the rectangular blank part of Type B, originally would have shown rice production amount of for each province, but this being a copy, the description is omitted. 82 Japanese Journal of Human Geography (Jimbun Chiri) Vol. 68 No. 1 (2016) map, which can be confirmed by comparing the arrangement of the figures and contents, found in the two maps, along with the locations of their castle towns. I assume both as reference points; I label the version at the Saga Prefectural Library “Type A”, and the one at the National Diet Library “Type B”. Diary of the Edo-caretaker of the Hagi clan Although no documentary evidence exists on the production of Type A, documented evidence dates the production of Type B to the 15th year of the Kan’ei era (1638). After I questioned the year of production of the “Keichō map of Japan”, I kept investigating a related record in a document from the early Edo days, and was finally able to find a relevant historical record in the Yamaguchi Prefectural Archive. The following descriptions are found in the diary of Fukuma Hikoemon4), the Edo-caretaker of the Hagi feudal clan. He was summoned by the chief government inspector named Inoue Masashige on May 16, in the 15th year of Kan’ei (1638), and was ordered to submit the provincial maps of Suō and Nagato to revise the national map of Japan. This project was undertaken as the provincial maps submitted by the former inspector for the Chūgoku districts (the western- most part of the main island, Honshū) were rather imprecise. The preparation style of the map will be discussed later. The submission of provincial maps is currently limited to the Chūgoku district. According to Fukuma’s diary, the newly made provincial maps of Suō and Nagato were sent from Hagi to Edo on October 14, 1638, approximately five months after the order, and were submitted to Inoue on October 20. The descriptions found in the diary reveal that the shogunate revised the map of Japan in 1638. Concerning the description of the above-mentioned historical records, I located two large beautiful duplicates of the provincial maps of Bizen and Bichū (parts of Chūgoku, now in Okayama Prefecture), which had been submitted to the sho- gunate by the lord of Okayama in 1638, and at a later date, I confirmed that all of the small reproduced copies of the Chūgoku district in 1638, which consists of 14 pieces, are held at the Usuki City Library in Ōita Prefecture. Much later, I was also able to confirm the large duplicate of the provincial map of the Suō and Nagato (now in Yamaguchi Prefecture), which had been submitted to the shogunate in 1638, as is recorded in Fukuma’s diary (Kawamuura, 2015)5). Consistency of Type B and provincial maps of 1638 A comparison between the provincial maps of the Chūgoku district and Type B, shows that the representa- tions of each province have much in common. There is a significant correlation between the two in the shape of the area and content of descriptions, thus confirming that the Chūgoku area in Type B was edited based on the provincial maps of 1638.
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