Author/compiler: Unknown. Imprint: N. p., n.d. [c. Enpō-Jōkyō period, 1673-1688] . No colophon. Date conjectured by analogy with a similar map listed in Kokusho sōmokuroku 国書総目録, with kanki dated Kanbun 12 寛文十二年 (1672), under the title Tōzai kairiku no zu 東西海陸之圖. Description: 2 rolls (kansubon), each contained in a buckram box. Each is composed of 15 sheets pasted end-to-end, measuring 390 mm. (length) x 273 mm. (width). Blockprint. Printing frame (height) 240 mm. (approx.). No borders. Place names printed in kanji and hiragana. No other text. Damaged fragments of paper end-covers (original ?), decorated with mica and vestigial design of grasses, pasted on new backing paper. No title slips, but a handwritten gedai (partly obliterated) on roll 2 may be tentatively read as Saikoku [or Shokoku] kairiku anken ezu 西國 [ = 諸國 ?] 海陸安見繪圖. No naidai. Reconstructed gedai taken as title. Entered in Douglas's 'Catalogue of Japanese printed books and manuscripts in the library of the British Museum' (1898) under title: Dōchiu kairiku yasu-mi yedzu 道中海陸安見繪圖 (roll 1 only). Edition: Possibly the only edition published in this form. In the absence of a confirmed title or kanki, the date of publication cannot be established with any certainty. As the map was acquired by Kaempfer before his departure from Japan, it must pre-date Genroku 5 (1692). Contents: A blockprinted picture map of the route from Edo to Kyōto (roll 1) and from Kyōto via Ōsaka to Nagasaki (roll 2). Names of towns, villages and topographical features are indicated alongside each. Described in Scheuchzer's Introduction to Kaempfer's The History of Japan (p. li) as (1) 'A particular Map of the Road from Nagasaki to Osacca, with the representation of the Rivers, Bridges, Towns, Castles, Temples etc. in a Roll, twenty Feet long, and eleven Inches broad'; (2) 'Another Map of the Road from Osacca to Jedo after the same manner, and of the same length and breadth'.
Saikoku kairiku anken ezu 西國海陸安見繪圖 [西国海陸安見絵図]
This material is held atBritish Library Asia, Pacific and Africa Collections
- Reference
- GB 59 Or.70.bbb.9
- Dates of Creation
- [1673-1688]
- Language of Material
- Japanese
- Physical Description
- 2 scrolls Condition: Good, apart from slight foxing and damaged end-covers. Both rolls re-backed by urauchi. Impression: Sharp and clear, printed from little-worn blocks. Seals of ownership: None. Not even the octagonal MVSEVM BRITANNICVM stamp found in other books of the Kaempfer Collection. Manuscript notes: The majority of place names in the map are transcribed in roman script, written in Kaempfer's small neat hand alongside the names printed in kanji or kana. No manuscript notes elsewhere.
Scope and Content
Access Information
Not Public Record(s)
Unrestricted
Acquisition Information
Purchased from the estate of Engelbert Kaempfer by Sir Hans Sloane 1723-1725 and incorporated in the British Museum in 1753.
Other Finding Aids
Kenneth Gardner, Descriptive Catalogue of Japanese books in the British Library printed before 1700 (London and Tenri, 1993). C. Japanese works 和書 8. Literature - poetry 国文-詩歌 d. Jōruri 浄瑠璃
Bibliography
Tōhoku daigaku fuzoku toshokan betchibon mokuroku 東北大学附属図書館別置本目録, p. 53.