1843 Tienpo 14 Edo Period Map of Mt. Fuji, Tokyo, and Vicinity
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Description: Mt. Fuji and Thirteen Surrounding States. Description: This extraordinary item is a hand colored Edo Period woodcut map of Edo or Tokyo, Mt. Fuji, and the vicinity, Japan. Staggering size and detail. Covers the 13 states surrounding Mt. Fuji. Dated Tienpo 14 of Edo Period or 1843. Produced in the mid 19th century Japanese woodcut style, this map is a rare combination of practical and decorative. Beautifully rendered in woodcut with hand coloring - no specific directional orientation. All text is in Japanese and seems to be oriented to the center of the map. A fine example from the golden period of Japanese cartography and an extraordinarily rare piece. A must for any serious collection of Japanese cartography.
Date: 1843
References: None Found.
Cartographer: Japanese cartography appears as early as the 1600s. Japanese maps are known for their exceptional beauty and high quality of workmanship. Early Japanese cartography has its own very distinctive projection and layout system. Japanese maps made prior to the appearance of Commodore Perry and the opening of Japan in the mid to late 1850s often have no firm directional orientation, incorporate views into the map proper, and tend to be hand colored woodblock prints. This era, from the 1600s to the c. 1855, which roughly coincides with the Tokugawa or Edo Period (1603-1886), some consider the Golden Age of Japanese Cartography. Most maps from this period, which followed isolationist ideology, predictably focus on Japan. The greatest cartographer of the period, whose work redefined all subsequent cartography, was Ino Tadataka (1745 -1818). Ino's maps of Japan were so detailed that, when the European cartographers arrived they had no need, even with their far more sophisticated survey equipment, to remap the region. Later Japanese maps, produced in the late Edo and throughout the Meiji period, draw heavily upon western maps as models in both their content and overall cartographic style. While many of these later maps maintain elements of traditional Japanese cartography such as the use of rice paper, woodblock printing, and delicate hand color, they also incorporate western directional orientation, projection systems, and structural norms. Click here for a list of Japanese maps.
Size: Printed area measures 61 x 62 inches (154.94 x 157.48 centimeters)
Condition: Very good condition. Folds into original covers. Minor wormholes here an there – mostly on corners – see image. Red watercolor stain on right hand side of map. Good margins. Blank on verso.
Code: Fuji-edo-1843 (Necessary for phone inquiries: 646-320-8650)
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