The Reception of Maps of Japan by Sekisui Nagakubo(1717-1801) in Europe

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  • ヨーロッパにおける長久保赤水の日本図の受容過程
  • ヨーロッパ ニ オケル ナガクボ アカミズ ノ ニホンズ ノ ジュヨウ カテイ

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Abstract

<p>Because of Japan's exclusionary policies, Western maps of Japan depended on Japanese native maps from the end of the 17th century. They were reproduced repeatedly using Japanese vernacular maps for reference. However, Western exploratory navigations around the Japanese islands and the appearance of Sekisui Nagakubo's detailed native maps of Japan in 1779 brought this practice to an end. Modifying Nagakubo's map with hydrographic data, the Russian navigator, Adam Johann von Krusenstern (1717-1801) compiled a chart entitled Carte de l'Empire du Japon. He incorporated thousands of place names originally transcribed by the Dutch diplomat Isaac Titsingh (1745-1812) into his chart. Titsingh had resided intermittently in Japan from 1779 to 1784 and romanized place names in Nagakubo's map written in kanji and kana. Subsequently this chart played a leading role in the Western mapping of Japan during the mid-19th century; it was adopted as the main source of the Admiralty chart of Japan printed in 1855.</p>

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