[Separate Maps of Japan]

1666. 16 hand-tinted woodblock-printed double-page maps. 68 folding leaves. 8vo (193 x 140 mm.), orig. blue semi-stiff wrappers (upper wrapper quite rubbed & wrinkled), modern stitching. From final leaf: [Kyoto]: Nakano Kozaemon 中野小左衛門, 1666.




First edition of the first atlas of Japan printed in Japan; this is an extremely rare book. It consists of 16 hand-tinted provincial maps, covering Aomori to Kyūshū and Tsushima. The maps show the extents of the main roads and sea routes. Roadways, towns, castles, rivers, and hot springs are depicted and labelled. The text describes the routes shown on the maps and includes such information (truncated) as rice production statistics and distances between various points by land and sea. Our atlas was based on the Keichō manuscript map, completed about 1639, but ours subdivides Japan into provinces while keeping the same scale to preserve the accuracy of the original.


As mentioned above, this is a rare book: WorldCat locates only five copies (Kyoto University, LC, American University, Berkeley, and University of British Columbia).


A very good copy, preserved in a chitsu. First few leaves a little thumbed at foot and a few minor stains. We have been looking for a copy of this book for many years.


❧ Kazutaka Unno, “Cartography in Japan,” pp. 411-12, in The History of Cartography (University of Chicago Press: 1994), Vol. 2, Book 2. (Inventory #: 10214)