1920 Bird's-Eye View, Railroad Map of Japan

A stunning, large-format Taisho 9 (1920) map of the Japanese Empire, including Taiwan and Korea, issued by the daily Tokyo Asahi Shimbun. It highlights growing rail and maritime networks linking the empire together.

A Closer Look

Oriented towards the northwest, the map uses a bird's-eye view model to illustrate the Japanese home islands as well as imperial claims in Korea, Taiwan, the Ryukyu's, Karafuto (Sakhalin), and Japan's growing sphere of influence in Manchuria. A globe appears at top-center, situating Japan in a global context. Red lines illustrate the empire-wide railroad network, with stops and connections identified throughout. In addition, Shinto shrines, Buddhist temples, fortifications, famous attractions, ancient cultural and religious sites, hot springs, roads, shipping lines, and more are indicated. Compasses with degrees noted in both Arabic and East Asian numerals are included at various points.

Railways, Identity, and Imperialism

This view reflects the maturation of several processes which had begun in the early days following the Meiji Restoration (1868): the formation of national identity built around the imperial family, the modernization of the economy, the emergence of rail as the primary means of medium and long-distance transportation, and Japan's increasingly ambitious claims on neighboring territories. The Taisho period is, in retrospect, somewhat ambiguous in that internationalism, democracy, and pacifism were ascendant in the wake of World War I, but undercurrents of hypernationalism, illiberalism, and emperor worship lie just below the surface, presaging more disturbing developments in the 1930s and 1940s. Even in the era of 'Taisho Democracy,' the government was eager to promote a vague yet powerful sense of 'national essence' (國體), in which the landscape of Japan played an important symbolic role. It is no coincidence, then, that this view spans the entire empire, emphasizing its cohesion and interconnectedness.

Publication History and Census

This map was published by the Tokyo Asahi Shimbun as a supplement to the November 3, 1920 issue. It is based on a military map which was edited by Kenji Ogura (小倉儉司), a military engineer, and reviewed by Naomitsu Ibe (直光伊部), retired general and head of the Army Land Survey Department (陸地測量部). The map is held by the National Diet Library, National Central Library (Taiwan), National Museum of Taiwan History, Harvard University, and Waseda University.