1911 Saito Map of Korea and Manchuria

A large, unrecorded 1911 map of Korea and Manchuria by Saito Katsuzo. It highlights the regional transportation network, which under Japanese influence, was rapidly connecting Japan's expanding overseas empire. Extensive and interesting advertising surrounds the main map.

A Closer Look

Coverage includes the Korean Peninsula and Manchuria, along with portions of the Japanese home islands, China, Mongolia, and Russia. Text at top (日歐連絡紀念) commemorates the opening of a transportation link between Europe and Japan, with continuous railway lines from Busan through Manchuria and across Russia to Europe. This link was made possible by the 1911 completion of a bridge over the Yalu River at Andong, known as the 'broken bridge' since its bombing by the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War. (A larger bridge, now known as the Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge, was completed in 1937 parallel to the 1911 bridge.)

Rail lines are highlighted throughout, with lines under construction (such as those to Wonsan and Mokpo) dashed. The names of cities along the rail lines in Korea and Manchuria are written in Latin letters as well as Chinese kanji, while many placenames in Mongolia, Manchuria, or Russia are written in kana, indicating the lack of a known placename in kanji. Curiously, Korean cities retain their indigenous names in Latin letters rather than their Japanese colonial names (for instance, Seoul is not written as Keijo). Even away from the rail lines, cities, towns, roads, mines, temples, waterways, and other features are recorded in exceptional detail. At sea, shipping routes, soundings, ports, and lighthouses are indicated.

An inset map of Port Arthur appears at top-left, while another of Amur Bay (アムール港), that is, Vladivostok, appears at left. At bottom-left, the black box with white text lists the Shinto festivals for the upcoming year (Meiji 45, 1912). Advertisements for businesses in Andong (安東縣, now Dandong), where the bridge from Korea crossed into China, surround the map. The businesses include hot springs, tobacconists, grocers, teahouses, banks, sake distributors, and merchants of various sorts, as well as an exhibition hall (陳列館). Interestingly, as the map was published in the final year of the Qing Dynasty, it maintains the dynasty's name for China (清國).

Historical Context

This map was made soon after Korea's formal annexation by Japan. The final expulsion of competing foreign powers came with the Russo-Japanese War (1904 - 1905). Another result of the war was Japan gaining control of Russian concessions in northeastern China, namely Port Arthur (now Dalian) and the several Russian-built railways in Manchuria, which were consolidated as the South Manchuria Railway Company (南滿洲鐵道株式會社, Mantetsu for short). Mantetsu soon developed into a mega-conglomerate, akin to the chartered joint stock corporations of early modern Europe, overseeing hotels, mines, mills, power plants, publishing, and more that expanded Japanese influence in Manchuria to the point that it became a virtual colony.

By the 1930s, Mantetsu was the largest company in Japan and by itself formed a significant portion of the Japanese economy (as much as one-third at its height). Although Japan already exercised an informal empire in much of Manchuria (as evidenced by the number of Japanese businesses in Andong), the territory was still nominally under the control of Chinese warlords known as the Fengtian Clique, led by Zhang Zuolin until he was assassinated in 1928 in a plot hatched by officers of the Kwantung Army (Kantōgun), the ultranationalist unit garrisoning Port Arthur. With Zhang out of the way, the Kwantung Army planned the full-scale invasion of Manchuria, launched in September 1931, and the creation of the puppet state of Manchukuo.

Publication History and Census

This map was edited and published by Saitō Katsuzō in conjunction with Jūjiya (十字屋) and printed by Almo Printing (アルモ印刷), based in Osaka, in 1911 (Meiji 44). It was sold locally by Buneido (文榮堂) in Andong and by Sobunkan (叢文館) in nearby Sinŭiju (新義州), on the Korean side of the border and bridge. We have been unable to locate any other examples of this map in institutional collections or on the market.