1924 Ogawa Jihei and Maekawa Senpan Cartoon Map of the World

This is a rare Taisho 13 or 1924 Japanese manga or cartoon map of the world by artist Maekawa Senpan and Ogawa Jihei. The map was published by Toshiaki Ishihara (石原俊明) and the International Information Company (國際情報社). Centered on Japan, the map covers most of the known work with the exception of the Atlantic. Cartoon figures illustrate geography, culture, historical events, flora, fauna, and more.

Generally predating the greater hostilities of World War II, this map exhibits a fairly friendly and open-minded world view, at least towards most parts of the world. Scotland is described as 'beautiful and similar to Japan.' France is a land of wine, art, and fashion. The United States is a place of rich agriculture, shingling skyscrapers, scenic beauty, and sports, including tennis, boxing, and baseball. In the Amazon there is a great anaconda snaking about the river itself. Canada is mostly forests and lumberjacks.

There are a few political references, particularly in China, where north and south China are shows in a tug of war battle, reference to infighting between regional warlords. The map also references the Japanese population in Hawaii. In addition, there are historical notes throughout, identifying the landing place of Christopher Columbus, St. Helena where Napoleon was exiled, and more.

The more negative aspects of the map include its illustration of Russia, with a chained slave populace, military aggression, and a rabid tiger bearing a bloody sabre north of Manchuria. Taiwan, then part of the Japanese Empire, is illustrated by a spear-wielding savage, clearly a reference to the aboriginal peoples of eastern Taiwan with whom Japan had an incident in the 1880s. It also references the Armenian genocide. Germany is gloomily represented by a skull sitting on a pile of books.

In 1932 Shishido Sakō (宍戸左 行) redrew this map with a darker more militant message. On that map, the United States, is no longer the land of fun and sports, instead bloated politicians and capitalists sit in New York and Washington, racist imagery appears in the south, and in Chicago's criminal bootleggers are in cages. Political figures like Stalin, Hitler, Franco and Mussolini make appearances. In that later edition, the pleasure craft, merchant ships, and fishermen on this map, are replaced with battleships.

This map was drawn by Jiehi Ogawa (治平 小川, 1887-1925) and Maekawa Senpan (前川千帆,1888-1960). It was published in 1924 by Toshiaki Ishihara (石原俊明) and the International Information Company (國際情報社) as a supplement to the educational publication Kokuisai shashin jōhō (国際写真情報).