1790 Nagakubo Large World Map, Tokugawa Era Update of the Ricci Map

A stunning and influential work, possibly in its earliest edition, this large c. 1790 Japanese world map was issued by Nagakubo Sekisui, the premier Japanese geographer of the late 18th century. It is Nagakubo's interpretation of the 1602 'Matteo Ricci Map', the first map to integrate East Asian and European cartographic knowledge. It includes significant updates over the Ricci, most notably the addition of Australia and islands north of Japan (Hokkaido and the Kurils).

A Closer Look

A fascinating distillation of late 18th-century Japanese geographic knowledge, Nagakubo's work is based on the famous 'Ricci map' (坤輿萬國全圖, referred to in the preface as the 'Ricci's Elliptical Map' 利氏橢圓輿地圖), named for the Italian Jesuit Matteo Ricci, who, with his Chinese collaborators, synthesized Western and Chinese geographical knowledge to produce the first world map in the Chinese language in 1602. Over the next two and a half centuries, the Ricci map was disseminated throughout East Asia. It was a major means by which scholars of the Tokugawa Era understood the outside world amid a strictly enforced policy of isolation.

Japan's interaction with foreigners was largely limited to Dutch and Chinese traders at Nagasaki, but these channels did allow some new geographic information to enter Japan. In the larger of the two prefaces at top, Nagakubo cites Dutch cartographic work as an influence on the present map, explaining several updates over the Ricci map and subsequent works by the Jesuits in China. Perhaps most notably, a protrusion from the large southern continent (Antarctica) marks Australia, called 'New [Land of the] Red Hairs,' that is, the Dutch.

This map is also heavily influenced by Nagakubo's own earlier, c. 1785, work 'Complete Geographic Map and Description of the World' (地球萬國山海輿地全圖說). However, it reflects the results of the Ezo Land Survey (蝦夷地調査) undertaken in 1785 - 1786 by Mogami Tokunai (最上徳内), a critically important step in Japan's efforts to claim Hokkaido and other northern islands (including the Kuril Islands) to prevent their seizure by Russia or other Western powers.

Despite these updates, several curious elements remain from the Ricci map or were added by Nagakubo and other Japanese cartographers. For instance, some islands are described as inhabited by ghosts, giants, and dwarves. At the same time, much of the Arctic and Antarctic is designated with the more reasonable label 'country of night dwellers' (夜人國). The residents of multiple foreign lands are noted for cannibalism, especially in Oceania and South America. Lands to the south of the Straits of Magellan are labeled the 'Land of Parrots' (鵡鸚地), likely referring to penguins.

Some of the geography closer to Japan is curious; for instance, the island of Putuoshan (here as 補陀山) is placed opposite Taiwan, far south of its actual location. Although the geography of the Americas does not reflect the latest discoveries, this map is notable in that the continents are named using both kanji (亞墨利加) and kana (アメリカ), the latter becoming standard in the late 19th century.

A Small Opening to the World

For most of the Edo or Tokugawa Era (1600 - 1868), Japan operated under Sakoku (鎖国, 'Locked Country') policies, where foreign trade and interactions were restricted to the Dutch and Chinese at Nagasaki, and through other tightly constrained channels, but otherwise forbidden to prevent potentially troublesome foreign ideas like Christianity from undermining Tokugawa authority. Nevertheless, some Japanese intellectuals, particularly of the 'Dutch Learning' (Rangaku) School, were aware of developments in the outside world, and the Tokugawa became quietly but increasingly concerned about foreign threats. Whalers, adventurers, and would-be traders from Russia, Europe, and the United States appeared on Japan's shores with increasing frequency at the end of the 18th century. In response, the Tokugawa moved to exert greater control over the northern region known as Ezo (蝦夷), including Hokkaido, through the vassal Matsumae Clan. Some intellectuals like Nagakubo and Mogami Tokunai, mentioned above, successfully advocated for new land surveys and the production of improved maps. But others, such as Hayashi Shihei (林子平), found that there were limits to acceptable public discussion of geographical knowledge, especially if it touched on politics and geopolitics, and were consequently censored.

Publication History and Census

This map was prepared by Nagakubo Sekisui and published by Asano Yahei (浅野弥兵衛) in Osaka (here as 浪速) and Yamazaki Kinbei (山崎金兵衛) in Edo (here as 東都). It is undated, but must postdate 1785, due to the inclusion of information from the Ezo Land Survey. It must predate 1794, the latest known date for Yamazaki Kinbei's publications. It may be the first edition, as we not no earlier examples, but this is impossible to determine.

This map's only known institutional holdings are with the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan and Yokohama City University. A highly similar but not identical map (titled 地球萬國全圖) is held by the University of Washington (the OCLC also notes its existence at the Nichibunken, but a search of that institution's catalog, and Japanese nationwide catalogs, do not confirm this). The Library of Congress also holds a very similar map (titled '山海輿地全圖'). Nagakubo's works were often reprinted and pirated in the early 18th century, so other examples of this map, or maps very similar, may exist under different titles. Printings can be distinguished by the publisher's data located in the lower left.