Seminal Map (1 results)

Very good. A few verso repairs and reinforcements. Size 30 x 48 Inches. An extraordinary 1867 (Keio 3) map of Siberia and Alaska illustrates a moment of cultural collision and transformation. Printed in Japan using a remarkable multi-color copperplate process, the map is a conic projection covering Asia from the Caspian Sea to the Bering Strait. It extends farther east to include Alaska, and south to encompass Nepal, Korea, Tibet, most of China, and all of Japan. This is the first Japanese regional map to incorporate contemporaneous western cartographic technology for official strategic and military use. The Translation and Migration of Cartographic Knowledge A preface at top-left explains that this map is based on a Russian military map that was ordered to be produced in 1860 in St. Petersburg. It was made by an officer surnamed 'Etashiyoru' (perhaps ????) and was updated in August 1865. Charles Sulpice Jules Chanoine, a French military attaché, brought the map to Japan where it was translated. It is extremely thorough in naming geographic features and settlements; even when a settlement's name is not known, it is noted as 'village' (?? or ?). Aside from translation, some changes were made between the Russian and Japanese editions. Most notably, the prime meridian, which had been St. Petersburg in the original, was shifted to Edo. Interestingly, the names for territories that already had a name in Japanese kanji (Chinese characters), including in Japan itself, were transliterated from the Russian using Japanese kana . For example, Edo is (very unconventionally) written as ?? instead of ?? The map's title also shows that standards for naming foreign countries were still evolving, with the first character in 'Russia' being ? instead of the more common ? Historical Perspective The map expresses both Shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu's attempt to modernize the Japanese military with French assistance and outright concern over European and American encroachment into East Asia. It makes specific reference to the American purchase of Alaska, and to Russian expansionism in Khujand (Tajikistan) on June 5, 1866, and Jizzakah on July 2nd of the same year (these territories are described as having been 'looted' ?? by the Russians). It also mentions the August 6th, 1865, Russian re-organization of the Tsardom's Asian territories into three new military districts, an act perceived as preparation for war: the Central Military District, the West Siberia Military District, and the East Siberia Military District. Japan-Russia Relations Although the Tokugawa was nominally closed to outsiders under the sakoku policies, they gained knowledge of the outside world through various means, most notably from the Dutch and Chinese at Nagasaki, but also through interactions with Russia as its empire expanded into Siberia and beyond. Russian traders and Japanese fishermen made contact on several occasions, particularly around Kamchatka, and some of the Japanese were captured by the Russians and brought to St. Petersburg to provide information about Japan. In 1793, the Tsar sent a delegation to Edo led by Adam Laxman (???? ???????) that aimed to return captured Japanese castaways, but also had the intention of gaining knowledge about Japan and securing trading rights (Laxman might have gained the right for Russians to trade at Nagasaki, though if true this right was never exercised). In the early 19th century, the first Russian-Japanese dictionary was published in Japan and interest in Russia, akin to the 'Dutch learning' (Rangaku) movement, sprang up but quickly petered out. Aware to an extent of foreign threats, the Tokugawa made efforts as early as the late 17th century to strengthen control over frontier regions, particularly islands in the northern region known as Ezo (??) or Hokkaido. News of China's defeat in the First Opium War (1839 1842) and increasing Western presence in the Pacific were also ominous. Concurrently, there seems to have been an intell.