Japanese Maps

Japanese Maps

The earliest known term used for maps in Japan is believed to be kata (形, roughly "form"), which was probably in use until roughly the 8th century. During the Nara period, the term zu (図) came into use, but the term most widely used and associated with maps in pre-modern Japan is ezu (絵図, roughly “picture diagram”). As the term implies, ezu were not necessarily geographically accurate depictions of physical landscape, as is generally associated with maps in modern times, but pictorial images, often including spiritual landscape in addition to physical geography. Ezu often focused on the conveyance of relative information as opposed to adherence to visible contour. For example, an ezu of a temple may include surrounding scenery and clouds to give an impression of nature, human figures to give a sense of how the depicted space is used, and a scale in which more important buildings may appear bigger than less important ones, regardless of actual physical size.

In the late 18th century, Dutch translators in Nagasaki translated the word kaart (“map” in Dutch) as chizu (地図, now the generally accepted translation for “map”) into Japanese.

From 1800 (Kansei 12) through 1821 (Bunsei 4), Ino Tadataka led a government-sponsored topographic surveying and map-making project. This is considered the first modern geographer's survey of Japan; and the map based on this survey became widely known as the Ino-zu. Later, the Meiji government officially began using the Japanese term chizu in the education system, solidifying the place of the term chizu for "map" in Japanese.