Guided tour of Japanese Cartographic Collection on March 23, 2018; at Geography & Map Division Reading room, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Setsuko Means Discussion
Type: 
Event
Date: 
March 23, 2018
Location: 
District Of Columbia, United States
Subject Fields: 
Asian History / Studies, Chinese History / Studies, East Asian History / Studies, Geography, Japanese History / Studies

Title: Guided tour of Japanese Cartographic Collection 

Date: March 23 (Friday), 3:00-5:00pm

Venue: Geography & Map Division Reading room, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Location and direction: Geography & Map Division Reading room is located at basement floor of Madison Building. From the main entrance of Madison Building, take elevator to “B” floor, you will see a big globe in front of the entrance of Geography and Map Division.

Special Speaker: Professor Shigeru Kobayashi (Osaka University)

Target audience: Librarians, scholars and students

Language: Tour will be given in Japanese and English 

Registration fee: free

Please RSVP or send questions by email to

Setsuko Means

Geography and Map Division

smea@loc.gov

The tour will highlight some of Division’s unique collections, including

  • Gaihozu: The Geography and Map Division holds one of the largest collections of Japanese military and imperial maps in the world with estimate 25,000 maps. These maps were produced by the Japanese Army’s Land Survey Department of the General Staff Headquarters from the early Meiji era (1868-1912) through the end of World War II.

  • Kaizu (Japanese Nautical Chart): The Geography and Map Division holds a large collection of Japanese nautical charts including maps produced by Dai Nihon Kaigun Suiroryō (Hydrographic Bureau of the Japanese Navy) during the Meiji period.

  • Inō-zu: Collection of maps created by the famous Japanese cartographer, Inō Tadataka (1745-1818). The Geography and Map Division holds Inō Daizu “Dai Nihon enkai yochi zenzu” (1816-1819. Presumably it is recreation by Japan Army in 1884.

Professor Kobayashi will discuss the relationship between the Gaihozu, Kaizu and Ino-zu collections and other maps from that period.

Professor Shigeru Kobayashi:

The special speaker, Professor Shigeru Kobayashi is a Professor at Osaka University of Tourism and Professor Emeritus at Osaka University, Japan. His research interests lie in human geography and the history of cartography.  Kindai Nihon no kaigai chiri joho shushu to shoki Gaihozu [The role of map-making for the gathering of overseas geographical intelligence by modern Japan] (Osaka Daigaku Shuppankai, 2017) is his most recent publication.  Research works of his team at the Geography and Map Division of the Library of Congress since 2008, resulted in this book, which scrutinized manuscript maps of China and Korea produced by Japanese army officers and gained deep insights into the early history of Gaihozu.

Contact Info: 

Setsuko Means

Geography and Map Division

 

Contact Email: