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1. Introduction

About 200 years ago, INO Tadataka (1745-1818), surveyor and cartographer, and his team created maps of Japan by conducting a detailed survey all over Japan. There are different kinds of maps with varying scale sizes, which are collectively called Ino Maps. 

They are the first maps covering the whole of the country, based on a unified survey system. Their accuracy is outstanding compared to other previous and coeval maps. 

Ino Maps and their copies are held by several dozen institutions and individuals inside and outside Japan and many books about Ino Tadataka and his maps have been published. This is a brief introduction of Ino Maps in general and a description of several of them in the NDL collection. 

2. Ino Tadataka and his making of maps

Ino had run a successful business in Sawara, a small town in what is now Chiba Prefecture before retiring at the age of 49. He moved to Edo to study under TAKAHASHI Yoshitoki (1764-1804), a shogunate official who was in charge of the calendar and astronomy. Learning Western astronomy and related fields, he started surveying at the age of 56 to create maps of Japan by walking and measuring distances across the country, which ended up taking him as long as 17 years. 

In the Edo period, Japan was divided into domains governed by feudal lords who owed allegiance to the shogunate government. To go through different domains and survey their territories the shogunate government's support was crucial. For the first survey trip to Ezo (Hokkaido) in 1800, even though his mentor Takahashi Yoshitoki had asked the government to make necessary arrangements for the team, Ino had to pay almost all the expenses and sometimes he could not afford the transportation of all the instruments for the survey. However, as his maps presented to the government after each survey trip gained an increasingly high reputation, he and his team came to get better treatment. From the fifth survey trip (1805), his team was given the status of the official survey party, which made it easy for them to get necessary support including transport and accommodations. 

Ino conducted ten survey trips in total, each trip taking several hundreds of days. He spent 3,753 days on the road and covered about 40,000 km, that is, the same distance as the circumference of the earth. 

His team measured the distance along the coastlines and main roads in paces at the beginning, and later used purpose-made ropes or chains. They observed the height of stars above the horizon to figure out the latitude and longitude of the place so that they could correct errors of measured distance. 

3. Ino Maps

(1) Scales

There are three basic scales for Ino Maps;  shozu (small-scale map)     1/432,000  chuzu (middle-scale map)   1/216,000  daizu (large-scale map)      1/36,000  There are also some variations such as Edo Funai-zu (map of Edo), 1/6,000.

After each survey trip, a set of maps of the subject area were produced and submitted to the government (excluding the third trip in 1802). In most cases a set consisted of maps of two or three different scales of the same area. Daizu were made directly based on the results of the survey, then chuzu and shozu were made up from several daizu. At present about 440 different Ino Maps are known to have been made, of which 381 are still extant. 

(2) Versions
Also there are several versions of the same map: an original set submitted to the government; a duplicate copy kept in Ino's house; those made on requests from feudal lords; and reproductions made in the Edo and Meiji era or later. Ino's team stuck needles through the original map and marked up lines in order to make multiple sheets of exact copies at once, so it is possible to distinguish authentic copies made directly by his team by examining if they have small holes or not. 

(3) Covered areas
The first set of maps submitted in 1800 covered Hokkaido and the Tohoku district, and those submitted in 1802 covered the eastern coast of Honshu and the south-eastern part of Hokkaido. The work covering the eastern half of Japan (1804) is said to have been presented in front of the Shogun. They were followed by Kinki and Chugoku (1807), Shikoku and Kinki (1809), Kyushu (1811 and 1815) and so on. 

(4) Dai Nihon Enkai Yochi Zenzu (1821)
The set submitted in 1821 is a comprehensive work which covers all parts of Japan. It is called Dai Nihon Enkai Yochi Zenzu (Maps of the Japanese coastal areas). It consists of 214 daizu, 8 chuzu and 3 shozu. This work was completed after Ino's death in 1818 and the parts of this set depicting western Japan were displayed in the Great Hall of Edo Castle so that the maps showed the area covered as it really was. 

The original set submitted to the shogunate government was taken over by the Meiji government but destroyed by fire in the Imperial Palace in 1873. Likewise the duplicate copy formerly possessed by Ino's house was burned in the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923. In consequence the versions of this work available now are copies and reproductions. In 2001, 207 sheets of daizu (reproduction made in the Meiji era or later) were discovered in the Library of Congress in the United States. Before that, only 60 sheets of daizu, of which 43 were held by the NDL, were known to be extant in Japan. By 2004, 4 more daizu have been discovered inside the country. With these discoveries all the 214 daizu of this work have become available. 

(5) Characteristics
 

All the Ino Maps were drawn and colored by hand. It is said that they are very accurate as well as having aesthetic value with pictorial features such as castles and mountains drawn from a bird's eye view. Symbols are used to indicate temples, shrines, harbors and so on. An exquisitely drawn compass rose is also one of the characteristics of good Ino Maps. These characteristics are useful in deciding whether a certain map was made by Ino's team or copied by someone else.

compass rose (part)

4. Ino Maps in the NDL's collection

Ino Maps are held by about 40 institutions and individuals, among which are the Ino Tadataka Memorial Museum and the Tokyo National Museum. Several foreign institutions such as the Geographic Society in Italy and the National Maritime Museum in England have some, and several chuzu of 1814 were held by a French national (now they are in Japan). 

The NDL also holds some of the important maps, among which are, Dai Nihon Enkai Yochi Zenzu (1821). Here are descriptions of them. 
 

Title: Dai Nihon Enkai Yochi Zenzu  Produced: [ca. 1873] Description: 43 sheets, 117.5 x 187 cm E210.8 x 124.1 cm Scale: 1/36,000 NDL call number: WB39-6

              43 maps connected
Link to the same image in the Rare Books of the National Diet Library. From there, by clicking on the maps, you can see a more detailed image of each map.

This is a reproduction made in the early Meiji era of the comprehensive set submitted in 1821. The set consists of 214 sheets of daizu covering all of Japan, of which 43 are held by the NDL. These 43 sheets cover the eastern part of Japan, from the present-day Yamagata to Shizuoka Prefectures. 

Paper made of kozo (paper mulberry) glued together and lined with mica-coated paper is used. There are no descriptions about the original map or background of this reproduction except that each sheet of map has a brief writing including the name of the domain covered by it and that the container has a title on it. However, it is evident that this is the reproduction of the daizu of Dai Nihon Enkai Yochi Zenzu from several characteristics such as the scale, map symbols, compass rose, and quality of drawing. 

It is presumed that the reproduction was made by a government officer around 1873 from the duplicate copy borrowed from Ino's house. As noted above, the duplicate copy was burned as well as the original, which makes the remaining reproductions like these important to know what the originals were like. 

Part of the map No.99: Sagami, Izu, Suruga (Shizuoka, northeastern Kanagawa) click to larger image	Part of the map No.101: Sagami, Izu, Suruga (Shizuoka, northeastern Kanagawa) click to larger image

Many characteristics of daizu can be seen in these maps, such as red lines showing the distance measured, map symbols, picturesque description of castles, temples and Mt. Fuji, territorial information minutely written in along the main roads. There are some uncharted areas in the Kanto Plain and to the north of Mt. Fuji because Ino surveyed only the coastlines and main roads and left areas not surveyed empty. 

Title: Ino Nihon Jissoku Shozu 1  Produced: [1804] Description: 1 sheet,  216 x 258 cm    (37 x 25 cm, folded) Scale: 1/432,000 NDL call number: YR8-N92

A copy made by hand of the map known as Enkai Chizu Shozu (Small-scale coastal areas map) submitted to the government in 1804. It covers eastern Japan, from Owari (now Aichi Prefecture) and Echizen (Fukui Prefecture) to the east, with coastlines and main roads depicted. 

We can see small holes made by a needle on this map, which makes us believe that this is an authentic copy made directly by his team, that is, an important version next to the original submitted to the government or a shogunate official in charge of the calendar and astronomy. They are valuable because all the original Ino Maps have been lost. This map was possessed by HOTTA Masaatsu (1758-1832), then junior councilor in the shogunate government. 

Datailed images of this map in the Rare Books Image Database

Title: Ino Nihon Jissoku Shozu 2  Produced: [1809] Description: 1 sheet, 56 x 106 cm (19 x 15 cm, folded) Scale: 1/432,000 NDL call number: YR8-N93

This is a copy of the map produced in 1809 based on the 6th survey that was conducted in the previous year. It covers Shikoku. It is evident that this is an authentic copy because it has small needle holes on it. 

Title: Nihon Enkai Bunkanzu. Togoku (Map of eastern Japan) Produced: 1804 Description: 1 sheet, 223 x 258 cm Scale: 1/432,000 NDL call number: WB39-3

Ino created a set of daizu, chuzu and shozu based on the results of the first four years of survey trips in eastern Japan from 1800 to 1803 and submitted it to the government in 1804. This is one of the shozu of this set. On this map, there are lines radiating from the top of a mountain or an island. These lines show that Ino applied a traditional oriental technique to locate with accuracy a certain point from which a mountain or an island can be seen by measuring the azimuth. Red seals show that this map was held by NAKAGAWA Tadahide, a chief financial official of the shogunate government at the time.

Ezochi	Eastern Japan
Western Japan
	Title: Nihon-zu      Produced: [ca. 1827]     Description: 3 sheets      Ezochi (Hokkaido): 131 x 105 cm      Eastern Japan: 130 x 104 cm      Western Japan: 130 x 106 cm     Scale: 1/864,000     NDL call number:13-66

In the Edo era, the shogunate government closed the country except for the Netherlands, China and Korea. In 1828, Philip Franz von Siebold (1796-1866), who was working as a physician belonging to the Dutch trading house in Nagasaki, tried to bring out some items whose export was prohibited and was deported from Japan. Among the items seized was this map, which was made based on one of the Ino Maps produced around 1824. Most of the place names are written in katakana, which is easier for a foreigner to read. A government official TAKAHASHI Kageyasu, who had succeeded Ino's mentor, Takahashi Yoshitoki, after his death, had had his apprentice make this map and gave it to Siebold. Siebold returned to his country with a copy of this map made in secret and published it in 1840 after translating it. 

This is a copy of Edo Funai-zu produced in 1817 based on the last survey (1816) conducted by Ino. Both the original maps and authentic copies of this map of Edo were lost but several institutions hold reproductions. The map is divided into two parts, the northern part of Edo and the southern part. The NDL holds two maps of the northern part. 

5. Additional information

The images of most of these maps are available in the Rare Books Image Database*. Images of Dai Nihon Enkai Yochi Zenzu are in the electronic exhibition: Rare Books of the National Diet Library. 
*How to use Rare Books Image Database

The maps are held in the Rare Books and Old Materials Room. But they are not directly available because they are very large and difficult to handle, and also because they have to be carefully preserved. In the room image data of them on CD-ROM is provided in place of the original maps on paper. 

Some reproductions are available in the Map Room and from the book counter (stored in the closed stacks). 
 

Information in English about Ino Tadataka and his maps:
English summary at the end of the exhibition catalogue of the Tokyo National Museum: 
        Ino Tadataka to Nihonzu. Tokyo Kokuritsu Hakubutsukan, 2003. 
       <NDL call number: YP6-H10> 
Website of Sawara city, the place where Ino spent most of his life: 
          http://www.city.sawara.chiba.jp/english/index.html

Reference:
Ino Tadataka / Takeo Konno. Tokyo: Shakai Shisosha, 2002. 
   <NDL call number: GK61-G69> 
Ino Tadataka to Nihon-zu / Tokyo Kokuritsu Hakubutsukan. Tokyo Kokuristu Hakubutsukan, 2003. 
   <NDL call number: YP6-H10> 
Amerika ni atta Ino daizu to Furansu no Ino chuzu / Amerika Ino Daisu Ten Jikko Iinkai. Nihon Chizu 
    Senta, 2004. 
   <NDL call number: G67-H14>