A MODERN VIEW OF HISTORIC JAPAN

UC's East Asian Library and Map Collector David Rumsey Provide Online Access
to Early Maps of Japan

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - February 25, 2003
A rarely seen and fragile collection of historic maps of Japan, some dating as far back as four centuries, are now available for public viewing online as the result of a new partnership between the East Asian Library at the University of California, Berkeley, and private map collector David Rumsey.

More than two hundred images of early maps of Japan, including examples of some especially rare woodblock print maps of the city of Edo (now Tokyo), from UC's East Asian Library Japanese Historical Map Collection are represented in the online collection found at http://www.davidrumsey.com/japan/. Eventually, the entire map collection will be scanned by Rumsey and the university, then be placed online, so it may be viewed by anyone, without charge, at anytime from anywhere in the world over the Internet.

"This is an amazing and rare collection that would otherwise be inaccessible to most people," says Peter Zhou, Director of the East Asian Library. "Modern technology is allowing us to expand access to this important collection while at the same time ensuring its preservation for the future."

David Rumsey, owner of San Francisco-based Cartography Associates, put the maps, many that are printed on handmade paper, online. Supporting online access to the collection is consistent with his goal of providing a broad range of cultural materials to the public in ways never before achievable for learning and enjoyment, at the highest level of quality possible using the Internet.

"This collection provides a wonderful opportunity to learn about an entirely different cartography tradition," Rumsey says. "Japanese historical maps are unique in the ways that they depict space and cultural information."

The collection includes works of art as well as renditions of cities, regions and countries from the Japanese perspective. A 1710 map based on the Buddhist conceptual model places the center of the world at the source of the four great rivers of India and features images of animals' mouths disgorging the source of these rivers in the Himalayas. Another depicts the coast of Japan, with Dutch and Chinese flotillas offshore. One map shows California as an island, and there are scroll maps one 34-feet long and another 40-feet long -- of the roads of Japan.

Through Cartography Associates, Rumsey provides online distribution of digital images from The AMICO Library (over 100,000 images of art) and Rumsey's own private collection of rare 18th and 19th century North and South American maps. The David Rumsey Map Collection, one of the largest private map collections in the United States, numbers over 150,000 maps and includes rare atlases, charts, globes, wall maps and related items.

Yuki Ishimatsu, head of Japanese Collections at the East Asian Library, selected the maps for the new online collection to serve as a representative sampling of the larger, physical map collection, which numbers more than 2,300 and is housed on the Berkeley campus in the East Asian Library.

"Choosing the maps to include in the initial collection to place online was difficult because each map is unique and important it its own way," Ishimatsu says. "However, we believe the collection presented currently provides a good cross section of the larger collection."

The university acquired the maps as part of a collection of more than 100,000 texts, scrolls and maps in 1949 from the Mitsui family, which, along with other acquisitions, has established the East Asian Library at Berkeley as one of the most comprehensive collections of materials in East Asian Languages in the United States. One of the most unusual parts of the Japanese Historical Map Collection is 697 woodblock-print maps dating from the Tokugawa period (1600-1867). And especially remarkable is the collection of Tokugawa city maps: 252 maps of the city of Edo (modern Tokyo), 79 maps of Kyoto, 40 of Osaka, and 30 maps of other cities such as Kanazawa, Nagoya, Nagasaki, and Yokohama, all from the Tokugawa period. Among the earliest maps are those of Osaka (1656), Kyoto (1654-68), and Edo (1676). The earliest Japanese world maps also date from this period.

Like the award-winning David Rumsey Map Collection, Cartography Associates will rely on Los Angeles-based Luna Imaging's (www.lunaimaging.com) Insight software to allow Web viewers to experience this unique collection of historic maps in a revolutionary way. Using Insight, users can zoom in, pan and do side-by-side comparisons of multiple maps simultaneously. Users can save groups of images to create their own customized collections. They also can crop or magnify areas of maps that otherwise would be difficult to decipher, and discover details that reflect artistry, culture, theology, precision and history. Map scholars also can search and sort, and compare and contrast maps in the online collection based on catalogue records.

Limited content is also available to web browser-based users complete with state-of-the-art mapping and geographic analysis tools known as Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Rumsey's GIS Browser enables visitors to view a portion of the collection in combination with modern maps, aerial photos, and satellite imagery. Thirteen historic maps of Tokyo can be viewed in this way now; historic maps of Osaka and Kyoto will be added in the near future. The Internet GIS browser from Berkeley, CA-based Telemorphic (www.telemorphic.com) provides on-line interactive mapping, image analysis, and visualization capabilities for the site (www.davidrumsey.com/japan/gis.html).

UC Berkeley professors agree the online collection of Japanese maps will enhance student research and study.

Susan Matisoff, professor of Japanese and chair of UC Berkeley's Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, says she can imagine a student interested in the great Edo-based poet, Bashô, using period maps to track the exact locales of the various places in Edo where the poet lived to gain a sense of the density of buildings in each area. One might also follow on a provincial map the sites the poet visited when creating his poetic travel journals.

"Having the maps digitalized and on the Web, giving one the ability to zoom in on the details, makes it possible to see things that really cannot be seen clearly with the naked eye, even if the viewer had gone to the trouble to identify a map and get access to the material in the rare book room," Matisoff says.

Note to editors: Additional images are available by contacting Jennifer Zabriskie at jz@pvcla.com or U.S. 1-310.274.8787, ext. 121.

For more information please contact:
Jennifer Zabriskie
310.274.8787, ext. 121