Synopses & Reviews
"Japan is an island far out at sea to the eastward, some 1,500 miles from the mainland. It is a very big island. The people are fair-complexioned, good-looking, and well-mannered. They are idolators, wholly independent and exercising no authority over any nation but themselves. They have gold in great abundance, because it is found there in measureless quantities..."
So begins Marco Polo's account of Japan, an account that was to entice more than one seafaring adventurer Columbus among them in search of the "golden isles." Though these explorers never found their anticipated reward, they contributed greatly to the mapping of the eastern-most part of the globe, the long string of islands variously known as Wak-wak, Jih-pen-go, Zimpagu, and Cipango: Japan.
The first European maps of Japan were inspired by visions of treasure and were a strange mixture of fact and fancy, more often than not the creations of dreams and the decorative impulse. The earliest Japanese maps showed a similar disregard for geography and were also inspired by gain though they charted the golden glow of ripening stalks of rice rather than the fabled bullion of Marco Polo's tale.
Isles of Gold is a selection of over 90 of the most attractive, remarkable, and historically significant of these European and Japanese maps of Japan. The text by Hugo Cortazzi tells the fascinating story of the encounter between the West and Japan through the gradual process of mapping the island empire. Far-ranging Portuguese explorers, Jesuit fathers, Dutch merchants and English sea captains, samurai and shoguns populate this account, which is surprisingly rich in drama. Especially enlightening is the author's emphasis on mutual influences, borrowings, and eventual cooperation between European and Japanese mapmakers, often in opposition to the Japanese authorities, who were set on sealing off their land from the prying eyes of outsiders.
A special selection of the text treats the discovery and mapping of the northern islands Hokkaido and the Kuriles. Until the mid-eighteenth century, this region was almost unexplored, and it was only after Western nations expressed interest in the area that the Japanese turned their gaze northward to Gando, "the Path of the Geese," as the northern islands were known in ancient times.
The reader will be delighted by the 59 color plates and 22 monochrome reproductions of these maps. Many of the European maps are hand-colored and sport playful cartouches and fantastic legends. Among the Japanese maps are fine works of art, emblazoned in gold leaf on folding screens, or fired in bright glazes on porcelain and enamelware. Woodblock-print artists also turned their talents to mapmaking, and an eager Japanese public snapped up colorful printed maps of major cities and travel routes, often depicted from a birds-eye perspective.
Centuries have passed since Marco Polo first brought Japan to the attention of the West, and the frontiers of the quest for mutual understanding have been pushed far beyond questions of the shape and location of Japan. Still, these maps and their stories remain a fascinating testament to the long quest for contact and understanding between East and West, which has, quite literally, shaped the modern world.