
Tuesday 28 June, 2016 - Thursday 30 June, 2016
28-29 June: Sainsbury Institute, 64 The Close, Norwich NR1 4DH
30 June: The British Museum, London
About the Symposium
This symposium seeks to re-evaluate the legacy of Sir Hugh and Lady Cortazzi’s Collection of Japanese maps for research on cartographic history. It highlights the need to acknowledge the growth and diversification of the field of historical cartography both in Japan and in the West.
UK map collections and their potential for researchers will be the focus of the proceedings. They will bring together leading and emerging researchers with curators and librarians, forging an international network necessary for research on this topic. Multidisciplinary discussions of the methodological and conceptual framework of the history of Japanese cartography will be balanced with more practical issues related to materiality, access and classification.
The maps from the Sir Hugh and Lady Cortazzi Collection featured in the symposium’s presentations will be available for consultation during the proceedings. This ‘on site’ format, which borrows from fieldwork and workshop techniques, will greatly facilitate discussion and the advancement of knowledge on the maps in question.
Symposium Programme
Tuesday 28th June | 2-4 PM
2:00 Opening Remarks: Sir Hugh Cortazzi, Akira Hirano (SISJAC Librarian) and Radu Leca (Robert and Lisa Sainsbury Fellow, SISJAC)
2:30-4 PM Panel One: The Conflation of World Views on Japanese Maps
Max Moerman (Columbia University)
Buddhist Maps of the World in the Early Modern Period
Angelo Cattaneo (Universidade Nova de Lisboa)
Locating Japan through Maps in the Nanban Century
Elke Papelitzky (Universität Salzburg)
The 1671 ‘Map of Myriad Countries’
Chair and Discussant: Richard Bowring (University of Cambridge)
Wednesday 29th June | 10-4.30 PM
10:00 Panel Two: Regional and Urban Perspectives
Uesugi Kazuhiro (Kyoto Prefectural University):
The Strategy of the Map Makers – Historical Geography of the Kyoto Maps in the Early Modern Era
Radu Leca (Robert and Lisa Sainsbury Fellow, SISJAC)
Maps of Kyushu on Ceramic Dishes in the Nineteenth Century
Richard Pegg (MacLean Collection, Chicago)
Mapping Edo in the Mid-nineteenth Century
Chair and Discussant: Peter Kornicki (University of Cambridge).
12:00 Lunch Break
1:30 Panel Three: The Variety of Images of Japan
Miyoshi Tadayoshi (Kobe City Koiso Memorial Museum of Art)
The Overseas Adventures of Ryūsen’s Map of Japan
Marcia Yonemoto (University of Colorado Boulder)
One ‘Country’ or Many? Pre-national Nomenclature in Tokugawa Japanese Maps
Chair and Discussant: Timon Screech (SOAS, University of London).
3:00-3.30 Coffee Break
3.30-4.30 Concluding Discussion
Thursday 30th June | 2 PM
2:00 Viewing of a selection of Japanese maps, Map Room, British Library.
Organised by Dr. Radu Leca (Robert and Lisa Sainsbury Fellow)
The workshop is free and open to students and scholars interested in the subject. But due to space availability, the number of participants is limited and advance registration is required.
Please contact the Sainsbury Institute to book your place.
This event is funded by the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Art and Cultures and the Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation.

Image: Detail from the late-17th century Kokudaka ezu (illustrated map of various domains and their agricultural land values)