Old Japanese Maps and Kuzushiji

[Judith Fröhlich]

Dear colleagues,

We would like to announce an e-learning unit on old Japanese maps and kuzushiji on the platform Adfontes 

(open access, designed to be used on history courses in universities and colleges, 

with units about manuscripts, photographs and coins in Latin, Old German, French, Scandinavian and English 

from the tenth through the nineteenth century; https://www.adfontes.uzh.ch/en).

The unit includes several old Japanese maps, which are made available online in high resolution (IIIF manifest) for the first time, 

such a medieval estate map (Zuishin'in, Kyoto Institute, Library and Archives):

https://www.adfontes.uzh.ch/en/tutorium/old-japanese-maps/heian-kamakura-muromachi-period-maps

Or a seventeenth-century hand-colored Ryūsen map (The British Library):

https://www.adfontes.uzh.ch/en/tutorium/old-japanese-maps/edo-period-maps

Apart from a tutorial about the history of maps and mapmaking in Japan from the eighth to nineteenth centuries, 

the unit includes an overview of useful resources:

https://www.adfontes.uzh.ch/en/ressourcen/old-japanese-maps

It also includes a few exercises, such as reading an Edo-period rebus of Japan’s provinces 

(Dai Nihon kuni zukushi hanjimono) (Gifu Prefectural Library):

https://www.adfontes.uzh.ch/en/382150/training/old-maps/japan-provinces

Finally, and most importantly, it includes an introduction and exercises on reading kuzushiji in two parts:

https://www.adfontes.uzh.ch/en/385000/training/kuzushiji

We hope that the unit finds your interest, and would appreciate, if you could also draw the attention of your students to it.

Also, we appreciate any kind of feedback.

Best wishes,

Gonzalo San Emeterio Cabañes, Autonomous University of Madrid

Nobutake Kamiya, Library of Japanese Studies, University of Zurich

Laura Bitterli, Department of History, University of Zurich

Judith Vitale, Department of History, University of Zurich

Please contact judith.vitale at uzh.ch for questions and feedback.