NAGASAKI PORT MAP.

Tall scroll on paper depicting in great detail, using bright colors, the entrance & port of Nagasaki, mounted on modern paper.

Scroll (535 x 2790 mm.), pale brown silk on outer front endpaper, inside covered with gold paper, wooden core roller. [Japan]: late Edo, 1855 or later.

While Edo was the center of government and Osaka the national market hub, Nagasaki was an extremely important center of commerce, crafts, and travel. It is no wonder that Nagasaki became the locus for trade with the rest of the world during the Tokugawa era: the port, facing China and near Korea, is at the end of a long and narrow entranceway — ideal for soldiers to observe from elevated positions the comings and goings of ships. The city itself, at the eastern end of this long “neck,” is shaped as an amphitheater by low mountains that enclose the bay to the north and west. Nagasaki was the only official port in Japan allowed to receive goods from around the world, brought in initially by the Portuguese and Chinese, and then by the Dutch. It served as the main port for export as well. The city also became the main conduit of “Dutch learning” and Chinese knowledge into the island nation.

Artificial islands — Dejima for the Dutch and the dock island (Shinchi 新地) for the Chinese, connected to the Chinese quarter called Tōjin yashiki 唐人屋敷 — were created for the myriad of goods and strange objects imported into Japan from the West and throughout Asia.

Our scroll consists of one long, highly detailed map of the city, port areas, and entrance to Nagasaki, all surrounded by hills and low mountains. The map depicts cliffs, beaches, mountains and hills, the many islands and dangerous rock outcroppings of the entrance, outer observation stations, etc.

The beginning depicts the Urakami shinden 浦上新田 area of reclaimed land, built in the 1730s, used as fields for crops. As we proceed westward, we see warehouses (for saltpeter and rice storage) and then the artificial islands of Dejima and the Chinese loading docks, attached to the Chinese quarter by a bridge. The surrounding mountains and notable islands and points are labelled throughout, as are the magistrates’ offices of a number of domains. In the harbor, we see Dutch (two), British, American, and Russian trading ships, each with its national flag, along with the Shōhei Maru, the first Western-style warship built in Japan (1853-54), constructed by the Satsuma fiefdom and presented to the Tokugawa shogunate in 1855.

The scroll then shows the long narrow entranceway to Nagasaki, with eight odaiba 御台場 (forts with cannons placed in strategic locations), protecting the port from unwanted ships. Constructed in the early 19th century, these were the first odaiba built in Japan, as the government became increasingly anxious about possible attacks by foreign ships.

Red lines depict the desired routes of entrance and exit for trading ships, allowing the Japanese to easily observe the arriving Chinese and Dutch vessels. Distances from many points of the entrance to Nagasaki are given. The beginning of the outer Gotō islands and the Nomozaki peninsula are shown at the end of the scroll.

Fine condition; preserved in a modern wooden box.