Regni Japoniae Nova Mappa Geographica, ex indigenarum observationibus delineata ab Engelberto Kaempfero recusa et emendata

Superb c.18th map of Japan based on information derived from the most important European influence on the early mapping of Japan, Engelbert Kaempfer.

At the top, seated on a throne, we have the shogun, specifically Tokugawa Tsunayoshi (1646–1709), for the triple hollyhock emblem above is that of the Tokugawa clan, and Kaempfer had met Tokugawa. The shogun’s vest represents Japanese armour. His throne—intriguingly—looks more like a cartouche frame than anything Japanese, but then Seutter was no expert on Japan. The man to the right of the shogun takes from him a stylus, and the fact that the shogun had been holding a stylus indicates that the map of Japan that he holds forth in his other hand was made under his authority. The man on the left in European clothes to whom the shogun shows the map of Japan is Kaempfer, and Kaempfer copies information from the shogun’s map onto his own map. In this remarkable image we see the cartographer in action, his map coming to life, something rarely depicted even in an idealized way like this,16 and the cartouche emphasizes the reliability of Kaempfer’s work by his use of Japanese maps—specifically, Japanese maps that had been created under the shogun’s authority. The accuracy of Kaempfer’s map is thus unimpeachable, and of course Seutter’s map, which he based on Kaempfer’s, shares that same accuracy. The cartouche tells the story of the map’s genesis.

Kaempfer was born at Westphalia in 1651 and after his formal studies, he applied himself to the study of natural sciences Konigsberg in Russia and Upsla Sweden. In 1689 he arrived in Batavia and after a short stay he left for Japan in May 1690, having been appointed physician to the embassy which the Dutch East India Company sent once a year the shogun’s court in Edo. He stayed in Japan until November 1792 and on his return his important two volume History of Japan was published which comprised a detailed study of the country, flora, fauna and the geography.

Seutter renders distorted coastline and withe the islands divided into political divisions. At top left is a sumptuous title cartouche in Rococo style frame surrounded with a large cartouche Japanese and Europeans, one holding a copy of the same map. At the lower right are a number of Japanese designs including those of the, ‘Armes des Princes Japonnois’.

From, Seutter, M., Atlas novus : sive tabulae geographicae totius orbis faciem, partes, imperia, regna et provincias exhibentes, exactissima cura iuzta recentissimas observation.