NAGAKUBO, Sekisui (after).

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Chikyu bankoku sankai yochi zenzu setsu ("A Map of the World with Explanations"). Later edition, in excellent condition. The accompanying commentary introduces the four oceans and six continents known at the time, as well as the equator, the tropics of cancer and capricorn, and the longitude and latitude systems more generally.In approximately 1785, Nagakubo released the first edition of Chikyu bankoku sankai yochi zenzu setsu, based on Matteo Ricci's 1602 Chinese world map, Kunyu wanguo quantu. While Nagakubo's work generally represents the shape of the continents correctly, a number of relics of an earlier, less cartographically accurate age are still visible. The Baja California peninsula is shown separated from Mexico by the "Eastern Red Sea" (Mar Bermejo), although only one island is shown in the gulf. The southern tip of South America is labelled as "The Land of the Tall Giants", the Arctic Circle is identified as "The Land of the Night People", and Terra Australis (called Megaranika) is drawn at the south. Longitude is not identified numerically, but rather by using the 12 signs of the Chinese zodiac.Nagakubo Sekisui (1717-1801) was a cartographer, samurai, and Confucian scholar active in Osaka. He produced his first map in 1768 and is best known for publishing Kaisei Nihon yochi rotei zenzu (1779), the earliest Japanese map to introduce a co-ordinate system.

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