"Particuliere Reis Kaart van Japan Strekkende van Khurissima tot Osaka", Kaempfer/Scheuchzer
Subject: Southern Japan
Period: 1732 (circa)
Publication: De Beschryving van Japan
Color: Hand Color
14.6 x 11.6 inches
37.1 x 29.5 cm
Kaempfer (1651-1716) was a German physician in the service of the Dutch East India Company. He lived in Nagasaki between September 1690 and October 1692. He twice accompanied the chief of the factory at Deshima on his embassy to Tokyo (Edo). While in Nagasaki he conducted an intense study of Japanese history, geography, customs, and flora. Leaving Japan in November 1692 he arrived in Amsterdam in October of 1693. This map was prepared by Johann Caspar Scheuchzer from the maps brought back from Japan by Engelbert Kaempfer, and was published in a Dutch edition of Kaempfer's "History of Japan."
The map describes the third part of the route from the Desima trading post at Nagasaki to the shogun in Edo. It covers the sea route from Kurishima to Osaka. This journey was embarked upon once a year by the ambassadors of the Dutch East India Company, and was the only opportunity for foreigners to travel in Japan during this period.
References: Walter #104C.
A nice impression and attractive color with four small worm holes in unengraved areas of the image and two along the centerfold that have all been professionally infilled.