Rare and important folding wall map of Japan issued by Henry Brunton, a "foreigner for hire" entrusted with the construction of lighthouses on the shores of Japan.

Brunton was one of a select group of young, ambitious practical engineers recruited by the Japanese government to modernise Japan after centuries of seclusion. He was initially sent to Japan as an expert in the construction of lighthouses at the recommendation of the firm of David and Thomas Stephenson, who were themselves in the process of constructing a network of lighthouses along the shores of Scotland. 

Brunton arrived in Japan with his wife, sister-in-law and two assistants in 1868 and over the next seven and a half years, supervised the construction of twenty six separate European style lighthouses; complementing this, he also established a system of lighthouse keepers to staff them. 

As well as the above, he also made multiple other contributions to Japanese engineering, particularly in Yokohama. He designed its first sewage system, street lighting and paving network, drew and built its first iron bridge and planned a telegraph network. Almost as an afterthought, he drew the first European style maps of Yokohama although he was not a trained surveyor or cartographer.  There is a statue to Brunton in Yokohama detailing his many achievements. 

He finished his contract in 1876 and returned Scotland. He continued to design and build lighthouses but among his other achievements is this large wall map of Japan which was commercially produced. Brunton cites his sources as "compiled from native maps and recent travellers" probably referring to his own collection of maps as well information provided by his own acquaintances. 

Recent academic studies of this map have emphasized its importance as one of the first of its type which fuses a European style and with local Japanese information. As Japanese maps were produced with methods which were scientifically less advanced than European maps, these studies acknowledge that this map is not truly accurate. However, due to Japan's specific history, these "native maps" were the optimum sources available to Brunton at the time. 

Further emphasizing this fusion is the inclusion of a panel under the title which transliterates certain letters and syllables present in settlements and cities into English. These are based and sourced on the Anglo-Japanese dictionary compiled by the diplomat Ernest Satow and the Japanese scholar Masakata Ishibashi. Further panels also mark the roads, railways and major settlements. On the map, particular prominence is given to the lighthouses. 

The map was published by N. Trubner, not a publishing house renowned for maps, rather an academic publisher. However, there were two distinct editions, one in 1876 and one in 1880 suggesting it must have found an audience. Upon its publication, it was immediately used as a template for new maps of Japan, not least for a folding wall map of Japan by the firm of Edward Stanford, part of their famous "Library Maps" series published in 1879. Despite this, it is remarkably scarce in institutions with examples being listed in the British Library, the National Library of Scotland, and the Yokohama Archives of History only.   

This example is the 1880 second edition. Original colour. [SEAS5497]