MAPS AND METAPHORS OF THE "SMALL EASTERN SEA" IN TOKUGAWA JAPAN (1603-1868) [*]. From: The Geographical Review | Date: April 1, 1999| Author: YONEMOTO, MARCIA | COPYRIGHT 1999 American Geographical Society. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group.Copyright information

ABSTRACT. This article examines the ways in which oceans were depicted in Japanese geographical writings and maps from the Tokugawa period. It uses these texts to understand how early modern Japanese visions of the Pacific and of maritime Asian waters constructed epistemological frameworks through which the Japanese saw their place in an increasingly complex web of regional and global connections. In the absence of actual adventure on the "high seas," Japanese writers, artists, and...