Ancient Map, Modern State: Toward a Geo-History of the Meiji Restoration

The continuing career of Shinano Province as present-day Nagano Prefecture suggests that the reformers of the Meiji era (1868-1912) recruited classical geography to the cause of administrative reform. Under the guise of new toponyms, nineteenth-century oligarchs effectively reinscribed an ancient set of imperial boundaries on the landscape of modern Japan. This classicizing strategy was not altogether new; nor was it promoted solely by power-holders at the center. Dating from the era of the unification wars in the sixteenth century, the project of restoring the ritsuryo map was ultimately embraced and carried forward by local literati in the provinces themselves. This illustrated talk will explore these issues through an examination of maps and gazetteers from central Honshu. Kären Wigen is Associate Professor of History at Stanford University. A geographer by training, she brings a spatial sensibility to the Japanese past. Her research interests have ranged from economics to education, from mountains to the oceans, and from the local to the global. Her recent work centers on cartography, chorography, and regionalism in central Japan.

Sponsored by the East Asia Center, the IHC’s East Asian Cultures RFG, the IHC, and the departments of East Asian Languages and Cultural Studies, History, and Geography.

hm 5/19/09