"Inō Shōzu" Map of the Chugoku, Shikoku, and Kyushu Area of Japan

This map was based on the first survey of Japan, done by Ino Tadataka (1745-1818). It was completed after his death in 1821 and presented to the Tokugawa Shogunate. On this map, one of there that covered the entire country, although there is not much inland detail, the coastline is drawn with the precision of a modern map.

Inō started the land measurement project all since 1800. He devoted seventeen years to complete this project. After his death, more than 220 sheets of maps which depicted all detailed coastlines all over the Japan islands. Unfortunately, most of these original maps were lost in fires occurred in Tokyo. There are some copies from them that were duplicated and inherited in some Daimyo families. Kobe City Museum has two sheets of map, which were elaborately copied from the original Inō’s maps.