Sekai bankoku Nihon yori kaijō risu kokuin ōjō jinbutsuzu (世界萬國日本ヨリ海上里数国印王城人物図)
What it is: The red layer includes the Asian landmass, the outline of Japan, the sun, the northern star, two rivers, several base colors for labels and colorings on the characters. There are several island groups, in what might be the East/South China Seas (the seas are not labelled), that are colored in red. Some of these islands extend beyond the equator or the horizontal dividing line in the middle of the map. Why it is important: Here, the idea of Japan in accordance with the “omphalos syndrome,” as the center of the world is depicted (Harley 2001: 66). The red outline differentiates it from the other countries or landmasses. Further, the red color is the same one used to color the “sun,” which reflects Japan’s importance as the land of the rising sun (日本 directly translates as sun’s origin). The project of nationalism is thus, to some extent, portrayed through this map. There is an interesting sense of (Cartesian-influenced?) dualism on this map portrayed with the reflection of the East and West Red Seas. The Red Sea in Asia is reflected in its counterpart in North America, which is presumably the Gulf of Mexico. This trope is also conveyed in the North/South stars, Southwest and Southeast Seas, where the whole map is centered on a compass with cardinal directions represented. Also, the red colors the garb of the picture of figures for the “Women Country” towards the top left of the map. This might have been imported from Ricci’s map, who notes that there is a Land of Women in the Caucasus that puts to death any male if there are too many (a possible reference to the Amazons) (Ricci and Giles 1918: 378). This goes in conjunction with other creatures like dwarves, giants and monocular peoples (which brings to mind Herodotus’ Histories). Nevertheless, it is interesting that red is the primary color for the women as opposed to blue for the monocular figure. Citations: Harley, J. B. The New Nature of Maps: Essays in the History of Cartography. Johns Hopkins paperbacks ed. Baltimore, Md: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001. Ricci, Matteo, and Lionel Giles. "Translations from the Chinese World Map of Father Ricci." The Geographical Journal 52, no. 6, 367-85. 1918.
Another critical function of this map was to show the reader(s) how to move personnel and supplies around the beach area and, more importantly, further inland. This layer shows the roads—perhaps existing (represented by the solid lines) and planned (represented by the dashed lines)—that would be used for such movement and transportation purposes.
The third layer is for the “shore party”, in this case the 533rd Regiment. This layer consists of the multitude of military graphics for the use by this particular unit only. While the map was designed by the S-2 (Intelligence Officer) of the 533rd, I believe that some of the graphics, IE the bivouac areas and unit symbols, were only for the Soldiers of the 533rd and not necessary information for follow-on units. In other words, if I was a Soldier in F Company, 533rd, I would know, by looking at the map, that I could find food and a place to sleep in the northwest quadrant of 533rd’s territory. With typical military precision, the S-2 carefully drew each unit’s designator, along with numerical text next to each symbol. The associated circle surrounding each unit designates the amount of territory each unit can take for its company area. The Head Quarters of the 533rd is situated in the middle of the logistics operations, in an appropriate spot to control the operations.
This layer is composed of toponyms and added color. Though the map includes names of regions and even a few cities, I was unable to reliably trace anything smaller than the names of continents and oceans. I call these "sociopolitical" because they represent what the evidently European cartographers called these bodies of land and water. They paint the world from a specific perspective that draws on the totalizing power of the map as an instrument of colonial control over land. I believe this is further demonstrated by the outlines of continents. Europe is in pink, Africa in green, and the Americas and Australasia in yellow. There seems to be some organizing scheme to this peculiar choice of color, but I cannot completely identify it. The fact that Asia is in yellow defeats the idea that it might be New World vs. Old World. It seems more likely to be highlighting a divide between Europe and the rest of the world, but if so why is Africa a different color? Though I cannot exactly identify the reasoning, it seems evident that the continents are outlined differently for more than a simple geographic reason.
The purpose of the text serves to help the viewer identify countries, cities, or river names. This map was likely used more for artistic purposes rather than traveling purposes, so having the text in Latin allowed for ease in translation to other languages. Some text is emphasized more than other text. For example, the names of the continents stand out, but the names of the cities are in small, cursive font.
Perhaps the central feature of the map are the bodies of water that run through the territory of Berlin, namely the river Spree and several smaller tributaries. The waterways are emphasized on the map with a separate color (blue) and with curved lines, which are reproduced on this layer. The direction of the river flow is also marked on the map with an arrow, suggesting that this information was important to visitors of 18th-century Berlin.
This layer depicts a symbol that is used frequently on the map. It is a small black square with a small hole in the middle, hence the name "Black donut squares." These squares occur only on land masses, pretty evenly spread around the world, and their inclusion means they are marking something important that exists in different areas of the world. The shape used hints that they are meant to narrow in on an exact location; the small hole in the middle directs the viewer's eyes to a specific point on the map. In many modern maps I am familiar with, symbols that are small and focused represent cities or settlements, which was my initial guess for what they mean on this map. On second look, I saw that there are many of them on the large Southern land mass (probably Antarctica), which definitely does not have several major cities. The symbols do not obviously look like any physical landscape feature either. These squares are the most puzzling element of the map to me and I wonder if being able to read Japanese would clarify their meaning, or if the lack of an obvious key or legend makes it difficult to interpret for even the Japanese-fluent viewer. Even though I have difficulty interpreting the symbols' meaning, I can tell they are important for the conveying information about the world and what it contains, so I decided to include it as one of my layers. Their isolation as a layer did not significantly help me in understanding their function.
What it is: Both the Americas and what might be construed as Africa (Libya) are portrayed by the blue layer. This colored layer also includes mountain ranges in Asia and Terra Australis. I am most intrigued by one particular mountain range that seems to be located in a black landmass area in the north, near what is called “Ghost Country.” Blue is also the most frequently used color for the various figures around the map, which includes the garb of the monocular people. Interestingly, it is not the color of the seas/water bodies. It also seems to be the darkest color, other than the black that is overlaid on top. Why it is important: I have commented on the other layers regarding the potential for color hierarchies in illustrating mountain ranges. Here, both the Americas are depicted in a uniform blue, which resembles the African continent. This might be a function of distance, relative to the central Japanese landmass.
This layer is a zoomed out "frame of reference" composed of the illustrations around the circles containing the geographic information of the other three layers. Following Harley, I argue that this is more than just a pretty picture but actually says something about how the mapmaker sees the world. The presence of angels, cherubs, and Zodiac motifs (including Pisces, Gemini, and Cancer) implies a sort of "Celestial context," showing how the earth is surrounded by the abodes of stars and angels. Situating the map's world within Hellenic and Christian cosmology expresses a particular view of the world and its environs that is more than incidental to the map's meaning.
Description: The colors of continents can be broken down into roughly six types; Blue, Red, Yellow, Green and Pink, and Black. (I have not colored the pink parts because I did not own any coloring utensils of the same color) Significance: Looking at the map from afar, one might see two large masses of land facing each other across the Pacific Ocean. It almost looks as if this is showing a rival-like relationship between the cold blue-colored landmass on the right and a warm colored landmass on the left. Furthermore, it’s also perceivable that Japan is leading the land pack on the left in its “fight” or confrontation against the right side. Although it is difficult to find a systematic link between colors and continents, the blue and cool color scheme of North and South America may be showing the world of mysteries and uncertainty, possibly representing notions of fear as well. It seems strange that most of Europe and Japan are shaded yellow while China is almost completely red. However, it is worthwhile noting that during this time, China was still operating trade at the peak of its “Imperial Chinese Tributary System”, in which countries that wanted to trade with China were required to pay tribute to show China’s cultural superiority over their own countries. When looking at the space between China and Japan closely, it almost looks as if China is in some sense, “eating” Japan. Thus, the red color may symbolize Japanese sentiments of antagonism towards the Chinese. Note that the red color highlighting the borders of Japan may be alluding to the force of the sun, otherwise known as the symbol of Japan, and is used here to depict the country’s “radiation of superiority”. European countries are yellow perhaps because Japan was influenced by European countries, primarily the Dutch (the only country that was allowed to trade with the Japanese during the isolation period) that wanted their countries to be depicted positively in the Japanese world map. The green color is used for mountains and the continent of Libya (current day Africa) which can possibly be based on a Japanese belief that these lands were still undeveloped and perhaps uninhabited. The pink color is used to identify the fictional land of Terra Australis, maybe showing the cartographer’s not-quite-assertive tone of its actual existence. Last but not least, the black color used to portray the Northern part of the map represents the dark fantastical forces in the North Pole that were believed to have existed in this century.