In Printing Landmarks: Popular Geography and Meisho Zue in Late Tokugawa Japan, Robert Goree takes on the daunting task of defining a flexible genre of Japanese popular geographies of the Tokugawa period. Meisho zue, printed books often referred to as “illustrated guidebooks” in English (though they were not necessarily used as practical guidebooks), contained rich textual descriptions and detailed images of places both familiar and foreign.
Despite their frequent citation in studies of Tokugawa-period history, art history, literature, and geography, there has not yet been a foundational study of the genre, possibly because of the complexity of works, which combine image and text, geographic fact, and vibrant imagination. This book's multidisciplinary mode in the service of analyzing works of cultural geography puts it into conversation with others who have engaged studies of the relationship between print, culture, and geography, such as Mary Elizabeth Berry's Japan in Print, Marcia Yonemoto's Mapping Early Modern Japan, and broader studies of geography and cartography.Footnote 1 As such, Printing Landmarks constitutes not only an important introduction to an underrepresented genre, but also a model for approaching the complex illustrated printed works of the Tokugawa period.
One of the issues with trying to write an introduction to meisho zue is the varied nature of the genre. In setting out to define it, Goree takes the originating work, Miyako meisho zue (Illustrated collection of famous places in the capital, 1780) as the model for the genre. Compiled by Akisato Ritō (ca. 1733–1812) and illustrated by Takehara Shunchōsai (fl. 1772–1801), Goree argues for Miyako meisho zue's importance—and, by extension, Ritō's importance in creating and growing the new genre—and in doing so reinforces the continuing place of Kyoto as a site of production, destabilizing the oft-held view of Edo as central to printed book culture during the Tokugawa period.
The first chapter asserts that editors and publishers targeted a specific audience with an offering that encouraged gayū (which Goree translates as “lie down and go”), a method of relaxed, imaginary travel through text or image. Goree contends this was deployed to appeal to a more diverse audience, including women and children, pointing to statements in introductory texts and supported by the illustrations. Perhaps more compelling than the texts and images (which may not have reflected actual readership) is the historical and literary evidence that Goree presents of readers of different genders, ages, and social statuses purchasing and enjoying the books. By offering a means of virtual travel, meisho zue helped a varied readership place themselves in broader geographies.
In chapter 2, Goree looks closely at the representational strategies deployed in meisho zue, as both image and text worked to appear as “convincing surrogates for real travel” (p. 70). Focusing on the specific example of Nonomiya Shrine, Goree contends that this was accomplished through a collaborative production process that, though informed by research, ultimately relied on actual observation. Though Goree recognizes the role of other influences such as previous models, intellectual property, and personal interests, he argues that an innovative focus on the empirical shaped the production and reception of Miyako meisho zue.
Goree's third chapter focuses on the relationship of meisho zue and maps, asserting that the books act as “composite cartographic objects” (p. 114). He argues that the images, text, and overall organization of the book constitute a form of mapping. While acknowledging earlier artistic and mapping models, Goree contends that the images (using the untranslated term zu throughout, to allow for flexible interpretation) broke new ground in combining the cartographic and pictorial. Looking beyond the visual to the book's organizational structure as well, this chapter does the important work of expanding ideas of mapping and convincingly argues for the works to be understood as partaking in the same rigorous geospatial logic as more familiar forms of maps.
The reader is prompted to consider the overall image of the places presented within the meisho zue pages in the fourth chapter. Though the emphasis on the empirical might lead one to expect that these books depicted contemporary reality, Goree demonstrates that Ritō deliberately omitted any reference to strife, and instead created visions of widespread abundance and prosperity. Indeed, the slippage between map and image/book seems to have made this possible, as Goree notes that it was perhaps easier for Miyako meisho zue to elide contemporary issues of politics. Careful editing by Ritō and Shunchōsai thus allowed for a vision of the capital defined by commoner interests and aspirations.
The last chapter investigates the network that emanated from Ritō in the making of meisho zue. Carefully tracking publications as nodes of interaction among writers, editors, artists, and publishers, this important analysis of meisho zue production deftly illustrates the collaborative nature of publishing and the complex and layered networks at work in the industry. Furthermore, by including a range of books in the meisho zue genre, Goree not only allows for the flexible nature of the genre, but also argues for its broader influence. Tracing the network from the initial Miyako meisho zue, Goree illustrates Ritō's importance as the originator of the genre, as well as the cultivator of extensive networks that would continue to grow and expand.
As the study of meisho zue is important to many disciplines, Goree's book will no doubt be invaluable for specialists who must contend with this dense and complex material. Moreover, while the practice of daydreaming while thumbing through travel books may be familiar to the modern reader, Goree's book illustrates just how groundbreaking it was for a Tokugawa-period reader to enjoy virtual travel through meisho zue. This important study of meisho zue shows the broad-reaching possibilities of popular geography in print, shaping a common understanding of places near and far.
