Kokkei Ō-A Gaikō Chizu = A Humorous Diplomatic Atlas of Europe and Asia

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Kokkei Ō-A Gaikō Chizu = A Humorous Diplomatic Atlas of Europe and Asia

Nishida, Suketarō [text by]; Ohara, Kisaburō [envisaged by]; Nakamura, Shingo [supervised by].

Ishikawa: Nishida Suketarō, Meiji 37 [1904]. Third edition.

A satirical map produced in Japan during the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905). The work shows Russia as a giant octopus whose tentacles cling to and strangle countries around it. The design for the allegorical map was of course based on earlier maps that also depicted Russia as a large octopus - J.J. van Brederode's Humoristische-Oorlogskaart of 1870 and Frederick Rose's Serio-Comic War Map of 1877 - but features China, Japan, Tibet, and other countries excluded from the earlier maps. The supervisor of the anthropomorphic map, Nakamura Shingo, was a professor specialising in international law who worked at several institutions in Tokyo including Waseda University. Ohara Kisaburō, the figure who "envisaged" the map and provided the text for the explanatory panel in English, was a student at Keio University at the time of publication. This third edition was published on the 28th of April 1904, during the siege of Port Arthur. All editions are scarce. 

One sheet, printed in chromolithography on one side. Creases, soiling, a few stains, small losses to fold intersections. Tape repairs and stains to verso. Extremities chipped. 49.6 x 66.2 cm.

Kokkei Ō-A Gaikō Chizu = A Humorous Diplomatic Atlas of Europe and Asia
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