The 19th century British
Japanese people during the isolation period
I drew this based solely on hearsay.

Today I would like to introduce a message sent to me by book hunter Masago Sato.The World in Miniature: Japan This is a collection of 20 hand-colored copperplate prints.

A miniature paintingThe 20 pieces were copperplate prints bound into a book. It is a mystery how they were cut out and ended up on the second-hand book market, but originally there were only 20 images, and all the other pages were English reading material. In addition to the images, 248 pages were devoted to descriptions of ethnicity, manners, customs, religion, clothing, entertainment, commerce, and agriculture. It was the first time that Japan was informationized according to global standards at the time. It could be said to be a book similar to today's Wikipedia.

The World in Miniaturewas a trend among British citizens just before the Victorian era, when they began to look abroad.As a small book series for general readersIt was very popular. 43 volumes have been published in six years, including Japan (1 volume), China (2 volumes), Southeast Asia (2 volumes), Hawaii, New Zealand, and Micronesia and Polynesia (2 volumes). The publisher, Ackerman, was founded in London in 1796. Microcosm of London This was one of the leading publishers and bookstores in the early 19th century in Britain, known for its large illustrated books with colored prints, such as Repository of Arts, Literature, Fashions (1809-1829), and the illustrated magazine Repository of Arts, Literature, Fashions (1809-1829). It still has many collectors today. It was edited by Frederic Shoberl (1775-1853), who was also an illustrator and planner. In addition to this series, it has a large collection of books related to Japan.ILLUSTRATION OF JAPAN They specialized in publishing books containing beautiful color illustrations, such as:

The highlight of this work, created in early 19th century England using the most advanced printing technology of the time, is the "weird Japanese" as shown. It is just barely recognizable as Japan because it is printed with "Japan," but some of the people and clothing depicted are too difficult to tell as Japanese. The artist did not even know what a kimono was, so people wore skirts under their kimonos, rickshaws had round roofs, sandals had pointed tips, and begging bells were attached to the crotch... it is a strange scene that is not to be regretted. It was the last turn of a game of telephone that began in the Far East, and the British artist drew it with the power of his imagination, a lovable mistake, an error, a fake Japan.

This book was published in 1823. British explorer Isabella Bird first came to Japan and stayed there for seven months in 1878, so half a century earlier,There was no one to fact-check it. That's probably what happened.He relied on hearsay and expanded his imagination to create a story that he had edited.You could also look at it in a positive light as a "memories of Japan."

This strangeJAPAN in the UKThe background to the creation of this work was the impact of Japan's isolation, which lasted for over 200 years from 1639 to 1853. At that time, Japan prohibited communication with foreign countries except the Netherlands, China, and Korea in order to prohibit Christianity and maintain the feudal system, and the conditions were sufficient to create mysterious and strange folk images. The content is set in Japan in the late Edo period, and the editor, Frederic Chauvert, ILLUSTRATION OF JAPAN In the preface to "Illustrated Manners and Customs of Japan," he writes about his aim in publishing the book: "I was concerned about the situation in which knowledge and information about Japan had been monopolized by the Dutch, and through this book I aimed to spread knowledge about Japan to the British and other Europeans at large." His intentions were very serious, and he was not joking.

In 2015,Surprisingly,Of the World in Miniature series, which includes this copperplate print, seven volumes are related to Asia."Asia-Pacific in the 19th Century Miniature World" (7 volumes + separate commentary)This book has been reprinted in Japan under the title "The Great Passage." The following is a recommendation from Professor Rie Shidooka of Jissen Women's University:

This collection is part of a 43-volume series published in the early 19th century to provide information about countries around the world to the general reader. The editor and author, Shobar, has a wide range of interests, and in addition to editing magazines such as New Monthly Magazine and The Forget-me-Not, he has also published a number of travel literature, as well as university history books such as A History of the University of Oxford (1814) and A History of the University of Cambridge (1815). When you open the Japan volume of Shobar's collection, which seems to be rich in trivia, the first thing that catches your eye is the colorful illustrations, which are somewhat strange Japanese...The ``Lady Outing'' wears a small tent-like garment attached to the end of a fishing pole, and the ``Woman Carrying a Baby'' has about ten hairpins pointing horizontally into her disk-like hair. The table of contents lists topics such as ``Infanticide,'' ``Suicide,'' and ``Earthquakes,'' and also covers ``Ezo.'' This series can be enjoyed in a variety of ways, such as comparing it with Isabella Bird's travel journal from the late 19th century, or comparing it with current history textbooks.

--Rie Shidooka (Jissen Women's University)

Another groundbreaking feature of The World in Miniature was that it was published in a convenient paperback size that fit in the palm of your hand at the time. Born in the early 19th century, when Western countries were becoming interested in the outside world, The Portable World was published in a series that was so successful that the number of copies printed is unknown, but it is still recognized around the world today.

Text by Ema Otobe