# 45982

Anon.

A rare Russo-Japanese War era map of Japan and its trading routes, including with Australia, published as a fan

Tokyo : Koyama, circa 1905. Map printed in colour, 240 x 400 mm (opened), red-striped design verso; fine condition, with the Tokyo maker’s label on the bamboo baton.

A rare Russo-Japanese War era patriotic Japanese map in two parts, presented in the shape of a fan. The left portion is a detailed map of Japan and its neighbours, including Taiwan, Korea, China and Russia; the right portion shows broader Japanese trading routes to India, Europe, England, Hong Kong, the United States, and Australia.

Taiwan is indicated through colouring as being a Japanese possession, which it had become in 1895 at the end of the First Sino-Japanese War. Sakhalin Island, north of Hokkaido, is marked as being only partially under Japanese control: while Japan and Russia had traditionally been in joint control of the island, it had been solely in Russian hands since 1875, possession only again being shared with Japan from 1905. Korea is marked as ‘Joseon Dynasty’ (which ended in 1891) in the left-hand map, but in the right-hand map it is titled ‘Korea’, and is not shown as being a Japanese possession. Korea became a protectorate of Japan at the end of the Russo-Japanese War in 1905, and within a few years of this date it is usually marked on maps as being a full Japanese possession.