Abstract
A terrestrial globe once owned by a curate of Myogenji Buddhist temple and now kept by Hagi City Museum
Utsunomiya Yojiro *
This paper describes the form and size of a terrestrial globe once owned by a curate of Myogenji Buddhist temple and now kept in the Hagi City Museum, together with some geographical information it provides. The globe described is 305 mm in diameter and constructed from glued Gofun whitewash. It has a wooden stand with two wooden supports 162 mm in height whose tops are cut to form a crescent-like groove. The axis of the globe is laid horizontally on these grooves, resembling a unicycle. Hence, it can be considered an example of a unicycle-type globe. The stand also serves as the lid of the wooden case, bearing scales measuring 349x349x343 mm. The gores pasted on the face of the globe were produced by redrawing the geographical information on the world map made by Hashimoto Sokichi known as Oranda-shinyaku-chikyuzenzu, which was printed in 1796 and distributed in and around Osaka in the Naniwa area of Kansai, western Japan. Several globes of the same unicycle type are preserved in several museums, including Shimonoseki City Art Museum and Kobe City Museum, in western Japan. Although the name of the globe-maker remains unknown, this globe does not appear to have been produced by an intellectual, or someone with geographical knowledge, as the lines of longitude and latitude are sometimes geminated, and meridian lines drawn at irregular intervals are evident. The maker appears to have been unaware of the significance of these lines, which indicate absolute location on the map. The globe and several newspaper cuttings dated May 10th or 11th 1937 are boxed in a chest. This globe appears to have been made during the period between 1796, when the map on which the gores were based was published, and 1937, which was when the newspaper was printed.
*)Emeritus professor of Mie University.
