2018 Volume 56 Issue 1 Pages 24-39
Ph. F. von Siebold came to Japan to serve as physician at the Dutch Trading Post on Deshima in Nagasaki and, upon his return to Europe in 1828, he attempted to take with him a map of Japan, a prohibited item, that he had received from Kageyasu Takahashi, who was in government service as Tenmonkata. When the map was discovered by the government, the persons involved were apprehended and the map was confiscated. This was the so-called “Siebold Incident.” Siebold, however, had covertly made a copy of the map, which he took with him out of the country. Siebold produced a map based on the map he had brought back and published the map, which depicted the shape of the Japanese archipelago more accurately than those existing in Europe at the time, in Leiden, Holland in 1840.
The paper identified this map of Japan which Siebold obtained from Kageyasu Takahashi and used as the original source of the Siebold’s map of Japan. In research to date, the map has been conjectured to be the Kana-gaki Inō Tokubetsu Shōzu（ Special Small Inō Map with Kana Notations）, which is in the collection of the National Diet Library, though there has been no direct evidence that would actually prove this. For verification, a survey was conducted of map materials in the possession of the von Brandenstein-Zeppelin family, descendants of Siebold who currently reside in Germany.
This group of map materials has not been well known in map research thus far. After first providing an introduction, it is pointed out that, as a characteristic, it is comprised primarily of handtraced maps, drafts and such. Due to this characteristic, it was possible to determine from this group of map materials the manner in which Siebold actually carried out tasks involving maps. As a result of the survey, five maps of Japan were found that would appear to have a relationship to the Kanagaki Inō Tokubetsu Shōzu. In particular, through a detailed examination of scale and notation content on two of the maps, items 22 and 26, unique characteristics were identified that are apparent in the Kana-gaki Inō Tokubetsu Shōzu, providing definite proof that they were copied. At the same time, by clarifying, based on new materials relating to the Siebold Incident, the content of testimony given by Kageyasu Takahashi, who was subjected to interrogation for the crime of providing Siebold with the map of Japan, a prohibition item, it was confirmed that the map of Japan at issue is indeed the Kana-gaki Inō Tokubetsu Shōzu.
Furthermore, examining the place names and longitude/latitude notations on map item 22, it was verified that the major source is Shoshū Keii （Siebold-collection of Leiden University Library）, which is an abridged version of Chisei Teiyō（Outline of the Geography of Japan） edited by Kageyasu Takahashi, in addition to the source provided by A. J. von Krusenstern. Based on the facts mentioned above that the Kana-gaki Inō Tokubetsu Shōzu is a map edited by Kageyasu Takahashi and that the major source of information concerning the place names and longitude/latitude notations is Kageyasu Takahashi, it was clarified that he was not merely a provider of a map of Japan but contributed considerably to Siebold’s map of Japan as the provider of his own unique geographical product.
