Kita Sadakichi (1871–1939) was a Japanese historical geographer active from the Meiji to early Shōwa periods. He was a pioneer in developing and popularizing the field, founding the first academic historical geography society in Japan (Nihon Rekishi Chiri Kenkyukai) and lecturing at such institutions as Tokyo Imperial University and Kyoto Imperial University. However, he has not been adequately recognized in studies of historical geography. This was a result of the geographical field’s reaction to his not positioning historical geography within the field of geography, but rather seeing it as a mere auxiliary to the study of history (a geographical study of history). The present study examines Kita’s historical geography objectively, and seeks to reevaluate his position in the history of Japanese geography. For that purpose, the author made use of his lecture records and notes (unpublished) held by the University Library of the Tokushima University.
The following points were learned as a result of this study: (1) Kita did not see historical geography as a simple adjunct to the study of history as has long been claimed, but instead clearly positioned it as a field within geography. (2) Kita furthermore thought that historical geography could contribute to the development of human geography, an undeveloped field at the time. For that time, this was an advanced academic view. (3) On the other hand, his studies include aspects of historical geography that do not belong to geography, transcending the accepted category of historical geography to include to a nontrivial degree ancient history as well as ethnic history, archaeology, geographical studies of history, etc. (4) As a result, his appraisal by the geographers of that time was low, and his contributions to historical geography seem to have been maintained in the field of history but not in the field of geography. (5) Nevertheless, Kita’s view of historical geography was, for his day, quite advanced, and deserves to be reevaluated within the field of the history of geography.
