2015 Volume 67 Issue 6 Pages 524-540
Japan was the first country in East Asia to carry out a series of reforms for the establishment of a modern cadastral system. In 1872, the Meiji Government started to implement several policies related to the Land Tax Reform, including the preparation of cadastral maps. However, it had to change the initial reform plan and remold the form of cadastral maps several times up to 1890. The complete replacement of the old regime for the registration and taxation of land with a modern system was an unexplored task in East Asia, and the Meiji Government had to search for a proper course. This study traces the complicated process of these reforms and follows up on the application of the lessons from this progression in East Asia.
In Japan, farmers usually participated in the survey of taxed land during the Tokugawa period. The Meiji Government carried on this old practice under many constraints. As a result, modern technology such as plane-table surveying was introduced gradually and applied unevenly, according to local conditions. In many areas, cadastral maps produced on the basis of early modern cartography were utilized for land registration even after 1890.
In Japanese colonies (Taiwan, Korean Peninsula, and the Kwantung District), the bureaucrats in charge of land registration profited from this experience of reform in mainland Japan and established organizations made up of specialists including surveyors for this task. The plane-table survey in combination with triangulation became standard.
