The purpose of this article is, based on a postmodervist perspective to attempt to reformulate the methodological framework for multiple-readings of the messages of picture-maps of manors (_??__??__??__??_,
syoen-ezu) in medieval Japan. The author's approach, called‘sociocartology’, is broadly socio-linguistical or semiotical. The summary is as follows:
The
syoen-ezu as a socio-legal document in medieval Japan was explored here under five themes: the bibliographical background of each individual
syoen-ezu; the cartographic conventions in medieval Japan; the syntax of each
syoen-ezu as encoded text; the cartographic discourses in each
syoen-ezu; the historico-sociological phase of geographical lore, from the viewpoint of the‘sociocartology’, in which the messages of the
syoen-ezu in the context of the linguistic lifestyles and the political behaviour patterns of the medieval Japanese people were studied systematically.
The primary function of the
syoen-ezu, was to provide geographical information about various objects that exist cosynchronously in the manorial territory (called‘Function-A’), to represent the paticular events occuring there and the ruler's political attitude towards such (called‘Function-B’), and to convey not only the ideological contents, but also the ethos that were differentiated from the literal meanings which were manifest in these maps (called‘Function-C’). Function-B and Function-C had been neglected by historical geographers.
As to the Function-B, using R. Bartes' methodology, the author considered distortions of the cartographic language which were deliberately induced by cartographic artifice, and reformulated the hidden rules of cartographic distortion (J. B. Harley, 1988) in the paradigm of cultural semiotics. On this basis the highly variegated cartographic discourse, made up from various social dialects among the map makers according to differences of the sociohistorical context, was reconstructed from the standpoint of both map-maker and mapreader.
As to Function-C, the notion of geosophy as ideology of the lord of the manor was equivalent to that of
fusui (_??__??_, geomantik) and
inyo-gogyo (_??__??__??__??_) originated from ancient Chinese philosophy. The physical landscape of the
syoen-ezu was, therefore, not due to what was seen in itself, but something to be reconstructed ideally in the medieval geosophical field. For the God of Wealth and Longevity of the manorial lord, some ideal landscape types and imagined genius loci types were prefered above all as the physical basis of manorial territory to be depicted.
Reading maps from the view point of sociocartology is to elucidate the politics of meaning according to the manner in which objects and events had been expressed by forms under varying historical conditions. A manorial territory here may be seen as a construction of language as well as a land based novel, of economics, and sociopolitics (Tuan, 1991). Thus every reading of a
syoen-ezu will offer us the possibility of challenging received ideas about the politics of place.
抄録全体を表示