Sangoku tsuran zusetsu (Illustrated General Survey of the Three Countries), 1785 (colour woodblock print)

SHIHEI, Hayashi (1738-1793). Sangoku tsuran zusetsu. (Illustrated General Survey of the Three Countries). Edo: Suharaya Ichibei, 5th of Temnei [1785]. Text volume: 4° (261 x 188 mm). Printed text including 22 single-page hand-colored wood-block illustrations and 5 double-page illustrations, two of which are printed verso to recto. Bound Japanese style, sewn with green thread over blue Japanese tissue wrappers; modern cloth folding box. “Atlas” containing 5 folded manuscript maps in ink and color wash (some repairs with minor loss): 1. Japan overview. 730 x 518 mm (on heavier paper), bound between slate-colored diamond-patterned Japanese boards; boxed separately in modern cloth folding box. 2. Eight Roads of Korea. 490 x 672 mm (laid down on heavier paper). 3. Ryukyu Islands. 538 x 725 mm (thin paper). 4. Islands North of Japan. 540 x 890 mm (thin paper). 5. Islands South of Tokyo. 280 x 550 mm (thin paper); boxed together with above three maps in modern cloth folding box; accompanied with original(?) oblong portfolio of red patterned-silk over boards with green silk ribbon ties. EXCEEDINGLY RARE FIRST EDITION of Shihei's famous Sangoku Tsuran Zusetsu (Illustrated General Survey of the Three Countries), which describes Joseon Korea, the Ryukyu Kingdom, and Hokkaido—considered the most important geopolitical treatise of the period. It was one of the first Japanese works to relate Japan to its neighbors and as such was banned by the Edo government in 1792. It is considered one of the first modern attempts to define Japan compared to foreign nations, raising the question of external borders and the claim of some islands.