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Takashima Kazuyuki; Detailed map of the developed port of Yokohama; 1859. Image and original data courtesy of University of British Columbia Library, Rare Books and Special Collections

Artstor and the University of British Columbia (UBC) are now making available approximately 350 Japanese maps and prints from UBC Library’s Tokugawa collection.

UBC Library's Rare Books and Special Collections holds one of the world's largest collections of maps and guidebooks of the Japanese Tokugawa period, ca. 1600-1867. The collection varies in both format and size: items range from small single-sheet maps to more than thirty square feet, and also include a ceramic plate, a woodblock, and maps in scroll format.

Most of this collection was acquired from George H. Beans, the original collector, and is accompanied by his inventory A List of Japanese Maps of the Tokugawa Era. To that has been added a small collection from George Bonn, as well as a number of maps acquired from various other sources.

The Library’s Japanese Maps of the Tokugawa Era digital collection contains the complete collection, including hundreds of manuscript maps.