Kazutaka Unno

Unno Kazutaka, 1996

Kazutaka Unno ( Japanese 海 野 一 隆 Unno Kazutaka ; born 1921 in Fukuoka Prefecture ; died May 4, 2006 ) was a Japanese explorer of ancient maps with a focus on East Asia. In addition, he also researched in general the historical relationships in map science between East and West.

life and work

Japan map, 1710 (from "Chizu no Shiwa")

Unno studied at the University of Kyoto at the History Department, where Komaki Saneshige (小 牧 実 繁; 1898–1990) directed his interest to the history of geography, the subject in which he then graduated. In 1948 he moved to Osaka University , where he then became a professor. He then also worked there until his departure as "Meijo Kyōju"

Unno's work can be divided into four areas: The first area includes his work, which he carried out together with his teacher Muroga Nobuo (室 賀信夫; 1907–1982) on Buddhist maps in Japan, for which they won the prestigious Imago Mundi Prize in 1963 from the International Council of the History of Cartography. The aim was to clarify the extent to which Buddhist cosmology influenced the maps. Another aspect was the influence of information from Europe that came to Japan with missionary work from the end of the 16th century.

The second area concerns research into the development of cartography in China and Korea. He dealt not only with the Islamic influence on the Chinese maps, but also with the examination of the national-oriented maps with the traditional maps of the Korean Yi dynasty . Here, too, he researched the influence of the West from the 17th century.

The position of the Chinese Guang-xing-tu (廣 興 圖) cards in the cultural history of the cards is the third area that Unno dealt with. This atlas was originally published in the middle of the 16th century, but has been revised several times after research by Unno. In Europe it formed the basis for the China maps there. When working on the topic Unno came u. a. concluded that the marking of deserts with interspersed dots in western atlases was adopted from there. The accompanying book was published posthumously under the title "The Place of Kuang-yü-tu in the Cultural History of Maps."

Unno published the third, final area of ​​his interest in the extensive, two-volume work "Monographs on the History of Cartographical Exchange between the East and the West"

Previously published works include “Conversations about Maps”, “The Cultural History of Maps - The World and Japan” and “Japan, Seen on Maps”

Remarks

1. ↑ Published by Terajima Ryōan (寺 島 良 安) in his work “Wakan Sansai Zue” (和 漢 三才 図 会), reproduced in Unno's book “Conversations about Cards” p. 134.
2. ↑ Meijo Kyōju (名誉 教授) is usually translated as “emeritus”, but in Japan it is an honorary title that is only awarded in selected cases.

literature

• Hisatake, Tetsuya, et al. a .: Kazutaka UNNO ​​(1921-2006) and His Works on the History of Cartography . In: Osaka University Daigakuin Notes Volume 47, 2007.3, pp. 185-234. Japanese, summary in English.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ 地 図 の 文化 史上 の 広 興 図 (Chizu no bunka shijo no Guang-xing-tu) Tōyō Bunko , 2010. ISBN 978-4-80970247-1
2. ↑ J 東西 地 図 文化 交 史 研究 (Tōzai chizu bunka koshi kenkyū), Seibundo Verlag, 2004. ISBN 4-7924-0541-6 .
3. ↑ ち ず の し わ. (Chizu no shiwa) Yushodo Press, 1985. ISBN 4-8419-0009-8
4. ↑ 地 図 の 文化史 - 世界 と 日本. (Chizu no bunkashi. Sekai to Nihon.) Yasaka Shobo 1996. ISBN 4-89694-673-1 .
5. ↑ 地 図 に 見 る 日本. (Chizu ni miru Nihon) Taishukan, 1999. ISBN 4-469-23204-1 .

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . So Unno is the family name, Kazutaka the first name.