Map Week #5 - The Trains of Edo
Comments: 7
Edo Tokyo Meguri (Edo Densha Rosenzu), Jinbunsha, 2003
Sticking with the themes of old maps, novelties, and views of Ueno, this is an Edo-era map of Tokyo overlaid with the current subway system (see below for the multi-coloured ramen that is the entire route map). Jinbunsha has apparently released a whole series of gimmicky old maps as part of the “400 Years from Edo to Tokyo” celebrations that are taking place in various forms recently. This is the only one I’ve seen.
Tokyo subway system as of late 2002
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Posted to Other Places • 2003.07.11 (Fri) • 11:56
Comments
Posted by aldahlia 2003.07.11, 14:48
Wow. I’m new to the whole public transit thing, as I recently moved cross-country. That’s a tourists nightmare. And, you listen to Bob Wills! You’re the first blogger I’ve run across that even knows of Bob Wills.
Posted by jh 2003.07.11, 21:20
Oh, everybody knows Bob Wills!
Posted by Adam Rice 2003.07.12, 01:51
Wonderful. The modern train maps are really a triumph of information design.
I wonder if there are any old maps of the early Tokyo subway system, when it was just the Ginza-sen and Marunouchi-sen.
Posted by meg 2003.07.12, 03:02
Interesting. A beautiful map.
Posted by jh 2003.07.13, 11:58
Adam —- Perhaps a better idea for the series would have been to drop the novelty aspect (although the idea of superimposing modern infrastructure over old maps is perfectly cool) and release a series of unadulterated maps showing the layering of Tokyo over Edo through the 400 years in question. 10 or 12 maps each 30 or 40 years apart (a generation, say) would create a sort of flipbook of the growth of the city.
Posted by Lee Bibb 2006.06.12, 14:21
Jinbunsha is way ahead of you. I have an 1899 map of Tokyo reprinted by Jimbunsha in about 1999. Also two of early (1859 & 1873) Yokohama - and when I bought those there were several other old map reprints. The question is where to acquire them short of going to Japan!
Posted by J Briggs 2006.11.19, 06:24
Love the maps. I’m interested in having a map of the edo docks along with the docks of Tokyo today. I want to be able to layer Google Earth map of Tokyo waterfront with Edo (if only in my mind) and then compare them with the beautiful painted screens of life in Edo that are available on the web. Also, love the idea of the flipbook of jh.
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