Urbs Nangasaki

Nagasaki and Dejima. This large scale map of Nagasaki and its harbour was drawn by Kaempfer and included in the posthumously published work translated by Jacob Scheuzer. This work, first issued in 1727 became the most important and authoritative source on Japan for the next one hundred and thirty years. This plan of Nagasaki is of particular importance as it also shows the artificial island of Deshima, or modern Dejima, the location of the Dutch trading factory. At that point, the Dutch were the only Europeans officially allowed to trade in Japan. As well as being of great cartographic interest, this map is an important historical document for the study of Japan.
The border below the map illustrates a variety of Japanese gold, silver, and copper coins. [SEAS5172]