On Togai Ito's Codex of Maps and a Manuscript Originally Prepared by the Tokugawa-Shogunate Expediters to the Bonin Islands

Abstract

For the first time in 333 years Togai Ito’s codex, two maps and a manuscript, is put on a scholar’s test bench from Tenri Central Library. This codex derives from the original prepared by the Tokugawa-Shogunate expediters to the Bonin Islands in 1675. Two maps are the nautical chart between Japan proper and the Bonin Islands as well as the coastal chart of the Bonin Islands. The manuscript consists of the log of the ongoing journey, descriptions of island geography and natural history, the list of natural resources brought back to Edo, and the diary of the return journey. Results of the 1675 expedition are revisited at two aspects. One is discoveries of four islands on route (the first historic records). Another is presentation of living birds and bats at Shogun Ietsuna. All discoveries of the endemic are the first historic records. Astonishing is discovery of Purple Swamphen (now extinct).