Univ. British Columbia, Canada: Tokugawa Maps digitized

H-JAPAN (E) June 29, 2011
....the entire "Japanese Maps of the Tokugawa Era" collection has now been digitized. All works are accessible via the database at
http://digitalcollections.library.ubc.ca/tokugawa/

.....the previously digitized flat maps in the collection. Books and atlases have now been added, as well as scrolls such as the following:
 http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/zoomify/G_7962_S24_P5_1860z.htm 

A recent article on the collection and the digitization efforts can also be
found in UBC Reports: http://www.publicaffairs.ubc.ca/2011/06/02/library-digitizes-rare-japanese-maps/

The Asian Library's Japanese language librarian Shirin Eshghi (shirin.eshghi@ubc.ca) and the Rare Books and Special Collections librarian
Katherine Kalsbeek (katherine.kalsbeek@ubc.ca) welcome comments or queries from those with interest in the collection.

about the 3.11 Tohoku Disaster - Teaching Materials

http://teach311.wordpress.com/  (announced by) Yuki Ishimatsu, C. V. Starr East Asian Library, Univ. of California at Berkeley

East Asia in the Middle School (lesson plans)

Teaching East Asian in the Middle School Web site at http://www.iu.edu/~easc/outreach/educators/teams/index.shtml .
These lesson plans were originally published in 1996-98, but most of them still have relevance today.

old highways of Japan - passing through Shiga prefecture

Thoughtful write-up by Phil at www.photojpn.org

The Tokaido and Nakasendo Roads were the two main roads in Japan during the samurai/Tokugawa period up to 1868. They connected Tokyo (Edo) where the shogun lived and Kyoto where the Emperor lived. Both roads went through Shiga before reaching neighboring Kyoto.

Here's a good map of the coastal Tokaido Road between Tokyo (Edo) and Kyoto. Each lodging town was numbered. Ishibe in Konan was No. 52. So 52 on this map is Ishibe: http://www.hiroshige.org.uk/hiroshige/tokaido_hoeido/images/tokaido_map.GIF Lodging towns No. 50 (Tsuchiyama) to 54 (Otsu) are all in Shiga.

Here's an excellent Web site showing Hiroshige prints of the Tokaido Road: http://www.hiroshige.org.uk/hiroshige/tokaido_editions/tokaido_editions.htm
You can see that Ishibe in Konan was the 52nd lodging town on the Tokaido Road. And you can see various print editions of each town by Hiroshige. The most well-known edition is called Hoeido. Lodging towns No. 50 (Tsuchiyama) to 54 (Otsu) are all in Shiga.

More info about the Tokaido: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/53_Stations_of_the_Tokaido

The other major road that connected Tokyo with Kyoto in the old days was called the Nakasendo Road which went through the interior instead of the Pacific coast: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/69_Stations_of_the_Nakasendo

The Nakasendo (also called Kisokaido) also passed through Shiga on the way to Kyoto. The Tokaido and Nakasendo Roads intersected at Kusatsu and Otsu. There are woodblock prints for all the Nakasendo lodging towns as well.
http://www.hiroshige.org.uk/hiroshige/kisokaido/images/Kisokaido%20map.gif
http://www.hiroshige.org.uk/hiroshige/kisokaido/kisokaido07.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sixty-Nine_Stations_of_the_Kiso_Kaido

obtaining or viewing NHK documentaries

http://www.nhk.or.jp/archives/kawaguchi