Japan

by David Murray

Chapter I. The Japanese Archipelago.

The first knowledge of the Japanese empire was brought to Europe by Marco Polo after his return from his travels in China in a.d. 1295. He had been told in China of “Chipangu,[1] an island towards the east in the high seas, 1500 miles from the continent; and a very great island it is. The people are white, civilized, and well favored. They are idolaters, and are dependent on nobody. And I can tell you the quantity of gold they have is endless; for they find it in their own islands.” The name Chipangu is the transliteration of the Chinese name which modern scholars write Chi-pen-kue, by which Japan was then known in China. From it the Japanese derived the name Nippon, and then prefixed the term Dai (great), making it Dai Nippon, the name which is now used by them to designate [pg 002] their empire. Europeans transformed the Chinese name into Japan, or Japon, by which the country is known among them at present.

Marco Polo's mention of this island produced a great impression on the discoverers of the fifteenth century. In Toscanelli's map, used by Columbus as the basis of his voyages, “Cipango” occupies a prominent place to the east of Asia, with no American continent between it and Europe. It was the aim of Columbus, and of many subsequent explorers, to find a route to this reputedly rich island and to the eastern shores of Asia.

The islands composing the empire of Japan are situated in the northwestern part of the Pacific ocean. They are part of the long line of volcanic islands stretching from the peninsula of Kamtschatka on the north to Formosa on the south. The direction in which they lie is northeast and southwest, and in a general way they are parallel to the continent.

The latitude of the most northern point of Yezo is 45° 35', and the latitude of the most southern point of Kyūshū is 31°. The longitude of the most eastern point of Yezo is 146° 17', and the longitude of the most western point of Kyūshū is 130° 31'. The four principal islands therefore extend through 14° 35' of latitude and 15° 46' of longitude.

The Kurile islands[2] extending from Yezo northeast to the straits separating Kamtschatka from the island of Shumushu belong also to Japan. This last [pg 003] island has a latitude of 51° 5' and a longitude of 157° 10'. In like manner the Ryūkyū islands, lying in a southwest direction from Kyūshū belong to Japan. The most distant island has a latitude of 24° and a longitude of 123° 45'. The whole Japanese possessions therefore extend through a latitude of 27° 5' and a longitude of 33° 25'.

The empire consists of four large islands and not less than three thousand small ones. Some of these small islands are large enough to constitute distinct provinces, but the greater part are too small to have a separate political existence, and are attached for administrative purposes to the parts of the large islands opposite to which they lie. The principal island is situated between Yezo on the north and Kyūshū on the south.

From Omasaki, the northern extremity at the Tsugaru straits, to Tōkyō, the capital, the island runs nearly north and south a distance of about 590 miles, and from Tōkyō to the Shimonoseki straits the greatest extension of the island is nearly east and west, a distance of about 540 miles. That is, measuring in the direction of the greatest extension, the island is about 1130 miles long. The width of the island is nowhere greater than two hundred miles and for much of its length not more than one hundred miles.

Among the Japanese this island has no separate name.[3] It is often called by them Hondo[4] which [pg 004] may be translated Main island. By this translated name the principal island will be designated in these pages. The term Nippon or more frequently Dai Nippon (Great Nippon) is used by them to designate the entire empire, and it is not to be understood as restricted to the principal island.

The second largest island is Yezo, lying northeast from the Main island and separated from it by the Tsugaru straits. Its longest line is from Cape Shiretoko at its northeast extremity to Cape Shira-kami on Tsugaru straits, about 350 miles; and from its northern point, Cape Soya on the La Perouse straits to Yerimosaki, it measures about 270 miles. The centre of the island is an elevated peak, from which rivers flow in all directions to the ocean. Hakodate the principal port is situated on Tsugaru straits and possesses one of the most commodious harbors of the empire.