- Historical GIS Group
June 15, 2011
Workshop on the "Detailed Map of the City of Kyoto"
On 6/15, a workshop on the “Detailed Map of the City of Kyoto” was held in the conference hall of the Research Center for Disaster Mitigation of Urban Cultural Heritage at Ritsumeikan University.
https://www.arc.ritsumei.ac.jp/lib/GCOE/info/2011/06/post-67.html
Taking as its material the “Detailed Map of the City of Kyoto” (291 sites total, 1:1200 scale, initial survey July 1927 with nine revisions recorded), which the Historical Geographic Information Research Group worked with the Kyoto Prefectural Library and Archives from 2/2011 to digitize and convert to GIS format, the workshop consisted of presentations and discussions about the overall nature of this resource, important issues in its study, and possibilities for future research.
To start off, Professor Keiji Yano, leader of the Historical Geographic Information Research Group, explained the aims of the workshop. The program continued with a talk from Yukihiro Fukushima from the Kyoto Prefectural Library and Archives, who discussed the overall appearance of the map and gave a lucid outline of many still-unclear aspects in its research.
Continuing on, we heard an explanation with detailed examples of the overall process of digitization and GIS-conversion and the potential for historical geographical analysis from Naomi Akaishi, a member of our research group and a post-doctoral fellow at the Kinugasa Research Organization. Mori Mitsutoshi (representative of Mori Mapmakers and part-time lecturer at Ritsumeikan University) then discussed how the “Detailed Map” was drawn, pointing out its characteristics with reference to the history of cartography in early modern to modern Japan.
The time left in the latter half of the workshop was all too short, but starting with comments from Makoto Yamada (Ryukoku University) and Hidekazu Watanabe (Bukkyo University), there was a lively open discussion about the historical role of the “Detailed Map of the City of Kyoto”, its significance for ongoing research, and the remaining issues in its study.
