The Art Research Center (ARC) at Ritsumeikan University is pleased to announce the full-scale operation of the ARC Japanese Old Maps Portal Database. This database includes not only valuable historical maps from the ARC's collection but also major collections from institutions such as the University of California, Berkeley, with a total of over 5,000 old maps available.

As part of this update, 311 old maps of Japan from the British Library have been added to the database. In conjunction with this, we have introduced a pyramid (tiled) display function based on the IIIF (International Image Interoperability Framework) standard, allowing users to view maps more smoothly.

ARC Japanese Old Maps Portal Database
https://www.dh-jac.net/db/maps/search_portal.php

Database of Japanese Old Maps in the British Library Collection
https://www.dh-jac.net/db/maps/search_BL.php

Moving forward, we plan to gradually implement this pyramid display function for old maps already added to this database previously. Furthermore, we will continue to expand the database by incorporating other collections.

To facilitate accessibility and utilization, we will also work towards integrating this database with external platforms such as Japan Search, ensuring that a wider audience can benefit from this resource. This will begin with the British Library maps becoming available on Japan Search by the end of March 2025 (tentative).

We hope you find this database useful for your research.