Fin de siècle

1902 · 220266 — Japan. No date. Circa1902. Two very attractive colour folded manuscript maps one showing China and the other Korea. <br> <br>Map of China: Watercolour map 48 x 63.5cm. Closed tear now professionally repaired. <br> <br>Map of Korea: Finely detailed watercolour map a few tiny holes very neatly repaired on the verso with archival washi. 33 x 24.5cm Two delicate hand-painted maps one of China and one of Korea produced by a Japanese student cartographer named Koike Tokushige 小池徳重. <br> <br>The undated map of China appears to have been produced in the first five years of the twentieth century: a time when Japan had recently colonized Taiwan and when Japanese economic and political interest in the region was rapidly expanding. The inscription on the map suggests that it was a third year college project. But the high level of detail suggests that the artist had considerable experience of map making. The map of China shows the main provinces rivers major transport routes the Great Wall and the location of key cities although the names of the cities are not included. It also shows outlines of the Korean Peninsula Taiwan and the Japanese island of Kyushu but not the rest of Japan. <br> <br>The map of Korea is more detailed. It provides an accurate outline of the Korean Peninsula with careful hatching indicating changes in elevation. Rivers and major road routes are shown on the map and the locations of major towns are marked though only Busan and Incheon are named. Dotted lines show coastal sea routes and routes between Kyushu and Busan and between Incheon and China. The map shows the Gyeongin railway line between Seoul and Incheon which was completed in 1899 and route of the Gyeongbu railway line between Busan and Seoul whose construction started from both ends in 1901. But the map depicts only small sections of this line close to Seoul and Busan as being completed with the rest more lightly outlined to show the projected route implying that the map was drawn around 1901-1902 and certainly before the Gyongbu line was opened in 1904. <br> <br>Inserted text gives the land area and population of Korea. Rather strangely though the figure given for the Korean population is vastly underestimated. Ikeda gives this as 5.7 million when in fact at that time is was around 18 million. . unknown