1:200,000 Sado, Row 19, Section 21, Plate-making 1918, Revised 1936, Printed/Published 1947, Geographical Survey Institute of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Provisional Plate-making
[Introduction to Old Maps of Niigata] 🧐
1:200,000 Sado, Row 19, Section 21
Plate-making 1918,
Revised 1936
Printed/Published 1947
Geographical Survey Institute of the Ministry of Home Affairs,
Provisional Plate-making
A 1:200,000 scale topographic map produced by a national agency that vividly depicts the terrain of Sado using contour lines. A single sheet printed across three eras—from wartime to the immediate postwar period 🗾
[Commentary on Content, etc.] 🧐
⚫︎ The title is "Sado," and the map sheet number is "Row 19, Section 21."
This is a coordinate number used when the Geographical Survey Institute of the Ministry of Home Affairs managed topographic maps by dividing all of Japan into a grid during the Meiji to Showa periods, where "Row" indicates the latitude direction (north to south) and "Section" indicates the longitude direction (west to east).
Row 19, Section 21 corresponds to the area around 37–38 degrees north latitude and 138–139 degrees east longitude, the exact grid square that contains Sado Island.
Like a library shelf number, this single number is a system that can uniquely identify "where the map is."
⚫︎ "Provisional Plate-making" plate-made in 1918, revised in 1936, and published in 1947.
A map spanning three generations: the results of Taisho-era surveying were revised in the early Showa period and printed and released immediately after the war. "Provisional Plate-making" is a notation indicating that the surveying and drafting were issued as tentative compared to the official version, and this single term reflects the background of it being printed in a hurry during the chaotic postwar period.
⚫︎ No coloring, monochrome printing.
The topographic representation using contour lines is precise, and the undulations of the Osado and Kosado mountain ranges and the Kuninaka Plain can be read three-dimensionally.
Unlike travel guide maps, this is a practical sheet aimed at understanding the terrain based on surveying.
⚫︎ The legend includes detailed symbols for railways (regular/special), national roads, village roads, tunnels, various facilities, and land use (rice fields, marshes, mulberry/tea fields, orchards, bamboo groves, etc.).
📖 A "cross-section of history" told by paper—a topographic map of Sado measured in the Taisho era, revised in the Showa era, and printed after the war.
The term "Provisional Plate-making" encapsulates the turbulent era just as it was 😌
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