From the Collection of James E. Fagan (1926-2011)

Nagakubo Sekisui (1717-1801)
Tensho kanki sho [Brief Explanation of Astronomical Phenomena]
1 volume book, woodblock printed, Anei 3 (1774), 2 single pages of preface, followed by 4 single pages containing a rare rotating planisphere, or volvelle, with Chinese constellations, following which are 9 leaves of text
15.5 x 11.4cm.

Provenance
James E. Fagan (1926-2011) was an American collector with a special interest in the introduction of Western culture and technology to Japan’s closed Edo-era society (1603-1868), also known as the Tokugawa period. Mr Fagan studied Japanese language and history at Stanford University, and served as a US Naval officer in the Pacific theatre. He then lived and worked in Japan as an attorney in the 1950’s and 1960’s.

During this time, Fagan assembled and researched his collection of rare Edo-era woodblock and manuscript maps, prints and books not available outside Japan. Highlights include Nagasaki-e (showing the Japanese fascination with the Dutch East Indies (VOC) outpost at Deshima island), early Rangaku examinations of Western science and languages, the evolution of Japanese cartographic knowledge, and the study of English and Russian military might and technology. Imaginative illustrations and maps, from Japanese castaways reporting back to the Japanese Court, also provide a glimpse of how the Western world appeared to the first Japanese to circumnavigate the globe.

The collection demonstrates Japan’s keen curiosity about the Western world during its long isolationist period, and the artful way the Japanese perspective captures the impact of European contact.

Please note this lot is the property of a consumer. See H1 of the Conditions of Sale.

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Lot Essay

China had a significant influence over the development of Japanese celestial cartography, which is clearly illustrated in ancient examples such as the map of the heavens on the ceiling of the late 7th or early 8th-century Takamatsuzuka tomb in Nara prefecture, which displays Chinese influences in its design. Much later, in the early Edo period (1600-1868), Chinese books containing celestial maps such as Shilin guang ji [Records of many things, circa 1250] and Wang Qi's Sancai tuhui [Illustrated compendium of the three powers heaven, earth, and man], (completed 1607, printed 1609) were brought to Japan and subsequently-published Japanese books on astronomy were based on works such as these. Also during this period European astronomy was introduced for the first time through Dutch and other books, and which eventually overtook as the dominating influence over Japanese astronomy.¹

This rare book, Tensho kanki sho, contains a circular map fixed to a page by a thread at the centre, allowing it to rotate. The blue is the Milky Way, the stars black or white circles, the ecliptic yellow and the equator red. When closed, the map is covered by a circular window representing the horizon.

For a fully illustrated example in the collections of Waseda University go to http://www.wul.waseda.ac.jp/kotenseki/html/ni05/ni05_02553/index.html

1. Kazuhiko Miyajima, Japanese Celestial Cartography before the Meiji Period, Chapter 14 in J. B. Harley and David Woodward (eds.), The History of Cartography, Volume 2, Book 2, (Chicago, 1995), p. 579-603.