On Saturday, September 27, 2025, the Museum of Oriental Art in Venice will officially unveil the donation of a large Japanese map, on display in Room 4 until January 25, 2026. It is the Zōten dai Nihon kokugun yochi rotei zenzu - “Expanded and Revised Map of the Provinces and Routes of Greater Japan” - made by Nagakubo Sekisui (1717-1801) and later revised by Suzuki Kien (active in the 19th century). Published by Izumoji Manjiro in 1852, the large polychrome woodcut (almost one meter by two) belonged to Professor Adriana Boscaro, former professor of the Department of Asian and Mediterranean African Studies.
Thanks to the intermediation of Professors Luisa Bienati and Silvia Vesco, the Museum was able to get in touch with the heirs - Antonella, Luca and Marco Peloso - who generously allowed the map to become part of the heritage of the Italian state, enriching the museum collection.
Adriana Boscaro, who had collaborated several times in the past with the museum and with then-director Fiorella Spadavecchia, also contributed studies dedicated to some of the works in the collections, including the precious netsuke (small belt counterweights). The presentation of the donation will also provide an opportunity to learn more about the transformation of the Japanese landscape and urbanization processes, as well as the cartographic and publishing culture that developed in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
“The work increases the meager presence of maps of Japan in the collection,” comments Boscolo Marchi, director of the Museum, “expanding the institution’s offerings, especially in terms of works related to the culture of travel that established itself in that country in the Edo period (1603-1868).”
After institutional greetings from the museum’s director, Boscolo Marchi, and Laura De Giorgi, director of the Department of Asian and Mediterranean African Studies, Luisa Bienati will recall the figure and scientific contribution of Adriana Boscaro, and Sonia Favi of the University of Turin will present the map and illustrate its historical and cultural context, related to the last years of the Edo period (1603-1868).
Admission is free, by invitation and subject to availability.
Image: Nagakubo Sekisui (1717-1801), Suzuki Kien (active 19th century), Zōten dai Nihon kokugun yochi rotei zenzu (Expanded and Revised Map of the Provinces and Routes of Greater Japan) (1852; paper, c. 105 x 186 cm, Venice, Museum of Oriental Art). © Museo d’Arte Orientale - Regional Directorate National Museums Veneto, MiC
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| Donated to the Museum of Oriental Art in Venice a large map of Japan |
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