Kuniezu


The were a series of Japanese provincial land maps, created during the Edo period, which the Tokugawa shogunate ordered be created by every province. They are sometimes contrasted with, which were national maps created by the shogunate.
In 1983, two of these map sets—the Genroku Kuniezu and the Tempō Kuniezu—were designated Important Cultural Properties of Japan.

''Shōhō Kuniezu''

Work on the was started in 1644 . The original copy was destroyed by fire in 1873 :ja:%E6%AD%A3%E4%BF%9D%E5%9B%BD%E7%B5%B5%E5%9B%B3.

''Genroku Kuniezu''

Work on the began in 1696 and ended in 1702. The cadastral survey and mapping project was started and finished in the Genroku era. It was the fourth official map of Japan.
The scale of the maps reduced "ri" to 6 "sun" . Each map showed mountains, rivers, roads and other landmarks. Road milestones and names of villages with recognized yields of rice were recorded. Castle towns were recorded with the names of local area and names of the lords of the castles.
Some considered this set of maps as inferior to the previous ones which had been ordered. The Genroku maps were corrected in 1719.
This was the first complete set of provincial maps that included both Ezo and the Ryūkyū Kingdom, which at that time, was a vassal state of the Satsuma Domain.

''Tempō Kuniezu''

Work on the started in 1835 and ended in 1838.