Inō Tadataka 伊能 忠敬 | |
|---|---|
 Statue of Inō Tadataka in Katori City | |
| Born | (1745-02-11)February 11, 1745 |
| Died | May 17, 1818(1818-05-17) (aged 73) |
| Nationality | Japanese |
Inō Tadataka (伊能 忠敬, February 11, 1745 - May 17, 1818) was aJapanesesurveyor andcartographer. He is known for completing the first map of Japan using modern surveying techniques.[1]
Inō was born in the small village of Ozeki in the middle ofKujūkuri beach, inKazusa Province (in what is nowChiba Prefecture). He was born to the Jimbō family and his childhood name was Sanjirō. His mother died when he was seven and after a somewhat tumultuous childhood (not uncommon at the time),[2] he was adopted (age 17) by the prosperous Inō family ofSawara (now a district ofKatori, Chiba), a town inShimōsa Province. He ran the family business, expanding itssakebrewing and rice-trading concerns, until he retired at the age of 49.
After retirement, he moved toEdo and became a pupil ofastronomerTakahashi Yoshitoki, from whom he learned Western astronomy,geography, andmathematics.
In 1800, after nearly five years of study, theTokugawa shogunate authorized Inō to perform a survey of the country using his own money. This task, which consumed the remaining 17 years of his life, covered the entire coastline and some of the interior of each of theJapanese home islands. During this period Inō reportedly spent 3,736 days making measurements (and traveled 34,913 kilometres), stopping regularly to present the Shōgun with maps reflecting his survey's progress. He produced detailed maps (some at a scale of 1:36,000, others at 1:216,000) of select parts of Japan, mostly inKyūshū andHokkaidō.
Inō'smagnum opus, his 1:216,000 map of the entire coastline of Japan, remained unfinished at his death in 1818 but was completed by his surveying team in 1821. An atlas collecting all of his survey work,Dai Nihon Enkai Yochi Zenzu (ja:大日本沿海輿地全図Maps of Japan's Coastal Area), was published that year. It had three pages of large-scale maps at 1:432,000, showed the entire country on eight pages at 1:216,000, and had 214 pages of select coastal areas in fine detail at 1:36,000. TheInō-zu (Inō's maps), many of which are accurate to 1/1000 of a degree, remained the definitive maps of Japan for nearly a century, and maps based on his work were in use as late as 1924.
Inō's surveys were done in ten expeditions.[4] The first survey started on June 11, 1800 and included five members. This survey was mainly to begin charting the coast of Hokkaidō (where Russian ships had come to open trading houses). This survey was done almost entirely by measuring walking steps[5] and taking astronomical observations. They made it to Bekkai 別解 in far northeast Hokkaido. In total they walked and surveyed 3,244 km.
The results of the first survey, paid for almost entirely by Inō's own funds, helped the shogunal government understand the significance of the work. For this reason, starting with the second expedition (departing Edo in the summer of 1801) he received more support, and the route was more ambitious, covering most of the eastern seaboard from just south of Edo to the far northern tip ofHonshū, and then the interior portion on the return trip. This expedition lasted approximately six months and covered 3,122 km.
After the second survey, more and more trust was put in Inō's endeavor. By the fifth expedition, there were 19 people involved, they covered almost 7,000 km. On the 8th expedition they covered over 13,000 km in 914 days, most of it in Kyūshū. By this time Inō was 70 years old, which was decades older than the average lifespan at that time.
In addition to his maps, Inō produced scholarly works on surveying andmathematics, includingChikyū sokuenjutsu mondō andKyūkatsuen hassenhō.
In November 1995 the Japanese government issued a commemorative 80yenpostage stamp, showing Inō's portrait and a section of his map of Edo.
Most of the complete copies of the atlas have been lost or destroyed (often by fire), although a mostly-complete copy of the large-scale map was discovered in the collection of the U.S.Library of Congress in 2001.
After his death, Inō was one of 37 people honored at theHokkaidō Shrine askami associated with the pioneering efforts of the Japanese government to settle and develop Hokkaidō.[6]
Inō Tadataka's grave is located at the temple ofGenkū-ji inTaitō-ku,Tokyo. The grave was designated aNational Historic Site in 1928.[7]
| Inō Tadataka Former Residence | |
|---|---|
伊能忠敬旧宅 | |
 Inō Tadataka Former Residence | |
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| General information | |
| Town or city | Katori, Chiba |
| Country | Japan |
| Coordinates | 35°53′17″N140°29′53″E / 35.88806°N 140.49806°E /35.88806; 140.49806 |
| Completed | 1793 |
Inō's home in Sawara still exists, and is located on the bank of the Ono River that flows through the city of Katori. It was designated aNational Historic Site in 1930.[8] The building was constructed in theEdo period and is a complex consisting of a gate, main building, and attached kitchen, library andkura warehouse. The buildings are all tiled, and the main building has five rooms. The Inō family ranked as one of Sawara's leading families. Inō lived at this location from the time he was adopted at the age of 17 in 1762 until his retirement and relocation to Edo at the age of 50. However, the existing building dates from 1793, when Inō was 48 years old, so he only actually lived in this structure for two years. The building was previously used as theInō Tadataka Memorial Museum (伊能忠敬記念館,Inō Tadataka Kinenkan), but this has now been relocated to a new building on the opposite side of the street.[9]
Media related toIno Tadataka at Wikimedia Commons
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