Fujita H., translated by D. Eason
insights are then derived. Likewise, maps also serve as a vital medium of expression when research
results are explained. The landscapes that are taken up in the study of geography are historically
constructed and exist right before our eyes. Historical geography addresses this issue of historical
presence.
What is historical geography?
While there are numerous ways to conceptualize historical geography, all can be broadly divided
into three categories. The first involves the reconstruction of landscapes and their divisions at
given points (or periods) in time. The foundation for this sort of work consists of locating the
landscapes and place names that appear in historical documents, and identifying them with
modern places. Next, the historical landscape is reconstructed as such identifications accumulate
and are added to maps. And finally, these map reconstructions become the jumping- off point for
geographic analyses.
It is often possible to search maps for place names appearing in historical sources. For this level
of work, the internet has become increasingly useful and convenient. It is also possible to search for
place names designating small- scale territorial units on the cadastral maps of agricultural lands
created during the early Meiji (1868–1912) period. Such cadastral maps were produced as appendi-
ces to land registers for property taxes. Accordingly, they record the address, classification (residen-
tial, paddy field, dry field, vacant land, forest, pond, etc.), owner, area and the like of each property
unit; and, for comparison with land registers, they designate the boundaries of each section.^2
Of particular importance here with respect to landscape is the fact that it is possible to identify
villages and settlements, which appear on the cadastral maps as aggregates of units designated as
residential properties. There are cases in which properties that were dry fields when the first
cadastral charts were created in the early Meiji era have since become residential areas; and it is
possible to ascertain the point in time at which this change occurred, through cross- referencing
with land registers. Looking in the other direction of time, there are cases in which lands that
were dry fields in the early Meiji period had been residential areas in earlier times—such as during
the Edo period (1600–1868). This can be confirmed by local surveys of the parcels, noting, for
example, vestiges of earlier buildings or elevated plots that must have once been the foundations
of houses.^3 The importance of this sort of on- site investigation to historical geography shows its
affinity to the parent field of geography—and its fundamental difference from historical research
based on written texts.
Through comparison of sequential map reconstructions of landscapes at particular points in
time, it is possible to analyze geographic changes between the periods in question. Such investi-
gation of geographic change represents the second way to define “historical geography.” In any
event, it should be clear that maps are held in high regard by historical geographers. An example
of this perspective very close to home for me, is the heavy use of historical maps as instructional
aids in World History and Japanese History courses at high schools as part of students’ education
in “the history of geography.”
Geographic research esteems various sorts of statistical analysis of populations by geographic
units. The advance of computer technology in recent years has become a major force supporting
such efforts. The Geographic Information System (GIS) utilized in automobile navigation systems
offers one example of what is possible here. GIS is a system that expresses information compiled
in databases in map form (or, more strictly, as data on latitude and longitude). Facilities (such as
convenience stores and gas stations) along the route on which the automobile is traveling can be
instantly searched for and displayed on the map. At a higher level of sophistication, the results of
statistical analyses of scholarly data can also be displayed on maps.