This article gathers and showcases surprising examples of maps beyond what we would typically consider "maps" from around the world and throughout history, including illustrations depicting legends and tales, road maps that resemble picture scrolls, maps projected onto polyhedral surfaces, and works of art.

MORITA Takashi (Professor Emeritus, Hosei University)

Maps can take a variety of different forms, including drawings on paper or in digital spaces, and even mental images in the space before they are substituted by something else. Drawing on a variety of examples, this article analyzes the representations of maps that stimulate the imagination, explores why maps are so interesting, and considers the question of "what is a map."

WAKABAYASHI Yoshiki (Professor Emeritus, Tokyo Metropolitan University)

Rapid informatization and digitalization have permeated various domains of society and dramatically altered the world of maps. This article discusses in detail the changes in post-digitalization maps by looking in turn at the methods of collecting and creating geospatial information, cartographic representations, and the uses of maps, and examines the issues and future of maps while taking into account what has remained unchanged.

OTA Akio (Professor, Department of Visual Communication Design, College of Art and Design, Musashino Art University)

How have maps represented the "world"? Some maps have sought to depict "invisible worlds" through not only topography but also time, space, perception, and cognition in various ways. This article explores new possibilities for maps by challenging the limit of maps and tracing the evolution of depiction.

YOSHIDA Yoshiyuki (Honorary Director, Museum of Motoori Norinaga)

As a great Kokugaku scholar, what did MOTOORI Norinaga, what kind of knowledge did MOTOORI Norinaga have and what did he take an interest in as a young man? Drawing on Norinaga's background, writings from his youth, and the documents and drawings he penned, FUJIMORI Terunobu's "Origins of Architecture" Series No. 15: Japanese Datum of Leveling Monument aspirations and struggles, as well as the significance of the "Hashiharashi Joka Ezu," his drawing of a fictitious town.

FUJIMORI Terunobu (Architectural historian and architect; Director, Tokyo Metropolitan Edo-Tokyo Museum; and Emeritus Professor, University of Tokyo)

As part of efforts to survey the entire Japan during the Meiji era, a reference point in a corner of the site of the former Army Ministry was used to determine height (elevation) in Japan's territory. The Japanese Datum of Leveling Monument, a small stone building in the style of an ancient Roman temple, was built at that location. This article traces the ideas of its designer, SATACHI Shichijiro, and offers insights into the spirit of that era and the significance behind the monument's design.

Speculative Reconstruction by Obayashi Project Team

MOTOORI Norinaga was an Edo-period intellectual giant known for his meticulous study of the classics. The Hashihara Castle Town Map (Hashiharashi Joka Ezu) is a map of a fictitious ideal town that he drew along with the Genealogical Table of the HASHIHARA Family (Hashiharashi Keizu ) at the age of nineteen. The map depicts the entirety of a castle town surrounded by natural terrain, and it contains the names of people in the genealogical table. The map also shows many shrines and temples in the surrounding mountains, with rivers and bridges having names derived from the classics, suggesting a culturally vibrant town. What was the significance of this map for Norinaga?
This project closely examines the Hashihara Castle Town Map and visualizes the process of deciphering the map. Its goal is to create a three-dimensional reconstruction of the town imagined by the young Norinaga and explore the ideals he envisioned.