1940 Sakuragi and Kanaya Bird's Eye View of Hakone National Park

This is a very rare 1940 bird's-eye view sketch-book mailer map of Hakone National Park, Japan, issued for tourists.

A Closer Look at the Map

The map, legend, and text provide information of interest to tourists. These include major festivals and natural phenomena at various points in the year (大名行列), chief amongst them the changing of leaves in the autumn and cherry blossoms in the spring. An inset at bottom also gives fishing information. Noted in the legend are hot springs, tourist attractions, railways, electric trams, and other transportation. The text in the margins indicates the direction of nearby islands and cities, including Tokyo.

Verso Content

The verso includes three inset maps showing the networks of the various train and tram lines around Hakone, terrain, the mountains of the park, a table showing information about hot springs, famous tourist and historical sites, procedures for a smooth visit (suggested itineraries), and additional information on fishing.

Hakone and the National Park System in Japan

The national park system in Japan was established when the National Parks Law was passed in 1931. Hakone was part of the first group of parks created. In 1936 Hakone Park merged with Fuji to create the Fuji-Hakone National Park. This later merged with the Izu Islands to create the current Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park. Due to their proximity to Tokyo and Yokohama, these parks have been popular since their inception with urbanites seeking a relaxing day or weekend in the countryside.

Sketchbook Mailer Maps

Sketchbook Mailers (書簡圖繪) were a style of bird's-eye view map that became very popular in Japan in the 1920s-1940s, often depicting cityscapes or country views from across Japan's growing empire. Each map was designed to be folded and packaged for safe and easy mailing and came with information about and photographs of the city on the verso, as is the case here. Although these maps are fascinating, beautiful, and educational, they also served a political function, informing Japanese audiences about the empire and providing a visual aid to understand places they would have read about frequently in the news.

Publication History and Census

This map was printed on December 15, 1940 and distributed on December 20, 1940. It was edited and distributed by Saukuragi Kuratarou (櫻木倉太郎) and printed by Kanaya Matsudaira (金谷賴曉), both based in Tokyo. The view/map is not known in any institutional holdings and is very scarce to the market.