First Japanese Buddhist World Map Europe America Africa Tapestry

Nansenbushu Bankoku Shoka No Zu (Outline Map of All Countries of the Universe). First Japanese Buddhist Map of the World Showing Europe, America, and Africa circa 1710. A seminal map. This is the first Japanese printed map to depict the world, including Europe and America, from a Buddhist cosmographical perspective. Printed by woodblock in 1710 (Hoei 7), this map was composed by the Buddhist monk Rokashi Hotan. Inspired by the 1653 publication of Si-yu-ki, a pilgrimage narrative of the Chinese monk Hsuang-Tsang's (602-604) travels to India in search of sacred Sanskrit writings, Rokashi Hotan's map attempts to update Buddhist mythological cartography.