30
THE GEOGRAPHY OF JAPAN,
BY
E. SATOW, Esq.
Read before the Asiatic Society of Japan,
on the 22nd March, 1873.
———o———
Dr. Cornwell’s School Geography, a book which had reached its 47th edition in 1870, and may therefore be supposed to have a large circulation, informs us that ‘Japan consists of Niphon, Kiusiu, Sikoku, the dependencies of Jesso, the South Kouriles, and the south part of Saghalian.’
To say nothing of the incorrect spelling of the names in this sentence, it contains one error which every writer on Japan appears to have committed, and which demands immediate attention. This error consists in restricting the application of the name Nippon, or Nihon, to the largest island of the Japanese group, whereas it denotes in reality the whole of the empire. Amongst the numerous peculiarities of Japanese geography none is perhaps more curious and more difficult to understand at first sight than this, although when the manner in which the country is divided is clearly pointed out, the necessity for giving a separate name to the main island seems less absolute than would be imagined.
A native manuscript entitled Kôkoku chiri riaku, or ‘A Short Geography of the Empire,’ says: “From the most ancient times until lately Japan did not consist of more than sixty-eight provinces, namely, the five home provinces, the seven circruits, and the two islands, but in the winter of the year before last (1868) it was re-
