Description

海外協会中央委員会 [Overseas Association Central Committee] / 南米土地組合 [South Amercian Land Asscoaiton], Sponsors. / 津崎尚武 [Naotake Tsuzaki], Designer.

Tokyo: 力行会印刷所 [Rikigyokai Printing Office], Taishō 12 [1923].

 

This fascinating and important map depicts Brazil’s São Paulo State, the main destination for the waves of Japanese immigration that gave Brazil what remains today the world’s largest Japanese diaspora community. Beginning in 1908, thousands of Japanese farmers, fleeing poverty in their homeland came to work mainly on São Paulo’s immense coffee estates. However, after much suffering and toil, the immigrants, through their intelligence and industry, attained a high degree of success, many leasing or buying their own agrarian estates, while other sought professional or entrepreneurial careers in the cities. Today over 1 million Nipo-brasileiros live in São Paulo State, forming a major pillar of the general society, playing an outsized role in business, academia, culture and politics.

The present work was issued in Tokyo in 1923, not long before the greatest wave of Japanese immigration to Brazil (between 1926 and 1935 132,225 Japanese immigrants arrived in the country), to both inform the Japanese public about Japanese immigration to Brazil, as well as to educate prospective immigrants about their potential new homeland and the current state of their brethren in São Paulo State. Its production was jointly sponsored by the 海外協会中央委員会 [Overseas Association Central Committee], the main society which sponsored and facilitated Japan immigration to Brazil, and its affiliated organization, the 南米土地組合 [South American Land Association]. The map was designed under the close supervision of 津崎尚武 [Naotake Tsuzaki] (1882 – 1962), a prominent lawyer, long-time member of the Imperial Diet (1920-45) and foremost promoter of external Japanese settler colonies (not only in South America, but also in Manchuria).

The work is both a map and an illustrated textual guide to Brazil. While the printing technique employed is charmingly crude, the amount of information and the manner by which it is presented is quite sophisticated.

The front side of the map features the title section depicting a happy and well-dressed Japanese farming couple waving a greeting from a verdant, paradisical Brazilian landscape. The ブラジル国サンパウロ州之図 [Map of the State of São Paulo, Brazil], which dominates the side of the sheet, shows all São Paulo state, plus, coverage parts of adjacent jurisdictions. All significant cities and towns are labeled in both Japanese and Portuguese, while all major rivers are delineated and named.

The legend, bottom centre, identifies the region’s 13 named railway lines by colour-coding; the symbols used to locate various types of schools, electricity plants, weather stations, telephone lines and major industrial centres; while land use is colour-coded (identifying forests and plains, as well as land planted with sugar, rice, coffee, cotton, etc.).

Most importantly, the map feature numerous red dots labelled with old-style Japanese numerals that accord to the list, upper right, identifying the names and locations of 42 different Japanese colonies/settlements across São Paulo state and adjacent states.

The large inset map in the lower right corner, 日本ヨリブラジルニ到ル航路図 [Route Map from Japan to Brazil], is a World map showing the two main travel routes from Japan to Brazil, while the inset map to in the lower left corner contextualizes the location of São Paulo state within Brazil and South America.

The verso of the work, printed in monochrome, features copious text and 15 photographic illustrations. It consists of two parts, with one being 南米土地組合便覧 [South American Land Association Handbook], discussing the activities and business plan of the organization whose mandate as to assist Japanese colonists in Brazil. The other part, the ブラジル概要 [Brazil Overview], provides general information on Brazil while extolling its virtues.

The present work seems to be the earliest map of its form detailing Japanese immigration to São Paulo state, and it proved highly influential, being the basis for many future works, most notably, Kazuo Nakajima’s eponymous Map of São Paulo, Brazil, published in Tokyo for the Overseas Kogyo Co., Ltd., which ran into various editions from 1925 into the 1930s.

 

A Note on Rarity

The map is extremely rare, in line with large format ephemeral works of the time. We can only trace only a single institutional listing that might be an example of the present map, held by the Kanagawa Prefectural Library, while examples appear only very infrequently on the market.

Nipo-brasileiros: Japanese Immigration to Brazil and the World’s Largest Japanese Diaspora
Japanese immigration to Brazil created the largest Japanese diaspora in the world – today around 2 million Brazilians can claim Japanese ancestry, as Nipo-brasileiros. About half of this population is concentrated in São Paulo State, where the Japanese Brazilian influence is, far from being a niche presence, central to the identity of the greater society.

During the Meiji Era in Japan (1868-1912), the country hyper-industrialized, and while this overall led Japan to attain a level of unprecedented wealth, this prosperity was concentrated in the cities. The rural areas, due to the abolition of the traditional feudal system and other economic realignments, suffered terribly, especially in southern Japan, causing dire poverty.

Consequently, thousands of Japanese farmers decided to leave Japan in the hopes of starting new lives in unfamiliar, faraway lands. Many of the initial waves of immigrants went to places such as California, British Columbia, Hawai’i and Peru.

Meanwhile, around the turn of the century, Brazil’s agrarian sector, and its coffee plantations in particular, were booming. Yet, the great estates suffered from severe shortage of workers, especially skilled labour, while Japan had a surplus of under-employed labourers accustomed to semi-tropical and tropical agriculture.

In 1908, the first party of Japanese immigrants arrived in Brazil. They, and the other early arrivals that followed, were compelled to work in almost slave-like conditions, mostly on coffee plantations in São Paulo State.

However, the Nipo-brasileiros proved to be incredibly hard-working, patient and clever. Many saved up money, while groups of Japanese farmworkers pooled resources, and it was not long before many bought their own coffee plantations (as shown on the present map!). These enterprises often thrived, due to the industriousness of their proprietors.

The, albeit hard-won, success of the early Japanese Brazilians encouraged others to make the long voyage from the home country. While only 14,983 Japanese immigrated to Brazil between 1908 and 1914, from 1914 to 1940 over 164,000 Japanese immigrated to Brazil, with the majority of these arriving between 1926 and 1935. Around 75% of these immigrants settled in São Paulo State.

While many Nipo-brasileiros remained in the agrarian sector, others migrated to the cities, notably São Paulo, where the second generation became educated and followed entrepreneurial or professional careers. They proved to be incredibly disciplined and civic-minded and they gained a reputation for honesty and competence in a society that had chronic problems with corruption and disorder.

Today, Japanese Brazilians play a critical role in the economic and cultural life of Brazil that far transcends their size as constituting only 1% of the total population; this is especially true in São Paulo State, where over 1 million residents claim Japanese ancestry. While the Nipo-brasileiro identity and culture is not under existential threat, intermarriage outside of the community is today very common, such that the Japanese Brazilians have become highly integrated into the general Brazilian society.

References: [Possibly the same map?:] Kanagawa Prefectural Library: 296.2-14.