Large manuscript watercoloured map to illustrate the village of Ashinazawa Tamayamababa and its environs (in present-day Morioka, Iwate Prefecture), showing lands used by samurai of the ruling Nanbu Clan for raising and breeding horses, also highlighting three mountains in relief by way of tipped-in folding cutouts. Place names and text is in Japanese. Signed in manuscript by a Samurai named Sakura Baba, as well as three other notable officials. Map measures approximately 135 x 82 cm. Some creasing, otherwise in very good condition, a very unique manuscript painted map from the feudal Morioka Domain. The village shown is Ashinazawa Tamayamababa, situated within 30 km from Morioka, which was then the Morioka Domain (Morioka-han), a tozama feudal domain of Edo period, under the rule of the Nanbu Clan (Nanbu-shi) of samurai whose territory spanned most of northeastern Honshu in the Tohoku region. [Today, Morioka (Morioka-shi) is the capital city of Iwate Prefecture located in the Tohoku region of northern Japan. Ashinazawa is considered part of the Morioka district.] Ashinazawa Tamayamababa is also near, only 90 km, from Kakunodate (in present-day Akita Prefecture), also a former castle town and samurai stronghold. While Kakunodate Castle no longer remains, the town is famous for its samurai tradition and its hundreds of weeping cherry trees (shidarezakura). Apart from the loss of its castle, Kakunodate remains remarkably unchanged since its founding in 1620. The town was built with two distinct areas, the samurai district and the merchant district. Once home to 80 families, the samurai district still has some of the best examples of samurai architecture in all of Japan. Among the hills and near the village, some rather expansive horse-breeding fields are drawn on the map, presumably belonging to or at least managed by the Nanbu-shi samurai who signed the document. The horses would have been used by samurai warriors for military equestrianism, including bajutsu (a distinct form of martial art), for yabusame (mounted archery), and other practices of skilled battle on horse-back. Three mountains illustrated two-dimentionally, are all stratovolcanos forming part of the Ou Mountain range in the Tohoku region of northern Honshu. They appear to be illustrating Mount Iwate - the active volcano situated only 22 km from Ashinazawa, Mount Hachimantai - the highest peak in the Ou Mountains and only 46 km from Ashinazawa, and the active stratovolcano Akita-Komagatake located some 70 km from Ashinazawa. In red paint, several roadways are delineated, one of them reaching and following the summit line of one of the mountains. At the head of one of these roads, is a drawing of a cherry blossom trees, and an inscription which likely reads 'sakura', the term for of a group of cherry blossom trees, collectively. The flow of the Kakkonda and Shizukuishi rivers into the Kitakami is traced from the hills. In the distance, on the opposite side of the mountain ranges, a larger river is drawn, depicting the wider Tama River, which would eventually lead to Lake Tazawa. The Akita-Komagatake region is exceptionally lush, with several hundred species of alpine flora and would surely be an excellent place for horses to graze. Mount Hachimantai is especially characterized with hot springs, possibly being used as a source of warm water for cleaning or healing. In general, the vast region would be superb as a horse breeding ground. Horsemanship was an important duty and respected skill of the samurai. There were two classes of Samurai, and only upper-class samurai were allowed horses, although the lower class samurai who could find a way to possess their own horse, did so, with the belief that every samurai should have the honour and the benefit. Being on horse-back aided in part to best perform archery, spearmanship, and swordsmanship in battle. Horse-mounted samurai often fought by charging their horses at their opponent, in some cases causing a collision that would unbalance or even injure the other's steed.
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