Rinzo Mamiya
A Japanese explorer of the late Edo period who confirmed that Karafuto (Sakhalin) was an island and gave his name to the Mamiya Strait
1775–1844
Rinzo Mamiya was an explorer of the Northern Territories of the late Edo period. Born Tomomune Mamiya in a farming family in Kami-Hirayanagi Village, Tsukuba County, Hitachi Province (now Tsukubamirai City, Ibaraki Prefecture), he later went to Edo to study geography. In 1799 he made his first trip to Ezo (territories north of Honshu) and in the following year was appointed to an official administrative post there. In Ezo, Mamiya studied surveying and cartography techniques under Tadataka Ino, who was in the process of surveying Ezo, and later surveyed the northwestern part of Ezo and Iturup Island, two areas that Ino was unable to survey. Mamiya’s data was provided to Ino and reflected in the Ino maps. In 1808 Mamiya and Denjuro Matsuda explored Karafuto on orders of the Shogunate, and the following year traveled to Siberia and explored the lower reaches of the Amur River. The explorers confirmed that Karafuto was not a peninsula connected to the continent, but an island. In 1832 Philipp Franz von Siebold introduced to the world the body of water between the mainland and the island as Mamiya Strait. In his later years, Mamiya worked as a secret agent in smuggling investigations, and he is believed to be the informant in the Siebold Incident. He is the author of Todatsu kiko (An Account of Travels East), Kita Ezo chibu (The Geography of Northern Ezo), Kita Ezo zusetsu (Illustrated Descriptions of Northern Ezo), etc.
Related People, Things and Events
Books
Books written by Rinzo Mamiya
Bibliographical Books
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間宮林蔵作製の地図
Cultural Properties of Japan
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References
- 対外関係史総合年表編集委員会 編,吉川弘文館
- 加藤友康 [ほか]編,吉川弘文館
- 歴史学研究会 編,岩波書店
- 吉村昭 著,埼玉福祉会