A Virtual Journey in Edo Japan (1603-1868): mapping famous places

Join us for our fourth talk in the series The Floating World: People and Landscapes in Edo with Dr Sonia Favi on the topic A virtual journey in Edo Japan (1603-1868): mapping famous places introduced by Dr Erica Baffelli.

Edo period Japan (1603-1868) was a richly mapped society. From the mid-seventeenth century, Japanese publishing houses produced a variety of commercial maps outlining cities, sites of pilgrimages, localities made famous by literature and the arts, and the routes leading to them. Commercial cartography capitalized on a growing popular curiosity about Japan’s “famous places” (meisho), and, more generally, about the experience of travel. Maps weren’t necessarily built with accuracy (or practicality) in mind, and, in some cases, they were specifically devised as forms of armchair travel. This talk will use selected materials from the map collection preserved at the John Rylands Research Institute and Library in Manchester to lead the audience on a similar, virtual journey, presenting Edo Japan’s famous localities, and the travel culture surrounding them, as they appear on commercial maps.

📅 Thursday 17 September 2026

⏰ 6:30pm - 8pm

📍the Whitworth

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Sonia Favi

Sonia Favi is Associate Professor in Japanese Studies at the Department of Humanities of the University of Turin, and Research Associate at the University of Geneva for the project " Making the World - The first round the world tourist tours (1869-1914)". Her research focuses on travel history and on the analysis of texts, including cartographical texts, connected with travel and travel encounters. After completing a PhD at Ca’ Foscari University (Venice) and a Marie Skłodowska-Curie project at the University of Manchester (with a focus on Early Modern Japan and on the map and travel literature collection preserved at the John Rylands Research Institute and Library), she is now exploring the culture of globetrotting in nineteenth-century Japan.

Erica Baffelli

Erica Baffelli is Professor of Japanese Studies at The University of Manchester (UK). She is interested in religion in contemporary Japan, with a focus on groups founded from the 1970s onwards. Her research projects and publication focus on religion in contemporary Japan; religion and media; new and minority religions; religion, gender and violence; and Buddhism and emotions. She currently PI on a Leverhulme Research Project on "Fear and Belonging in Minority Buddhist Communities" (2023-2027).

About the venue

The Whitworth is a venue with level access throughout, and facilities to support you during your visit. Alongside this our visitor team will be on hand to assist you in the gallery. Find out more about planning your visit to the Whitworth and accessibility information for you.

If you’d like to speak to a team member about any access or additional needs, please get in touch with the gallery and we will be happy to assist you. Email [email protected] or telephone 0161 275 7450.

The Whitworth art gallery and gardens is driven by a mission to work with communities to use art for positive social change, and actively addresses what matters most in people’s lives. We are proudly part of The University of Manchester, operating as a convening space between the University and the people of the city.

(Image credit: Beneath the Great Wave_ Hokusai, Hiroshige, and ukiyo-e print, c.1830-32)

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