Sangoku Tsūran Zusetsu (三国通覧図説, An Illustrated Description of Three Countries) by Hayashi Shihei (1738–1793) was published in Japan in 1786.[1] This book represents one of the earliest attempts to define Japan in terms of its outer boundaries. It represented a modern effort to distinguish Japan from the neighboring nations.[2]

The book describes those three surrounding nations: the Joseon Dynasty (Korea), the Ryukyu Kingdom (Ryukyu Islands/Okinawa) and Ezo (Hokkaido),[3] as well as the yet uninhabited Bonin Islands.[4]

A copy of the Sangoku Tsūran Zusetsu was brought to Europe by Isaac Titsingh. In Paris, the text represented the first appearance of Korean han'gŭl in Europe.[4] After Titsingh's death, the printed original and Titsingh's translation were purchased by Jean-Pierre Abel-Rémusat at the Collège de France, wherethrough a series of errors on Abel-Rémusat's partit gave the Bonin Islands their name.[5] After Rémusat's death, Julius Klaproth at the Institut Royal in Paris published his version of Titsingh's work.[5] In 1832, the Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland supported the posthumous abridged publication of Titsingh's French translation.[6][7]

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