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Painting probably by Aoki Katsujiro (c. 1821, attributed by the Ino Tadataka Memorial Museum, Katori); plate in Otani Ryokichi (ed.), Ino Tadataka, Iwanami Shoten, 1917; digitised by the National Diet Library, Japan (https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/956854) · Printed plate captioned 'Portrait of Ino Tadataka' in Otani Ryokichi (ed.), Ino Tadataka (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1917), as digitised by the National Diet Library (NDL Digital Collections item 956854, page image R0000004). It reproduces the painted portrait of about 1821 kept by the Ino Tadataka Memorial Museum in Katori, which the museum says is his only portrait and was probably painted by his disciple Aoki Katsujiro after his death. The file is the plate cropped from the library's 4064 x 2848 pixel scan of the book spread (756 x 988 pixels), black-and-white halftone, with no upscaling. · Public domain (National Diet Library item-level Public Domain Mark; a 1917 Japanese publication reproducing a painting of about 1821)
Trait Constellation
Key Achievements
Japanese surveyor who, from 1800 at the age of 55, led ten surveys to 1816 that charted the coast from Hokkaido to Kyushu on foot with astronomical observations; after his death his disciples completed the Dai Nihon Enkai Yochi Zenzu in 1821, the Ino maps that Japan Search describes as the first maps of Japan made with actual surveying techniques.
The shogunate kept the maps secret and the official copy burned in 1873, but copies served as the base for the Japanese government's maps of the 1870s and 1880s, and a copy taken out by Siebold was published in Europe in 1840; scholars note he used the traverse method and that his longitudes were less accurate than his latitudes.
Before surveying he ran his adoptive family's sake-brewing and trading business, retired at 49 to study astronomy under Takahashi Yoshitoki, and measured a degree of meridian arc at 28.2 ri (about 110.75 km), close to the figure in Lalande's astronomy text; 2,345 materials related to him were designated National Treasures in 2010.
Moments That Reveal Them
In 1800 the shogunate sanctioned the survey of Ezo for its value to northern defence, while Ino and his teacher were most interested in the length of a degree of latitude; the stipend was modest and he supplemented it with his own funds.
This is consistent with a man who found a way to get a scientific aim funded and sanctioned by pairing it with the state's practical concern and adding his own money. Resourcefulness
In later surveys he suffered asthma and contracted malaria and had to put down his instruments during bouts of illness, yet the survey went on for 17 years; he took little part in the last two surveys, and his students finished the maps after his death.
This is consistent with sustained effort over many years that was limited by age and illness rather than by loss of purpose. Persistence
Turning Points
In 1803 he spread his maps of eastern Japan before the shogun Tokugawa Ienari in Edo Castle; the shogun made him a retainer and ordered a survey of western Japan paid for by the government, and the team grew to include experts from the calendar office.
This is consistent with a private project turning into an official one once he had shown concrete results. Leadership Drive
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Sources
- Inō Tadataka (Q1240937), verified live via the Wikidata API (2026-11-04): English label 'Inō Tadataka', description 'Japanese surveyor and cartographer (1745-1818)', Korean label 이노 다다타카, born 11 February 1745, died 17 May 1818, citizenship Japan. Orientation only; not used as support for any row.
- Wikipedia, 'Inō Tadataka' (English article, read as orientation only). Not counted as a substantive source and not used as support for any row or card.
- Geospatial Information Authority of Japan (national mapping agency), exhibition page 'The Ino Maps: the origin of modern maps, commemorating 200 years since the completion of the Dai Nihon Enkai Yochi Zenzu' (2021), read in full (Japanese). CANONICAL SIGNIFICANCE SOURCE: Ino Tadataka began surveying Ezo in 1800 at 55 and carried out ten surveys to 1816, producing a surveyed map from Hokkaido to Kyushu; he died in 1818, his disciples took the work on, and the Dai Nihon Enkai Yochi Zenzu (the Ino maps) was completed in 1821 and submitted to the shogunate, with large (1:36,000, 214 sheets), medium (1:216,000, 8 sheets) and small (1:432,000, 3 sheets) scales; the official copy burned in the palace fire of 1873 and the Ino family copy given to the government was lost in the 1923 earthquake; the exhibition presents how the Ino maps influenced later Japanese mapping. The page prints his birth year as 1754, a typographical slip against every other source (1745).
- Hoshino Yoshihisa, 'Mapping a Nation: Japan's Most Famous Cartographer, Inō Tadataka', Nippon.com, Shapers of Japanese History series (30 January 2020), read in full: a detailed narrative of his life and surveys (merchant and village headman, retirement at 49, study with Takahashi Yoshitoki, the 1800 Ezo survey, the 1803 presentation to the shogun, asthma and malaria on later trips, the 1821 completion by his students, the loss of the originals), with a candid closing paragraph on his sternness with people and the limits on his longitude accuracy.
- 'Inō, Tadataka', Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography (Charles Scribner's Sons, 2008; the entry text as reproduced by Encyclopedia.com), read in full: a scholarly entry that explains the meridian-length problem, the 1800 survey and the western surveys, and the maps' later use, and that also lists his scientific limits (traverse method rather than triangulation, a spherical earth, no allowance for refraction, parallax or nutation, longitudes fixed by measured distances) and the secrecy that limited the maps' influence. Its bibliography names Otani Ryokichi's 1917 biography as the standard life.
- Japan Search (National Diet Library portal), 'Tadataka Ino' (person page with a biographical note), read: a short institutional note recording his adoption by the Ino family, his revival of its sake-brewing and rice-trading business, retirement at 50, study under Takahashi Yoshitoki in Edo, ten surveys over 18 years, and the explanation given to the shogunate that the Ezo survey mattered for northern defence while the master and pupil first wanted the distance of a degree of latitude; it also records that Mamiya Rinzo surveyed the rest of Ezo and that Takahashi Kageyasu and others completed the Ino maps.
- BRUTUS magazine web article on the 'Ino Walk' (Japanese, undated; the guide quoted is a walking-trip specialist), read in full: popular, partly promotional account of the ten surveys, the shift from largely self-funded surveys to an official project from the fifth survey, the devised bearing-compass instrument, his illness in later years, and the statement that his work involved no compromise; the article itself marks the 'forty million steps' figure as legend.
- National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo, news item 'Report on Important Cultural Properties Designation Submitted' (March 2010), read: records the Council for Cultural Affairs' report designating 2,345 materials pertaining to Inō Tadataka (maps, documents and surveying instruments, Katori City) as National Treasures. A short factual notice; used only for the 2010 designation.
- Katori City, Ino Tadataka Memorial Museum, object page 'Portrait of Ino Tadataka' (Japanese), read: the museum describes it as Ino Tadataka's only portrait painting and says it was probably painted by his disciple Aoki Katsujiro when his grandson presented the Dai Nihon Enkai Yochi Zenzu to the shogunate after his death; file 1244 x 3352 px. The city's site policy page states that copyright in the site's text and images belongs to the city or the content provider and that reuse needs permission; the object page itself gives no licence.
- National Diet Library Digital Collections, Otani Ryokichi (ed.), Inō Tadataka (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1917), item-level Public Domain Mark: the printed plate captioned 'Portrait of Ino Tadataka' near the front of the book. Opened for the portrait only; the book text was not read.