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The topographical handbook in its more complete form is the product of the last hundred years, but pictorial representations of native scenery have been published since about 1680, either in the form of "single

sheets" (ichimai-yé), sewn volumes (shomotsu), long panoramic pictures converted into folding books (orihon) or rolls (makimono).

The typical Meisho dzu-yé or pictorial description of noted places, is, however, a work of ambitious scope and of wide utility. It indicates all the spots famous for landscape beauties, collects learned records of the historical and legendary lore of the localities described, enumerates the