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The trip to the botanical gardens was very helpful in getting into the mind frame of how the search for tea went. Of the four questions or set of features that we had to decide from there was a common opposing question as to if tea is identified from a larger set of features. My group was that the edges of the leaf are the main characteristics that lead to the identification of tea. The reason I chose this feature is that there is enough variability but not an overwhelming amount; also the variations were fairly easily distinguishable in theory. When out in the field it was different.

We had a very limited amount of time to identify tea and had to narrow the field quickly. The plants that our group saw, we eliminated over half of them by the size of the leaves because they were too big. The feature that we chose did not really come into play until we found our final three: the actual tea plant, the bay plant, and another just across the way. The pictures that our group had printed out lead us to the assumption we were looking for smaller flower and a somewhat ridged edge.

How we narrowed it down to one was by the bay plant had too strong of a smell that would be overpowering when dried. The other two were very close. A question needed to be asked about the type of ridges the tea plant has. Which is that of wide and narrow ridges, there should be a lot of variance in the with between the rigdes in the tea plant. Even with this hint it was hard to decide. In the end we decided with the one that looked like the picture and was more shrub like, and we were correct.

The whole entire process was frantic and a competition. We had little information to go off of. It did in some cases come down to instinct, the plants that we had eliminated could have been the tea but we brushed them aside. Taking this into consideration of those who had to identify tea and bring it home this is a huge risk, especially if the plants could be poisonous.

Overall it was more than one feature that lead us to find the tea. The size of the plant, the presence of flowers, the venation, the smell of the leaves, the size of the plant, and look and feel of the leaves themselves. I find it would have been greatly difficult to identify it by only one simple set of features. For example, I did not take a picture of the plant while there and was going to take it off their site, but there are still no labels and the pictures of just of the leaves alone. I am not certain if I picked the right picture.

This picture was taken by a few Italians that were visiting Japan in the late 1800s (1860-1870s). This specific picture looks to be of a traditional Japanese house by the river. It probably belonged to a member of middle class for the house is not very big but not small and not that extravagant. There does not seem to be another house acting as the main house or guesthouse. They owner was probably a merchant or I want to say low level samurai. The quality of the picture is quite good but with the type of photography at that time it was not the easiest photo to take. It is highly unlikely that tourist would have been able to take pictures of the palace and high level samurai homes due to possible gates and the connotation of a tourist photographing their home especially with the Meji restoration ending.

The other 5 five photos displayed with this one, contained images of the samurai, temples, and other places. I found the most interesting thing about these photos is that they are real. I hear a lot about the history of Japan and see paintings of people, places, and events. But paintings, stories, and history can be altered or distorted. Photographs, at least at this time, could not really be altered. Once the image is captured it is there. It is also real life. Tourists took the pictures so the people aren’t posing and the images not specifically set up. It is more candid shots. See can actually see samurai walking down the street with their swords, which may have been after samurai where no longer allowed to carry them in public. It gives you more of actual insight to the events and history and see it come to life, reaffirming history or negating it.

The Perspective of a map is different from what we used to. East is switched with West, there are no latitude and longitude line, and the ocean is more vividly colored. The most noticeable thing, for those who read Japanese, is that in a clockwise motion of this map the point of compass reads in a clockwise motion: East, North, West, South instead of West, North, East, South. Instead of the “common” map markings they have some path markings, rivers, ocean, possible provinces and there are also land markings like postal stations. On first impression this map would seem to be very simple, but that is from our perspective.

We as students in the 21st century are very much used to and familiar with using maps, but mainly those modern maps have the standard point of compass. In a clockwise motion it is North, East, South, and West. We have latitude and longitude lines, even though we may not use them when looking at the map, and provinces, states, rivers, oceans, and continents are all defined in a similar manner. That is what was installed in our minds as to read maps. But even without being able to read Japanese looking at this map, it does not fit into this modern western perspective and yet we can still identify some similarities.

As aforementioned the point of compass is not the same. First off this Japan in 1691 does not include Hokkaido and it is turned so that north, or the top of the country, is on the right hand side of the map. After getting oriented to the map, it is still easy to identify what is land and what is ocean along with possible rivers and provinces. There may not be gridlines but there are points of compass on the map. These general details allow us to relate to the map but it still gives this impression of simplicity because of the lack of details that are common to modern maps. Looking further into the map the small dials in the bottom left hand corner of the map do lead to suggest that they could be used to tell tides and/or lunar phases. There are also flag marks on the map that form paths. Our guides on the tour of maps suggested that these posts are markings and paths for postal stations. In this time period postal stations are also linked to administrative government offices. The map also seems to be somewhat worn not purely because of the age of the map. Putting these things together I would suggest that the map was used for travel on the seas and land to deliver messages or importance on a more government level.

This ties very well into the fact that all the maps that we were shown that day were very expensive and time consuming to make for each of their respective time periods. This particular map is a made from a woodblock carving rolled with ink consisting of 7-8 sheets of paper fastened together. Those who could afford maps where either rich and used them as decoration or were in the government and/or commerce and used them for practical purposes. This is not one of the maps that would not be too mass-produced and could be of great value to those who need to deliver messages and/or sail and navigate on the seas close to the country. It is surprising that such a simple looking ancient map could be of such value and capable of accomplishing something that more complicated modern and ancient maps, which may be harder to read for those of little experience, are created to do. Also in the collection there were French atlases’ that gave examples of the level of detail needed to sail in these Asian countries. These more modern maps also do not have dials to predict lunar phases; this knowledge is separate from the maps. The more primitive 1691 Japanese map may have been just as complicated for them as a modern sailing map is for the modern day sailor.

Just because we as modern students and even the more modern French of the 19th century, may see this map as simplistic and primitive does not mean that it cannot serve the same function and complexity as a modern day map. There are some features that are consistent throughout history but even with these similarities it is not correct to only see an object or map through one perspective, the modern day one, for we may miss the importance and function and content of the map.