In A Malleable Map Kären Wigen sets out to answer the question: “[H]ow did modern Japan acquire its regional architecture?” (p. 1). This uncomplicated, straightforward query begins a complex and fascinating exploration of the dynamic relationship of cartography, central political powers, and local institutions. According to Wigen, the modern prefectures emerged at the end of a long process that she traces across three centuries. As it developed, it “… entailed not the abolition of prior geographies so much as their absorption into standardized territories over which central rule could be exercised” (p. 107). As the word “absorption” suggests, Wigen contends that the process was more cooperative than confrontational, less a conquest by the center than gradual fitting in of an internally parcellized, peripheral region.

The region in question is modern day Nagano Prefecture, or as it known by older but still used regional names, Shinshū and Shinano. Wigen traces the...

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