710
October 2019
PHOTOGRAMMETRIC ENGINEERING & REMOTE SENSING
where the X axis began at the meridian crossing the transit
circle at Tokyo Observatory. The East Belt covered the area
south of the Tsugaru Kaikyō (Strait) and east of 135°, com-
prising all of Honshu east of Kobe to 142°. The West Belt ori-
gin was
j
o
= 36º 03´ 34.9523˝ N and
λ
o
= 132° 04´ 42.9183˝ E,
where the meridian crossing the Kammuri-Yama first-order
station in Hiroshima-Ken was the X axis origin, and the limits
of the West belt were from 126° to 135°. The North Belt origin
was
j
o
= 45º 00´ 00˝ N and
λ
o
= 142° 15´ 17.2085˝ E, where
the meridian crossing the Yubari-Dake first-order station in
Hokkaidō was the X axis origin, and was used for computa-
tion in Hokkaidō. This North Belt was also used in Karafutō,
the southern half of Sakhalin Island, invaded during the Rus-
so-Japanese War of 1904-1905 and occupied by the Japanese
un-til after WWII. The southern belt covered the area south
of 31° where the Formosa Belt origin was
j
o
= 23º 40´ 00˝ N
and
λ
o
= 120° 58´ 25.9750˝ E, where the meridian crossing the
Koshizan first-order station (now called Hu-tzu-shan in Tai-
wan) was the X axis origin. These grids did not use false ori-
gins, and in all cases the scale factor at origin (mo) was equal
to unity. The purpose of the JILS Grids was to compute the
basic primary triangulations of these areas. Similar systems
were implemented by the JILS in Manchuria, China (
PE&RS
,
May 2000), and Korea (
PE&RS
, November 1999).
According to John W. Hager, “After 1921, the JILS Grids
changed to the following: Latitude of Origin for Korea and
zones 1 through 5 is 36º N, for Formosa 24º N. The Longitudes
of Origin – Korea 128º, zone 1 132º, zone 2 136º, zone 3 140º,
zone 4 144º, zone 5 148º, and Formosa 121º. All zones use a
unity Scale Factor, and False coordinates were used, but the
only one I have is for zone 2 where FN = 6,000 km, and FE
= 3,600 km. Notes on the Japanese Artillery (JA) versus the
JILS: where JILS X (northing) = 0 meters = JA Y = 250,000
meters, JILS Y (easting) = 0 meters = JA X = 200,000 meters.
Further stated that Latitude of Origin = 28º N, Longitude of
Origin = 129° 19´ 23.6028˝ E, (Yuwan-Dake). This is marked
as the New Tokyo (1918) value and with a further remark to
see also 129° 19´ 13.1978˝ E, which is the Old Tokyo (1892).
Convenient in that the grid values are the same and only the
geographic vary. The Korean National Geography Institute
and National Construction Research Institute use the same
gimmick by increasing the longitude of origins by 10.405˝.”
After WWII, the duties of the JILS were transferred to the
Geographical Survey Institute (GSI) in the Ministry of Home
Affairs. In 1947, a new Surveying Law defined 13 zones for
cadastral mapping (“Public Survey”), on the Gauss-Schreiber
Transverse Mercator Grid with specific prefectures for each
zone. For Zone 1,
j
o
= 33º 00´ N and
λ
o
= 129° 30´ E, required
for Nagasaki and Saga. For Zone 2,
j
o
= 33º 00´ N and
λ
o
= 131° 00´ E, required for Fukuoka, Ōita, Kumamoto, Mi-
yazaki, and Kagoshima. For Zone 3,
j
o
= 36º 00´ N and
λ
o
= 132° 10´ E, re-quired for Yamaguchi, Shimane, and Hiroshi-
ma. For Zone 4,
j
o
= 33º 00´ N and
λ
o
= 133° 30´ E, required
for Kagawa, Ehime, Tokushima, and Kōchi. For Zone 5,
j
o
= 36º 00´ N and
λ
o
= 134° 20´ E, required for Hyōgo, Tottore,
and Okayama. For Zone 6,
j
o
= 36º 00´ N and
λ
o
= 136° 00´ E,
re-quired for Fukui, Shiga, Mie, Nara, Wakayama, Kyōto, and
Ōsaka. For Zone 7,
j
o
= 36º 00´ N and
λ
o
= 137° 10´ E, re-
quired for Ishikawa, Toyama, Gifu, and Aichi. For Zone 8,
j
o
= 36º 00´ N and
λ
o
= 138° 30´ E, required for Niigata, Nagano,
Gumma, Yamanashi, and Shizuoka. For Zone 9,
j
o
= 36º 00´ N
and
λ
o
= 139° 50´ E, required for Fukushima, Tochigi, Ibara-
ki, Chiba, Saitama, Kanagawa, and Tōkyō. For Zone 10,
j
o
= 40º 00´ N and
λ
o
= 140° 50´ E, required for Aomori, Akita,
Yamagata, Iwate, and Miyagi. For Zone 11,
j
o
= 45º 00´ N
and
λ
o
= 140° 15´ 19´ 17.2085˝ E, where the central meridi-
an is 2º west of the Longitude of the Yubari-dake first-order
trig. station in Hokkaidō. Zone 11 is required for the follow-
ing sub-prefectures of Hokkaidō: Iburi, Usu, Abuta, Hiyama,
Shiribeshi, Otaru, Hakodate, and Ō-Shima. For Zone 12,
j
o
= 45º 00´ N and
λ
o
= 142° 15´ 19´ 17.2085˝ E, where the cen-
tral meridian is the longitude of the Yubari-dake first-order
trig. station in Hokkaidō. Zone 12 is required for the fol-low-
ing sub-prefectures of Hokkaidō: Sapporo, Ishikari, Abashiri
(Mombetsu), Asahigawa, Kamikawa, Soya, Urakawa, Muro-
ran, Yūbari (excluding Usu and Abuta), Sorachi, and Rumoi.
For Zone 13,
j
o
= 45º 00´ N and
λ
o
= 144° 15´ 19´ 17.2085˝ E,
where the central meridian is the longitude of the Yubari-da-
ke first-order trig. station in Hokkaidō. Zone 13 is required for
the following sub-prefectures of Hokkaidō: Nemuro, Kushiro,
Abashiri (excluding Mombetsu), Kasai, and Kushiro. As usu-
al, there was no false origin, and the scale factor at origin was
equal to unity for all of these grids for the “Public Survey.”
Thanks to Professor Kazuo Kobayashi of the Survey College
of Kinki, there have been some new additions to the “Grids of
the Public Survey.” Hager later pored over some maps to iden-
tify the likely areas of coverage. For Zone 14,
j
o
= 26º 00´ N
and
λ
o
= 142° 00´ E, and appears to be for the Bonin Islands
(Ogasawara-Guntō) and Volcano Islands (Kazan-Rettō). For
Zone 15,
j
o
= 26º 00´ N and
λ
o
= 127° 00´ E, and appears to
be for Okinawa Guntō and Amami Guntō. For Zone 16,
j
o
= 26º 00´ N and
λ
o
= 124° 00´ E, and appears to be for Sakishi-
ma Guntō. For Zone 17,
j
o
= 26º 00´ N and
λ
o
= 131° 00´ E,
and appears to be for the Daito Islands (Kita Daito Jima
and Okino Daito Jima). For Zone 18,
j
o
= 20º 00´ N and
λ
o
= 136° 00´ E, and appears to be for Parece Vela. ). For Zone
19,
j
o
= 26º 00´ N and
λ
o
= 154° 00´ E, and appears to be for
Marcus (Minami Tori Shima).
In 1985, Toshiyuki Shiina, general manager of the Geodetic
Surveying Department of the Aero Asahi Corporation wrote
to me of the special grid he de-vised for the Seikan Tunnel
Project. (The project was the longest tunnel under the seabed
in the world at the time.) Because the tunnel spanned two
Public coordinate grids between the Main Island of Honshu
and the northern island of Hokkado, he chose to define his
own special purpose grid for the project based on the Gauss-
Krüger Transverse Mercator projection. Shiina also chose a
scale factor at origin, mo = 0.9999 and the projection origin at
j
o
= 41º 10´ N and
λ
o
= 140° 10´ E.
The GSI reports that it is moving the country to the Japa-
