From a tourist’s map to rail transportation in and around Tokyo in 1975. This side shows the then seven subway lines of the Teito Rapid Transit Authority (now the Tokyo Metro) and the three Toei lines, as well as some connecting JR and private rail lines. The reverse side shows the extensive rail network of the greater metropolitan area, but that’s a post for another time.

The map itself is really a bit of a mess, with lines wiggling around all over the place without much effort taken to use the schematic form to simplify the topology of the network. However, it is notable for using index numbers for all the stations, starting at “1″ on the westernmost (leftmost) station – Shibuya – on the oldest line (the Ginza line) and numbering consecutively all the way along the line. Once that line has been competed, the numbering returns to the left of the map and continues at the next number (19) on the Maranouchi Line… and so on, up to station number 152, Highashi-Ojima at the eastern end of the Toei Shinjuku line. 

These numbers are referenced in the legend to the left of the map, although the stations are ordered alphabetically rather than by index number, which makes cross-referencing a little trickier than it could be.

Also curious is the decision for the legend show which lines call at each station by the use of colour alone, which doesn’t really work for colour-deficient users of the map. Almost all of the line colours shift to very similar blues or yellows in my colour-blindness simulations in Photoshop. Admittedly, not as much thought was given to this sort of accessibility back in the 1970s.

Finally, we have to admire the handsome line illustration of the 7000-series Metro trainset (still in use today!) at the top of the map, complete with the old TRTA logo on the front door. Nice!

Source: David Rumsey Map Collection