Tomitaro Makino
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Tomitaro Makino (牧野 富太郎, Makino Tomitarō; April 24, 1862 – January 18, 1957) was a pioneer Japanese botanist noted for his taxonomic work. He has been called "Father of Japanese Botany",[1] having been one of the first Japanese botanists to work extensively on classifying Japanese plants using the system developed by Linnaeus. His research resulted in documenting 50,000 specimens, many of which are represented in his Makino's Illustrated Flora of Japan. Despite having dropped out of grammar school, he eventually attained a Doctor of Science degree, and his birthday is remembered as Botany Day in Japan.
Legacy
[edit]In total, Makino named over 2500 plants, including 1000 new species and 1500 new varieties.[2][3][a] In addition, he discovered about 600 new species.[5]
After his death in 1957, his collection of approximately 400,000 specimens was donated to Tokyo Metropolitan University which has housed the collection at its Makino Herbarium .[4] Around the same time, Makino Botanical Garden opened in his native Kōchi on Mount Godai.[4] His home in Higashiōizumi, Nerima-ku, Tokyo was converted into the Makino Memorial Garden and Museum.[4]
He was also named an Honorary Citizen of Tokyo.[6]
Early life
[edit]Tomitaro Makino was born in Sakawa, Kōchi to a prestigious sake brewer. His parents died during his early childhood, and he was raised mainly by his grandmother. Though he dropped out of school after two years, he cultivated a strong interest in English, geography, and especially botany. In 1880, he became a teacher at the primary school in his hometown, where he published his first academic botanical paper.
In 1884, he moved to Tokyo to pursue his botanical interests at the University of Tokyo where he worked with Ryōkichi Yatabe. He married in 1890 and later had 13 children.
Career
[edit]In 1887, Makino started to publish an academic journal of botany.
In 1936, he published Makino Book of Botany, a six volume text on botany, in which he describes 6000 species, 1000 of which he discovered. He is best known for his Makino's Illustrated Flora of Japan, published 1940, which is still used as an encyclopedic text today.
In 1948, he was invited to the Imperial Palace to give a lecture on botany for Emperor Hirohito.
Selected works
[edit]In a statistical overview derived from writings by and about Makino, OCLC/WorldCat includes roughly 270+ works in 430+ publications in 4 languages and 1,060+ library holdings.[7]
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- Makino shokubutsugaku zenshū (Makino's Book of Botany) Sōsakuin, 1936
- Makino shin Nihon shokubutsu zukan (Makino's New Illustrated Flora of Japan), Hokuryūkan, 1989, ISBN 4-8326-0010-9
See also
[edit]- Ranman (TV series): the main character Mantarō Makino (played by actor Ryunosuke Kamiki) is inspired by Makino, and its story is based on his real life.[9]
Explanatory notes
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Makino Tomitarō" in Japan Encyclopedia, p. 604, p. 604, at Google Books.
- ^ Chichi ga ko ni okuru 1-oku nin no Shōwa-shi 父が子におくる1億人の昭和史. Vol. 6. Mainichi Shinbun. March 1978. p. 134?. ndljp:12395984.
- ^ Konishi, Shirō [in Japanese] (1979). Shōwa-shi no genzō 昭和史の原像. Shueisha. p. 200.
- ^ a b c d Havens, Thomas R. H. (2020). Land of Plants in Motion: Japanese Botany and the World. University of Hawaii Press. p. 87. ISBN 9780824883447.
- ^ オーガニズムの観相: 生命と生態. Kosakusha. 1980. p. 160?. ndljp:12603135.
- ^ 練馬区史: 練馬区独立 30周年記念. Vol. 3. Nerima-ku. 1980. pp. 29, 36.
- ^ WorldCat Identities: 牧野富太郎
- ^ International Plant Names Index. Makino.
- ^ "Ranman". IMDb. Retrieved July 26, 2023.
