No. 3] Proc. Jpn. Acad., Ser. B 86 (2010) 143

Linne and taxonomy in Japan: On the 300th anniversary of his birth

By Akihito (His Majesty The Emperor of Japan)

(Communicated by Koichiro TSUNEWAKI, M.J.A.)

President, dear friends bers of stamens belonged to dierent classes, even when their other characteristics were very similar, I am very grateful to the Linnean Society of while species with the same number of stamens be- London for the kind invitation it extended to me to longed to the same class, even when their other participate in the celebration of the 300th anniver- characteristics were very dierent. This led to the sary of the birth of Carl von Linne. When, in 1980, I idea that the classication of organisms should be was elected as a foreign member of the Society, I felt based on a more comprehensive evaluation of all I did not really deserve the honour, but it has given their characteristics. This idea gained increasing me great encouragement as I have tried to continue support, and Linne’s classication system was even- my research, nding time between my ofcial duties. tually replaced by systems based on phylogeny. Today, I would like to speak in memory of Carl The binomial nomenclature proposed by Linne, von Linne, and address the question of how Euro- however, became the basis of the scientic names of pean scholarship has developed in Japan, touching animals and plants, which are commonly used in the upon the work of people like Carl Peter Thunberg, world today, not only by people in academia but also Linne’s disciple who stayed in Japan for a year as by the general public. In the binomial nomenclature, a doctor for the Dutch Trading House and later the scientic name of a species consists of a combina- published Flora Japonica. tion of the generic name and an epithet denoting Carl von Linne, who was born in Sweden in the species. Before Linne established the binomial 1707, published in 1735, when he was 28 years old, nomenclature, scientic names consisted of the spe- the rst edition of Systema Naturae, in which he out- cies’ generic name and a description of the character- lined a new system of classication. According to this istics of that particular species which dierentiated it system, the plant kingdom was classied into 24 from the other species in the same genus. Therefore, classes based mainly on the number of stamens, when there were many species in one genus, the de- the animal kingdom was classied into six classes { scription dierentiating one species from the others quadrupeds, birds, amphibians, shes, insects and became highly detailed and very long, making scien- worms { and the mineral kingdom was classied into tic names difcult to use. To solve this incon- three classes { rocks, minerals and mined material. venience, Linne proposed a new nomenclature, ex- Each class was divided into several orders, and exam- cluding the description of characteristics from the ples of some genera were given for each order. Linne scientic name and simplifying it to a combination rmly believed that nature had been created by God of a generic name and an epithet only, with the de- in an orderly and systematic manner, and he aimed scription of the species to be noted separately. to discover the order of nature so that he could clas- The International Code of Zoological Nomencla- sify and name all things created by God and thus ture and the International Code of Botanical Nomen- complete the system of nature. However, in Linne’s clature stipulate that, when more than one scientic system, which classied plants mainly on the basis name exists for a particular species, the oldest scien- of the number of stamens, species with dierent num- tic name shall be adopted. It is also stipulated that, for spermatophytes and pteridophytes, the scientic This article was rst published in 2008 as a chapter of Special Issue No. 8 of The Linnean ISSN 0950-1096 and is reprinted by names in the rst edition of Linne’s Species Planta- kind permission of The Linnean Society of London. rum, published in 1753, shall be recognised as the doi: 10.2183/pjab.86.143 62010 The Japan Academy 144 Akihito [Vol. 86, oldest scientic names, and for animals, the scientic put in place to prevent Christian ideas from coming names in Clerck’s Aranei Svecici, a monograph on into Japan, and allowed the import of books on spiders, and those in the 10th edition of Linne’s Sys- European science published in China, which were un- tema Naturae, both deemed to have been published related to Christianity. This development stimulated on 1 January 1758, shall be similarly recognised. research on European science and people came to The names published before these publications are focus their attention on medical books written in not recognised as scientic names of the organisms. Dutch. In the rst edition of Species Plantarum and Yamawaki Toyo, who had studied classical in his later books, Linne described many Japanese Chinese medicine introduced into Japan, noted the plants and gave them scientic names. Camellia great dierence between what he had learned and japonica, for example, was described in the rst edi- the illustrations in the imported Dutch medical tion of Species Plantarum, and this scientic name is books. To nd out which was true, he performed a still used today. These Japanese plants were illus- dissection of a human body in 1754, with permission trated by Engelbert Kaempfer in his book, Amoeni- from the government, and published the results as tatum Exoticarum, which was published in 1712. An Account of the Observation of Viscera. From Kaempfer was a German doctor who served in the that time onward, dissections were often performed. Dutch Trading House in Japan for two years from In 1774, a year before Thunberg arrived in Japan, A 1690. New Book of Anatomy was published. It had been At that time, Japan had isolated itself from the translated from Dutch into Japanese by Sugita Gen- world. Japanese people were not allowed to go abroad, paku and other doctors of Edo. They decided to start and visits by foreigners to Japan were severely re- the translation when they actually saw a dissection stricted. As the policy of isolation was taken to sup- and were convinced of the accuracy of the Dutch press Christianity, the Dutch, who came for trading book on anatomy. Some of the people who came purposes only and not to promulgate Christianity, together knew the Dutch language, but the leader of were permitted to come to Japan. The Dutch people the translation project, Sugita Genpaku, did not were made to live on an articial island, Dejima, even know the alphabet. Translation proved to be built in the sea o Nagasaki and connected to land an extremely difcult task, but thanks to the zeal by a bridge, and could not leave the island without of Genpaku, who wanted to publish the book in permission. The head of the Trading House, how- Japanese as soon as possible and contribute to medi- ever, was to visit the shogun at Edo, present-day cine, A New Book of Anatomy was completed for Tokyo, once a year, accompanied by his delegation publication after only three years. including the doctor. Kaempfer thus visited Edo In Kaempfer’s posthumous book, The History twice during his stay, taking more than 80 days for of Japan, he writes that, during his two visits to the trip each time. Edo, only one Japanese doctor visited him just It was during his stay in Japan that Kaempfer once to ask for medical advice on some disease. In sketched the plants, which were later published in Thunberg’s book, Travels in Europe, Asia and Amoenitatum Exoticarum in 1712. His 256 sketches Africa Made During the Years 1770{1779, however, are now kept in the Natural History Museum. he writes that immediately upon arrival in Edo, he In 1775, 83 years after Kaempfer left Japan, a received visits from ve doctors and two astrono- Swedish doctor, Carl Peter Thunberg, arrived at the mers, and that thereafter, Katsuragawa Hoshu, a Dutch Trading House. Thunberg was Linne’s disciple doctor for the shogun, and his friend Nakagawa and later became a full professor at Uppsala Univer- Jun-an visited Thunberg almost every day and some- sity in both botany and medicine. Kaempfer and times stayed till very late into the night to learn from Thunberg were both doctors who worked in the him about various scientic matters. These two Dutch Trading House during Japan’s period of isola- doctors had both participated in the translation of tion. But unlike Kaempfer’s days, Japanese doctors A New Book of Anatomy. In the book, their names had a deeper recognition of European medicine when appear after Sugita Genpaku, the translator, as Na- Thunberg came to Japan. This change occurred be- kagawa Jun-an, the editor, and Katsuragawa Hoshu, cause in 1720, Shogun Tokugawa Yoshimune relaxed the supervisor. Both of them, Nakagawa Jun-an in the prohibition on importing books, which had been particular, could speak Dutch quite well. Thunberg No. 3] Linne and taxonomy in Japan 145 writes that he asked them the Japanese names of the post in 1867, and a new government was formed fresh plants which they brought and taught them the under Emperor Meiji. The Meiji government sent Latin names and the Dutch names of the plants. students overseas and invited foreign teachers to Exchanges between Thunberg and the two Japan, and the Japanese people made a great eort Japanese doctors continued even after Thunberg’s to acquire Western knowledge. The foreign teachers return to Sweden. The letters the two doctors wrote who were invited to Japan at this time made a great to Thunberg are kept in Uppsala University. I saw contribution to Japan, and the students who went to those letters with Their Majesties the King and study overseas also contributed in various ways to Queen of Sweden during our visit to Uppsala Univer- the subsequent development of Japan. sity in 1985, as Crown Prince and Crown Princess, One of the academic achievements made by and it left a deep impression on both of us. Japanese scientists in the 19th century was the dis- We do not know exactly when the scientic covery of ginkgo sperm by Hirase Sakugoro in 1896. names under the binomial nomenclature, originated Hirase Sakugoro, who worked as an illustrator in the by Linne, were introduced to Japan. As I mentioned botanical laboratory of the University of Tokyo and earlier, Thunberg writes in his book that he taught later became a research associate, observed the swim- Katsuragawa Hoshu and Nakagawa Jun-an the ming of ginkgo sperm, and published his paper on Latin names of plants. It is my view, however, that this discovery in a botanical journal. A month later, some doubts remain to conclude, from what Thun- Ikeno Sei-ichiro, an associate professor in the agricul- berg writes in this book, that the scientic names tural department of the University of Tokyo who col- were rst introduced to Japan at that time. laborated with Hirase Sakugoro in his studies, found Linne’s nomenclature started to be used in cycad sperm, and also reported it in a botanical jour- Japan after a German doctor, Philipp Franz von nal. It was known at the time that ferns have sperm, Siebold, arrived at the Dutch Trading House in but this was the rst time in the world that a gymno- 1823. By the time Siebold came to Japan, there sperm was found to have sperm. This discovery was were many Japanese who could speak Dutch. Siebold not believed at rst, but it became accepted after established a school of medicine and a clinic for treat- zamia sperm, from the same cycad family, was dis- ing patients in the suburbs of Nagasaki. He could covered in the United States the following year in also leave the island of Dejima to visit patients at 1897. For this achievement these two researchers their homes or to collect medicinal herbs. It was were awarded the Imperial Award of the Japan under such circumstances that in 1829, Ito Keisuke Academy in 1912. wrote a book in which Linne’s nomenclature was used The ginkgo is a gymnosperm unique in its for the rst time in Japan. Keisuke took the scientic phylogeny because it is a single-order, single-family, names of plants in Thunberg’s Flora Japonica, which single-genus, single-species plant. It ourished in the Siebold had brought to Japan, put them in alphabe- Mesozoic Jurassic age but survived only in China, tical order, and added their Japanese names. In the and was brought from China to Japan in ancient supplement, he introduced Linne’s classication sys- times. It was given a scientic name by Linne, on tem as ‘‘Explanation of the 24 Classes’’. the basis of Kaempfer’s illustration. The ginkgo tree Keisuke studied under Siebold for six months in that Hirase Sakugoro used for his research is still Nagasaki, and when he was about to return to his standing in the Koishikawa Botanical Gardens of home in Nagoya, he was given Thunberg’s book as the University of Tokyo. I visited the botanical gar- a gift. Keisuke sent the manuscript of his book, A dens with the Empress last year and looked at the Translation of Thunberg’s Flora Japonica, to Siebold ginkgo tree, thinking of the research that was done a in Nagasaki, and Siebold checked it. long time ago. In 1854, Japan and the United States signed In the 20th century, as Japanese taxonomy the Treaty of Peace and Amity as the arrival of made progress, more and more new species began the American naval eet brought to an end Japan’s to be reported. Before that, Japanese animals and policy of isolation, which had lasted for more than plants were given scientic names by European 200 years. After that, Japan started establishing scientists, and as a matter of course, the type spe- diplomatic relations with many countries. The last cimens used for naming them were kept in European shogun, Tokugawa Yoshinobu, resigned from his museums. Therefore, when Japanese researchers 146 Akihito [Vol. 86, wanted to describe a Japanese animal or plant as a has been immensely benecial, providing a universal new species, they had to check the type specimens in basis for taxonomy throughout the world and en- foreign countries one by one, and the difculties they abling taxonomists around the world to communi- encountered were far from triing. cate with each other through a common language Thanks to the eorts made by many people, about things existing in nature. Since then, taxon- all Japanese spermatophytes, pteridophytes and ver- omy to this day has continued to develop on the tebrates excluding shes now have scientic names. basis of this binomial nomenclature. As I mentioned However, there are still many unnamed shes, and, at the beginning, Linne’s classication system based in particular, there are many gobioids which must mainly on the number of stamens was eventually re- be given scientic names. placed by a system based on a more comprehensive When I started my research, I frequently re- evaluation of all characteristics. It is understandable ferred to a book titled Fish Morphology and Hier- that the idea of using phylogeny as the basis for archy by Dr. Matsubara Kiyomatsu, published in taxonomy had not yet appeared at Linne’s time. It 1955. The book covered all Japanese shes with keys was almost a hundred years after Linne that the to the species, and it listed 134 gobioids including theory of evolution proposed by Darwin and Wallace subspecies. In the more recent Fishes of Japan with was presented here at the Linnean Society, and the Pictorial Keys to the Species, published in 2002, the idea of phylogeny became newly accepted in the number of gobioids, including subspecies, increased academia. In academia today, an even newer eld to 412, but 45 of them have only Japanese names of research, molecular biology based on evolution, and have no scientic names yet. is seeing remarkable development. As a result, more There were two studies that particularly inter- importance is placed on phylogeny, and systems ested me as I embarked on my research on gobioids. based on phylogeny are considered to be more accu- One was ‘‘The osteology and relationships of certain rate and are now the mainstream of taxonomy. gobioid shes, with particular reference to the genera As I have been familiar with classications Kraemeria and Microdesmus’’ by Dr. William Gos- based on morphology since I was young, the appear- line published in 1955, and the other was ‘‘Studies ance of the electron microscope which enabled me of the gobioid shes in Japanese waters; on the com- to observe minute morphological characteristics, and parative morphology, phylogeny, taxonomy, distri- my encounter with an even smaller world, where bution and bionomics,’’ which was an unpublished classication is based on DNA analysis at a molecu- doctoral thesis by Dr. Takagi Kazunori. With these lar level, have been great experiences for me as a re- papers as reference, I proceeded with my taxonomi- searcher. In the years ahead, I think the analysis of cal research. On the one hand, I studied the relation- mitochondrial DNAs will open up great possibilities ships among many kinds of gobioids, analysing their of discovering new species which cannot be distin- bones stained with alizarin red. I studied, on the guished morphologically but which can be clearly other hand, the dierences among species of gobioids distinguished at a molecular biological level. I hope by comparing the arrangement of their head sensory to understand and take into consideration this newly canal pores and sensory papillae. developing eld of research, but at the same time, I Back in the 1960s, no one in Japan was yet clas- intend to continue to give my attention to and keep sifying gobioids on the basis of the arrangement of up my interest in morphology, which is a eld of their head sensory papillae. Therefore, in 1967, when study carried on from Linne’s days. I would like to I published the classication of the four species of continue my research, always keeping in mind the the genus Eleotris found in Japan based on the question of what will be the importance and role of arrangement of their sensory papillae in the Japanese morphology in the eld of taxonomy in the future. Journal of Ichthyology, apparently there were some On the 300th anniversary of Linne’s birth, I feel people who had considerable doubts about my classi- that taxonomy, which used to be based solely on cation. However, the arrangement of the sensory morphology, is entering a new era. papillae has now become an important factor in clas- In closing, I would like to thank you again for sifying gobioids, and I am glad that I have been able this invitation and I oer my best wishes for the fur- to make some contribution in this eld. ther prosperity of the Linnean Society of London. The binomial nomenclature established by Linne