A fateful encounter with Siebold
【(Philipp Franz Balthasar von Siebold).】
Born in Nagoya in 1803, Keisuke Ito was a young man who was a doctor but loved plants.He met Siebold, who was teaching Western medicine to Japanese students in Nagasaki (Dejima), at the Palace of Atsuta (Nagoya). (Age 24, 1826)
Siebold invited Ito to come to study at his medical school in Nagasaki. Ito persuaded his family to agree to his going to Nagasaki. Ito recalled this at a later date, saying, “It was a joy that stayed with me forever.A half year later, when he was about to return from Nagasaki to Nagoya, Siebold gave Keisuke a book about Japanese plants, the "Flora Japonica”, written by the botanist Carl Peter Thunberg.Siebold said, "Please read this book and study it diligently."
The Flora Japonica was stolen from him as he was returning home. Probably it was mistaken for money, because he was holding it in his arms so carefully.When the book was returned to him at a later date, he "held it as tightly as if it was his child, and jumped for joy."
At that time, going to Nagasaki to study was similar to how we experience going to study abroad in the present day.
Ito's reputation while in Nagasaki
Siebold said, "I am his teacher, but Ito is also my teacher."
Many herbaria prepared by Ito are still preserved at the National Herbarium at Leiden in the Netherlands.
An herbarium is a botanical specimen prepared by drying a real plant, affixing it to a sheet of stiff white paper and labeling it with all the essential data about the plant.
・Ito, ｗhen he was around 30 years old. This portrait was drawn by Takamasa Mori, a painter from Nagoya.
・ A portable microscope said to have been presented to him by Siebold
・ ”Kasaku Yosaku Zassan (Herbarium)": It is said that this book containing a collection of dried plants had been compiled by Siebold in cooperation with Ito while in Nagasaki.
・ Commemorative medal created for the 100th anniversary of Siebold’s birth
Born in Nagoya in 1803, Keisuke Ito was a young man who was a doctor but loved plants.He met Siebold, who was teaching Western medicine to Japanese students in Nagasaki (Dejima), at the Palace of Atsuta (Nagoya). (Age 24, 1826)
Siebold invited Ito to come to study at his medical school in Nagasaki. Ito persuaded his family to agree to his going to Nagasaki. Ito recalled this at a later date, saying, “It was a joy that stayed with me forever.A half year later, when he was about to return from Nagasaki to Nagoya, Siebold gave Keisuke a book about Japanese plants, the "Flora Japonica”, written by the botanist Carl Peter Thunberg.Siebold said, "Please read this book and study it diligently."
The Flora Japonica was stolen from him as he was returning home. Probably it was mistaken for money, because he was holding it in his arms so carefully.When the book was returned to him at a later date, he "held it as tightly as if it was his child, and jumped for joy."
At that time, going to Nagasaki to study was similar to how we experience going to study abroad in the present day.
Ito's reputation while in Nagasaki
Siebold said, "I am his teacher, but Ito is also my teacher."
Many herbaria prepared by Ito are still preserved at the National Herbarium at Leiden in the Netherlands.
An herbarium is a botanical specimen prepared by drying a real plant, affixing it to a sheet of stiff white paper and labeling it with all the essential data about the plant.
・Ito, ｗhen he was around 30 years old. This portrait was drawn by Takamasa Mori, a painter from Nagoya.
・ A portable microscope said to have been presented to him by Siebold
・ ”Kasaku Yosaku Zassan (Herbarium)": It is said that this book containing a collection of dried plants had been compiled by Siebold in cooperation with Ito while in Nagasaki.
・ Commemorative medal created for the 100th anniversary of Siebold’s birth