J BRIEF HISTORY OF BOTANY LV OID J AT. IN 217 



exotica3 (1712). lu 1G72, another revised edition of the Pents'ao Kammu hy 

 Kaibara Ekiken was published in 39 volumes. He added a translation 

 of the Chinese names into Japanese, and an appendix of two hundred and 

 seven more species of natural objects. In 1717, another revised edition of 

 tliis work was published by Ino Jyaksui. In this edition two plants Jin (|^) 

 and Botsureiri (^^^) which were wanting in the text of the original work 

 were added by the editor. In 1803, a most elaborate commentary on the 

 Penis' ao Kammu by Ono Eanzan in 48 volumes was put in print. His 

 identification of the Japanese natural objects with those of China is in 

 general correct and the explanations very exact, so the work is regarded 

 as a most useful publication on the natural history of Japan. 



Three great naturalists appeared in the Natural History 

 period of Japan. They are Ino Jyaksui, Kaibara Ekiken, and 

 Ono Eanzan. Ino Jyaksui was born in 1655 and died in 

 1715. He })ublished in 1692 a catalogue of the natural products of 

 Japan, and in 1696, a treatise on the food plants in which 189 species 

 of herbaceous edible plants are described. In 1697 he commenced to 

 compile a great encyclopedia of natural products entitled Sho Bntsu 

 Rui San with the intension of completing it in one thousand volumes. 

 The costs of this compilation were paid by the feudal lord of Kaga. 

 Ino divided the natural products into 26 groups, i e. the air, tire, water, 

 earth, stone, metals, jewels, cereals, beans, fermented food, melon-like 

 fruits, sea weeds, water plants, fungi, bamboos, vegetables, flowers, 

 herbs, trees, fruits, snakes, birds, beasts, fishes, insects, molluscs, and 

 taste. He arranged under these headings natural products with 

 Chinese names and under each name explanations extracted from all 

 accessible Chinese literature, not only the various Pents'ao, but the 

 classics, history, geographical works, etc. When he had compiled three 

 hundred and sixty-two volumes, he died. In 1719, the lord of Kaga 

 presented the unfinished books to the Tokugawa government, and in 

 1729, the 8hogun Yoshimune ordered Niwa Seihaku, a pupil of Ino 

 Jyaksui to complete the set as originally planned. After seven years, 

 in 1735, the remaining six liundred thirty eight volumes were written 

 and the work comiJeted. 



Kaibara Ekiken, or Ek'ken, was born in 1630, and died in 1714. 

 He was a universal genius. He was at the same time, philosopher, 

 man of letters, physician, geographer, historian, agronomist, and natu- 

 ralist. He wrote books on sixty dillerent su})jects in two hundred and 

 seventy volumes, among wliich we find a treatise on gaixlen flowers 

 in five volumes, on vegetables in three volumes, and on the natural 



