402 Tokutaro I to.—A Short Memoir of I to Keisukd, 
The venerable Doctor’s name is Keisuke. He is known 
also as Kinkwa, and again as Seimin 1 . Lastly he calls himself 
Taikosan Sho (a faggot of Mt. Taiko) after a country residence 
he possesses of that name in the village of Ueno, in the 
district of Aichi, in the province of Owari 2 . 
He was born on the 27th of New Year’s month 3 of the 
3rd Kyowa 4 (a. D. 1803) in Gofuku 5 Street in Nagoya in 
Owari. His father, Nishiyama Gento, followed the profession 
of medicine. His mother’s name was Noma. There were 
three sons and one daughter of the marriage. The eldest son 
was called Sonshin, the second son was the venerable doctor. 
Sonshin entering the family of Okochi, Keisuke became the 
heir. In his youth he was called Nishiyama Sachu, but in 
accordance with his father’s wish the name was discarded 
and the old family name of Ito was resumed. Following in 
the footsteps of his father and elder brother, he adopted the 
profession of medicine. From boyhood he was fond of 
collecting plants and inquiring their Chinese and Japanese 
names from his father and brother. 
In Bunkwa and Bunsei 6 , in company with Mizutani 
Sukeroku he made a tour through the provinces of Owari, 
Mikawa, Is6, Shima, Mino, and Shinano, collecting plants, 
animals, and minerals. 
In 1821, being nineteen years old, he went to Kyoto and 
made the acquaintance of many well-known botanists. With 
1 In Old Japan most writers, artists, &c. assumed various literary or artistic 
names at different periods of their life. The family name came first always—thus 
Ito Keisuke, now commonly written Keisuke Ito. 
2 The Japanese names of provinces are given. The Japanese, after an apparently 
arbitrary fashion, call some provinces by their native, others by their Chinese, 
names. Thus Owari is more often known as Bishu. 
3 I make this date, according to the old calendar, to be Feb. 20, 1803. 
4 A nengo or year-period of Old Japan. These had more or less fanciful Chinese 
names. Kyowa might mean Enjoyment of Peace. In 1867 nengo was named 
Meiji (Illustrious Rule) and is to be conterminous with the reign of the present 
Emperor. 
s Gofuku means ‘clothes.’ It is a Chinese word, the literal signification of which 
is ‘ Go (Wu) clothing,’ indicative of Wu as one of the sources whence Chinese 
civilization was introduced into Japan. 
fi Bunkwa, 1804-17. Bunsei, 1818-29. 
