Rigaku Hakushi (Doctor of Philosophy). 405 
Systema Naturae of Linnaeus, he prepared his Taisei Honzo 
Meiso 1 in 3 vols., which he presented to his Daimyo in 1829. 
Herr Nordenskiold, in his Voyage of the Vega , referring to 
Thunberg’s Flora> gives a portrait of the venerable doctor 
[as he then appeared?]. On the covers of this work, with 
the object of correcting a popular error, Keisuke represented 
a yamabuki fruit ( Kerria Japonica) and an ichijiku flower 
(Ficus) accompanied by a line from an old poem— 
‘ Mi no hitotsu dani naki zo kanashiki ! * 
Not so much as a single fruit to be seen , alas 2 / 
With the desire of introducing the Linnean system into 
Japan, Udagawa Yoan had some time before explained it 
in a book called Botanika kyo> published in 1823, but unfor¬ 
tunately the work was little noticed. Our venerable doctor 
much regretted this neglect, and in 1879 desired me to reprint 
it together with the Seisetsu kuwansho kyo of Yoshio Shunzo 
published also in 1822. When Herr von Siebold returned home 
he took with him over ten portfolios of dried plants given him by 
Ito Keisuke, which are now preserved in the Leiden Museum. 
Professor Geerts refers to this collection in the following 
words:—- 
‘Mr. Ito Keiske, le cdlebre botaniste Japonais, qui a le 
premier observe et decrit une quantite de plantes nouvelles, 
et enrichi le musee de Leyde d’un herbier fort interessant et 
tres-precieux. II a publie en 1823 une traduction critique de 
la Flore Japonaise de Thunberg , comprenant trois volumes 
in-8°. Ce livre intitule Tai-sei-hon-zo-mei-su est tres-difficile 
a trouver aujourd’hui chez les libraires de Kiyoto ou deYedo’ 
(Geerts : Les Produits de la Nature , vol. i, Introduction, 1876). 
1 A list of Ito Keisuke’s works is appended to the memoir. 
2 The Stanza is in the Kokinshu (Poems Old and New ; ioth Century) :— 
Nanaye yaye' The seven-petalled, the eight-petalled 
hana wa sakedomo 
Yamabuki no 
Flower ! though it bloom 
on the Yamabuki, yet never a fruit, 
mi no hitotsu dani 
naki zo kanashiki. 
not so much as a single fruit 
doth it show, alas the Yamabuki! 
The Japanese notion (derived from China) was that Kerria had no fruit and 
Ficus no flower. 
