Shitsumon Honzō

Shitsumon Honzō

QH198.R9G61967

1837

Shitsumon honzō (Questions about plants質問本草) Edo (Tokyo): Satsuma Fugaku. 1837. 5 v. 28cm x 19cm. Japanese binding. Sakamaki/Hawley Collection. The Shimazu Clan (a ruling family of Satsuma Province, present Kagoshima) commissioned a project to send the collected specimens and illustrations of plants from the Ryūkyū Islands and Satsuma to China to identify each plant's name and features. The project lasted for five years (1781-1785). The compilations of the questions and answers from China resulted in Shitsumon Honzō, a detailed study, written in Chinese, of some 160 plants found in Japan and Ryūkyū, with a full-page colored drawing of each plant. The identity of the Ryūkyūan author, Go Keishi, has been long disputed among scholars and it remains unsettled.

5 volumes

Asia - China Collection, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Library

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