BioOne.org will be down briefly for maintenance on 17 December 2024 between 18:00-22:00 Pacific Time US. We apologize for any inconvenience.
Open Access
How to translate text using browser tools
4 December 1998 Die Xylothek des Chikusai Kato
H. Walter Lack, Hideaki Ohba
Author Affiliations +
Abstract

A collection of 177 wood blocks is described, each bearing a red impression of the seal of Chikusai Kato dated ‘11 Meiji’, i.e. 1878, and consisting of a minimum of nine elements: the rectangular wood block proper, four cylindrical slices cut from branches and fixed to the corners, and four more or less rectangular pieces of bark and underlying wood fixed to the edges of the wood block. This arrangement offers a quick impression of wood characters in longitudinal and cross sections as well as an idea of the bark. 136 species are represented, most of them native to Japan, some specimens have been taken from introduced trees. In addition, each wood block carries a painting, being an accurate illustration of the species from which the wood sample is taken and, usually, showing a twig, leaves, flowers, fruits, seeds, etc. Clearly painted in the western tradition, these figures testify to the new approach to plant illustration characteristic of the Meiji period, which had started a few years before Chikusai Kato's xylothek was finished. 152 of these wood blocks are kept in the Botanical Museum Berlin-Dahlem, 25 in the Economic Botany Collections at the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, all belonging to the same series.

See the PDF.

Zitierte Literatur

1.

P. K. Holmgren , N. H. Holmgren & L. C. Barnett (ed.) 1990: Index herbariorum 1. The herbaria of the world, ed. 8. — Regnum Veg. 120. Google Scholar

2.

T. Ito 1900: A short memoir of Ito Keisuké, Rigaku Hakushi (Doctor of Philosophy). — Ann. Bot. 14: 401–411. Google Scholar

3.

K. Iwatsuki , T. Yamazaki , D. E. Bonfford & H. Ohba (ed.) 1995: Flora of Japan 1. — Tokyo. Google Scholar

4.

Y. Kimura 1993: Siebold and Keiga: their careers and achievements. — Pp. 9–25 in: Y. Kimura & V. I. Grubov (ed.), Siebold's florilegium of Japanese plants 2. — Tokyo. Google Scholar

5.

H. W. Lack 1999: Plant illustration on wood blocks: a magnificent Japanese xylotheque of the early Meiji period. — Bot. Mag., ser. 6, 16 (in press). Google Scholar

6.

J. Ohwi (edited by F. G. Meyer & E. H. Walker ) 1984: Flora of Japan (in English), 2. printing. — Washington, DC. Google Scholar

7.

I. Urban 1916: Geschichte des Königlichen Botanischen Museum zu Berlin-Dahlem (1815– 1913) nebst Aufzählung seiner Sammlungen. — Beih. Bot. Centralbl., Abt. 1, 34: 1–457. Google Scholar
H. Walter Lack and Hideaki Ohba "Die Xylothek des Chikusai Kato," Willdenowia 28(1/2), 263-275, (4 December 1998). https://doi.org/10.3372/wi.28.2823
Published: 4 December 1998
Back to Top