Introduction
Dr. Chûjirô Sasaki (1857–1938), active in the Meiji to early Showa eras, was one of the first professors at the Laboratories of Sericulture, College of Agriculture, Imperial University (later Tokyo Imperial University). He is known as the founder of modern sericulture and pestology in Japan, notably being the first person in Japan to give lectures on entomology. In particular, he contributed to the development of the sericulture industry in Japan due to studies on insect pests and silkworm diseases. It is also widely known that the generic name of the National Butterfly of Japan, Sasakia charonda, was named after him.
He was born on August 10, 1857 in Fukui City, Fukui prefecture as the first son of Chojun Sasaki. He studied diligently from his childhood and entered Fukui Sannomaru Junior High School in 1869. By direct order of Shungaku Matsudaira, the lord of Echizen Fukui Domain, at the school he studied English under the tuition of Alfred Lucy, a British teacher, and inorganic chemistry from William Elliot Griffis, an American teacher (Kaburagi, 1939). In 1874, he entered Kaisei-Gakko (later Tokyo Kaisei-Gakko and presently The University of Tokyo), and in 1877 went on to the newly-established College of Science, Tokyo University, where he learned botany from Prof. Ryōkichi Yatabe, zoology and evolution theory under American Prof. Edward Sylvester Morse, and embryology and histology from American Prof. Charles Otis Whitman (Kaburagi, 1939). In his university days, Dr. Sasaki took lectures from Prof. Edward S. Morse who discovered the Ohmori Shell Mounds, which Dr. Sasaki helped to excavate. Moreover, Dr. Sasaki and Dr. Isao Iijima found the Okadaira Shell Mound in Ibaraki prefecture, a major contribution to Japanese archaeology (Kaburagi, 1939).
After graduating as the first student of the Department of Biology, College of Science, Tokyo University in 1881, he went on to work as an associate professor at Komaba Nogakko in 1882, then a professor at Tokyo Noringakko (Agricultural and Dendrological College, Tōkyō) in 1886. Subsequently, he became the first professor at the Second Laboratory of Sericulture in the Zoological Institute of the College of Agriculture, Imperial University (later Tokyo Imperial University) in 1893 (Ishimori, 1938; Kaburagi, 1939). Moreover, he received a doctorate of science from the university in 1891. During his university life, he engaged in not only entomology and sericulture but also fisheries science, and educated a lot of students until his retirement in 1921. In that year, he was given the title of professor emeritus from Tokyo Imperial University, and in 1922 became a member of the Imperial Academy. Furthermore, he published many books and articles including the widely-regarded titles “Pests of Agricultural Crops in Japan (Keigyōsha)”, “Insect Pests of Trees in Japan (Keigyōsha)”, “Insect Taxonomy (Keigyōsha)”, “Pests of Horticulture (Tokyo-Engei)”, “Pests of Fruit Trees (Seibido)” and “Pests of Flowering Plants (Okura Shoten)”. These activities contributed to the development of entomology in Japan, especially in the field of sericulture and pestology. In recognition of this contribution, he was awarded “The Fifth Class Order of the Sacred Treasure” in 1901, “The Dairai Commemorative Medal” in 1915 and posthumously “The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star” from the government of Japan (Ishimori, 1938; Kaburagi, 1939).
Meanwhile, his father, Chojun Sasaki (1830-1916), who was also an expert of sericulture, was the first to pass down advanced techniques of European sericulture to Japan (Nishio, 1999; Tutikane, 2007). By command of the national government, he was dispatched to the World Exposition 1873 in Vienna and then traveled around the Western countries to learn the latest techniques of sericulture. After his return, he engaged in the sericulture industry as a leader of Naito Shinjuku Experiment Station (sericulture section), Kangyoryo (Industrial Agency), Ministry of Interior and as a Yosan goyo-gakari (officer handling sericulture) at the Aoyama Imperial Palace. As a remarkable achievement, he was able to prevent the spread of the pébrine infection of silkworms in Japan thanks to the techniques of disease control which he learned in Europe. In addition, he was also known to be closely acquainted with Sanai Hashimoto, a famous patriot during the end of the Edo era (Yamada, 1932).
The Sasaki and Associated Researchers’ Collection, which was transferred from the Faculty of Agriculture, The University of Tokyo, to The University Museum in 2012, is one of the oldest collections of European-style pinned specimens in Japan. The specimens of silkworms and harmful insects in the collection show the research situation of that time period. Moreover, his collection includes several specimens of extinct species and many specimens of endangered species that are now extinct in Tokyo and other localities, collected by prominent entomologists such as Yasushi Nawa, Chiyomatsu Ishikawa, Kametaro Toyama, Yasuji Yamada, Kikujiro Nagano, Tsunekata Miyake, Tokuichi Shiraki, Inao Nitobe, Nobukatsu Marumo, Kotaro Suzuki (later Shirahata), Hidetsugu Ishikura, Tamotsu Ishihara and Toshiro Haruta. The collection also contains the holotype specimen of new taxa which members of this group described (Yago, 2018). Furthermore, several specimens donated by Edme Henri Gallois, a resident of the Embassy of France, are stored in the collection. Gallois was a famous amateur entomologist, discovering in Nikko a new species, “Garoamushi” Galloisiana nipponensis (Grylloblattodea: Grylloblattidae), with the generic and Japanese names named after him.
The University Museum, The University of Tokyo, is currently data-basing the deposited insect collections to make available to the public as the University Museum Database (UMDB) project. The "Catalogue of the Insect Collection of Prof. Chûjirô Sasaki and associated researchers" is included as part of this project, and it was here opened on the website of the museum with the support of the UTokyo Digital Archives Project. This data was also published as the part covering the Rhopalocera (butterflies) in the “Material Reports” series of the university museum (Yago et al., 2019). The insect collection contains a total of 2,901 butterfly specimens arranged in 93 mid-sized specimen boxes. The majority of the specimens were collected from Japan, Taiwan and China in the 1890s-1910s. Some from Thailand (Siam), Borneo and Sri Lanka are also included in the collection. Of particular note are many specimens of Japanese butterflies faced with extinction from each locality such as Fabriciana nerippe, Niphanda fusca and Pyrgus maculatus from Tokyo, Melitaea scotosia from Tohoku and Chubu districts, and Pithecops fulgens from Shimojima of Tsushima Island.
The specific classification and identification of the catalogue primarily follow that of Chou (1999), Corbet & Pendlebury (1992), Evans (1949), Ek-Amnuay (2012), Hsu (2013a, 2013b, 2013c), Inomata et al. (2013), Shirôzu (1960) and Yata et al. (2007), and also other sources of literature (Braby, 2004; D’Abrera, 1978, 1981, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987a, 1987b, 1990, 1992, 1998; Kimura et al., 2011, 2014, 2016; Koiwaya, 2007; Parsons, 1998; Ormiston, 2003; Otsuka, 1988, 1991; Scott, 1986; Smart, 1975; Tuzov, 1997a, 1997b; Woodhouse, 1949). This database not only contributes much to taxonomy and systematics, but also provides an inventory that underpins biodiversity conservation. For example, basic data on distribution is the foundation for spatial analysis of patterns in biogeography and changes in environmental issues such as global warming, deforestation and environmental destruction. We hope that by publishing this database, it will not only contribute to research of various scientific fields in Japan and abroad, but also promote to the public the importance of preserving and cataloging scientific specimens and creating museum collections.
Acknowledgements
We express our sincere thanks to Dr. K. Ueda, Prof. Y.-F. Hsu, Mr. Y. Kishida, Mr. H. Tsukiyama, Mr. M. Teshirogi and Mr. M. Harada for their valuable advice. Special thanks go to Mr. Y. Yoshida for offering important literature on research of localities. We are also indebted to Mr. N. Moffat for his critical readings of the manuscript.
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