海南島的自然史調查

Since the early 20th century, numerous Japanese scholars have visited Hainan for natural resource surveys. From 1938 on, Taihoku Imperial University professor Tanaka Tyozaburo collaborating with Odashima Kijiro published “A Census of Hainan Plants.” Subsequently, professors Hirasaka Kyosuke and Kawaguti Siro from Taihoku Imperial University conducted a preliminary zoological exploration in July, 1940.

The Taihoku Imperial University formed a university-wide research group to Hainan, with the focus on agriculture and science. Two field trips were organized between 1940 and 1942. The first trip was composed of three teams—biology, agriculture and geology—which undertook research at different times and routes.

The second trip’s research had less to do with fundamental/inventory studies of natural history, with the exception of the entomological studies by Koidsumi Kiyoaki and Shibata Kikuo which further contributed to agricultural entomology, and Tanaka Ryo’s ongoing studies on Hainan rodents. From a natural history research viewpoint, since the scale of the second trip was smaller and conducted without inland investigations, its significance could not hold a candle to the previous one.

In addition to the two research trips to Hainan Island, several Taihoku Imperial University professors also accepted the commission of the Naval Special Service Department to conduct research on the Hlai people and their environment, leading to five research publications afterward. Two papers were related to natural history, one of which, “Plants of Hainan Island I”  by Yamamoto Yoshimatsu, covered an inventory of 1700 specimens and an illustration of vegetation located in the southwest region of Hainan Island. The other paper, “An Investigative Report of Freshwater Fish in Hainan Island” by Harada Isokichi, was focused on how he conducted fish research by blast fishing in nine major river systems on the island.