Exhibits
Shurin Tekagami (Illustrated Book of Fishes)
The Misaki Marine Biological Station (MMBS) of the School of Science, The University of Tokyo, contains four historically important pictures called “Shurin Tekagami” (Illustrated Book of Fishes), which were presented to Shogun (commander-in-chief) Ieharu Tokugawa in 1762. These pictures were drawn during the Edo period, according to an order by Yoritaka Matsudaira, the feudal lord of the Takamatsu domain in Sanuki Province.
The original pictures of Shurin Tekagami had been lost for many years, but Professor Bashford Dean at Columbia University acquired 32 original pictures and presented four of them to Eiji Kobayashi, the eighth director of MMBS.
On the 120th anniversary of MMBS in 2007, Naohide Isono, Emeritus Professor at Keio University, examined the pictures and concluded that they are likely originals from Shurin Tekagami.
Responsibility for wording of the article
Misaki Marine Biological Station [2022]