Special Exhibition “Ichthyology”
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The JP Tower Museum INTERMEDIATHEQUE (IMT) will be holding a special exhibition “Ichthyology” as part of its tenth anniversary celebration. This exhibition is the eleventh instalment of the Intermediatheque Natural History series.
Modern ichthyology in Japan was introduced in the early Meiji period by foreign researchers invited to Japan as specialists such as the German zoologist Franz Martin Hilgendorf (1839–1904) and the American ichthyologist David Starr Jordan (1851–1931), who passed on the essence of ichthyology to Mitsukuri Kakichi (1858–1909), a professor at the Department of Zoology of the Imperial University College of Science (now the Faculty of Science, University of Tokyo), and his students. Later, two of Mitsukuri’s students, Kishinouye Kamakichi (1867–1929), who promoted taxonomic studies of commercially valuable fish and prawn, especially the mackerel, tuna, and bonito family, Scombridae (Scombriformes) and the genus Marsupenaeus(Decapoda: Penaeidae), as well as Tanaka Shigeho (1878–1974), who conducted extensive taxonomic and biogeographical studies of Japanese fishes, led the development of fish taxonomy, which is now led by Japanese researchers. Their research clarified the fish fauna of the seas surrounding Japan, which at the time was shrouded in mystery, and their reports are still being used as the basis for ichthyological research today, almost 100 years after they were active in the field.
This exhibition features 16 wall charts, 12 original illustrations, and 1 scroll from the collection of The University Museum, the University of Tokyo (UMUT), focusing on materials used by Kishinouye in his taxonomic and comparative anatomical studies of the family Scombridae. The wall charts, the centerpiece of the exhibition, are full-body illustrations of scombrid fishes reported by Kishinouye, with extremely precise and accurate depiction of the body outline, fins, and scales covering the body, giving the fish a realistic presence and revealing its unique characteristics. A wall chart of Euthynnus lineatus Kishinouye, 1920, which was discovered for the first time in the preliminary survey for this exhibition, is the first accurate drawing of a species for which the specimen on which the scientific name is based was previously considered to be missing. Therefore, this drawing replaces the type specimen of this species and is of high taxonomic value. The anatomical drawings of scombrid fishes compiled as original illustrations for Kishinouye’s papers show the technological level of anatomy at that time, with the skeletal, muscular, and vascular systems elaborately drawn in layers. These materials, created at the dawn of science in Japan during the Meiji and Taisho periods, are not only of scientific value, but also attract interest in the physical beauty of fishes as realistic paintings. We hope that these materials will help to recall some of the ways in which ichthyologists of the time dealt with and tried to express fish.
●Main Features of the Exhibition
- Collections from the early days of Japanese ichthyology
- Fundamentals of the ichthyological research
- Includes the drawing that serves as classification criteria
- Drawings that have both anatomical and artistic values
●Key Information
Title: Intermediatheque Natural History Series < 11 >
Special Exhibition “Ichthyology”
Dates: September 26, 2023–February 18, 2024
Opening Hours: 11:00 – 18:00 (open until 20:00 on Fridays and Saturdays) *Opening hours may change.
Closed: Mondays (or the following Tuesday if Monday is a National Holiday; however the museum is open on December 18 and 25) and Year-end holidays. May close irregularly.
Venue: Intermediatheque 2F [GREY CUBE]
Organizer: The University Museum, the University of Tokyo (UMUT)
Admission: Free of charge
Address: KITTE 2-3F, 2-7-2 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, JAPAN
Access: JR lines and Tokyo Metro Marunouchi line Tokyo Station (Marunouchi South Exit). Nijubashimae Station (Exit 4) on the Chiyoda Line (about 2 minutes on foot).
●Exhibition Page
http://www.intermediatheque.jp/en/schedule/view/id/IMT0268
●Contact
+81-47-316-2772 (NTT Hello Dial Service)
From Japan: 050-5541-8600 (NTT Hello Dial Service)