Philipp Franz von Siebold
Encyclopedia
Philipp Franz Balthasar von Siebold (February 17, 1796 – October 18, 1866) was a German physician and traveller. He was the first European to teach Western medicine in Japan
. He obtained significance for his study of Japanese flora and fauna.
(then in the Bishopric of Würzburg
), von Siebold initially studied medicine at University of Würzburg
from November 1815, where he became a member of the Corps
Moenania Würzburg. One of his professors was Franz Xaver Heller (1775–1840), author of the ("Flora of the Grand Duchy of Würzburg", 1810–1811). Ignaz Döllinger
(1770–1841), his professor of anatomy and physiology, however, most influenced him. Döllinger was one of the first professors to understand and treat medicine as a natural science. Von Siebold stayed with Döllinger, where he came in regular contact with other scientists. He read the books of Alexander von Humboldt
, a famous naturalist and explorer, which likely raised his desire to travel to distant lands. Philipp von Siebold became a doctor by earning his M.D. in 1820. He initially practiced medicine in Heidingsfeld, Germany (now part of Würzburg).
Invited to Holland by an acquaintance of the family, von Siebold applied for a position as a military doctor. This position would enable him to travel to the Dutch colonies. He entered Dutch military service on June 19, 1822. He was appointed ship's doctor on the frigate Adriana on the voyage from Rotterdam
to Batavia (present-day Jakarta
) in the Dutch East Indies
(present-day Indonesia
). On his trip to Batavia on the frigate Adriana, he practiced his knowledge of the Dutch language and rapidly learned Malay
. During the long trip, von Siebold started a collection of marine fauna. He arrived in Batavia on February 18, 1823.
As an army medical officer, von Siebold posted with an artillery
unit. He stayed, however, a couple of weeks at the residence of the governor-general to recover from illness. With his erudition, he impressed the governor-general baron Godert van der Capellen
and the head of the botanical garden Buitenzorg (Bogor
), Caspar Georg Carl Reinwardt
. Already, these men sensed a successor to Engelbert Kaempfer
and Carl Peter Thunberg
(author of Flora Japonica), both former resident physicians at Dejima. The Batavian Academy of Arts and Science made von Siebold a member.
, the artificial island next to Nagasaki, on June 28, 1823, and arrived on August 11, 1823 as the new resident physician
and scientist
. During his eventful trip he barely escaped drowning during a typhoon in the East China Sea
. Since only a very limited number of Dutch citizens were allowed on this island, the posts of physician and scientist had to be combined. At that time, Dejima was no longer in the possession of the Dutch East Indian Company but was kept running by the Dutch State, because of political reasons.
The European tradition of sending doctors with botanical training to Japan was a long one. Sent on a mission by the Dutch East India Company, Engelbert Kaempfer
(1651–1716), a German physician and botanist who lived in Japan from 1690 until 1692, ushered in this tradition of a combination of physician and botanist. The Dutch East India Company did not, however, actually employ the Swedish botanist and physician Carl Peter Thunberg
(1743–1828), who arrived in Japan in 1775.
and pathological anatomy for the first time in Japan.
Siebold began a medical school with 50 students appointed by the Shogun
(see Rangaku
). They helped him in his botanical and naturalistic studies. His school, the Narutaki-juku, grew into a meeting place for around 50 rangakusha. Recognized by the Japanese, von Siebold served as an expert on Western science. The Dutch language became the lingua franca
(common spoken language) for these academic and scholarly contacts for a generation, until the Meiji Restoration
.
His patients paid him in kind with a variety of objects and artifacts that would later gain historical significance. These everyday objects later became the basis of his large ethnographic
collection, which consisted of everyday household goods, woodblock prints, tools and hand-crafted objects used by the Japanese people.
Since mixed marriages were forbidden, von Siebold "lived together" with his Japanese partner Kusumoto Taki (楠本滝). In 1827 Kusumoto Taki gave birth to their daughter, Oine
. Von Siebold used to call his wife "Otakusa" and named a Hydrangea
after her. As a result of her father's efforts, Oine eventually became the first Japanese woman known to have received a physician's training, and became a highly-regarded practicing physician. She died in 1903.
he cultivated the Japanese plants to endure the Dutch
climate
. Local Japanese artists drew images of these plants, creating botanical illustrations and images of the daily life in Japan, which complemented his ethnographic collection. He hired Japanese hunters to track rare animals and collect specimens. Many specimens were collected with the help of his Japanese collaborators Keisuke Ito
(1803–1901), Mizutani Sugeroku (1779–1833), Ohkochi Zonshin (1796–1882) and Katsuragawa Hoken (1797–1844), a physician to the Shogun
. As well, von Siebold's assistant and later successor, Heinrich Bürger
(1806–1858), proved to be indispensable in carrying on von Siebold's work in Japan.
Siebold first introduced to Europe such familiar garden-plants as the Hosta
and the Hydrangea otaksa
. Unknown to the Japanese, he was also able to smuggle out germinative seeds of tea plants
to the botanical garden in Batavia. Through this single act, he started the tea culture
in Java, a Dutch colony
at the time. Until then Japan had strictly guarded the trade in tea plants. Remarkably, in 1833, Java already could boast a half million tea plants.
During his stay at Dejima, he sent three shipments with an unknown number of herbarium specimens to Leiden, Ghent
, Brussels
and Antwerp. The shipment to Leiden contained the first specimens of the Japanese giant salamander
(Andrias japonicus) to be sent to Europe.
In 1825 the East Indian Company provided him with two assistants: apothecary and mineralogist Heinrich Bürger
(his later successor) and the painter Carl Hubert de Villeneuve. Each would prove to be useful to Siebold's efforts that ranged from ethnographical to botanical to horticultural, when attempting to document the exotic Eastern Japanese experience.
Reportedly, Siebold was not the easiest man to deal with; he was in continuous conflict with his Dutch superiors, who felt he was arrogant. This threat of conflict resulted in his recall in July 1827 back to Batavia. But the ship, the Cornelis Houtman, sent to carry Siebold back to Batavia, was thrown ashore by a typhoon in Nagasaki bay. The same storm badly damaged Dejima and destroyed Siebold's botanical garden. Repaired, the Cornelis Houtman set afloat. It left for Batavia with 89 crates of Siebold's salvaged botanical collection, but Siebold, however, remained behind in Dejima.
. During this long trip he collected many plants and animals. But he also obtained from the court astronomer Takahashi Kageyasu several detailed maps of Japan and Korea (written by Inō Tadataka
), an act strictly forbidden by the Japanese government. When the Japanese discovered, by accident, that von Siebold had mapped northern parts of Japan, the government accused him of high treason
and of being a spy for Russia
.
The Japanese ordered Siebold into house arrest and expelled him from Japan
on October 22, 1829. Satisfied that his Japanese collaborators would continue his work, he journeyed back on the frigate Java to his former residence, Batavia, in possession of his enormous collection of thousands of animals and plants, his books and his maps. The botanical garden of would soon house von Siebold's surviving, living flora collection of 2,000 plants. He arrived in the Netherlands on July 7, 1830. His stay in Japan and Batavia had lasted for a period of eight years.
, leading soon to the Belgian independence
. Hastily he salvaged his ethnographic collections in Antwerp and his herbarium specimens in Brussels and took them to Leiden. He left behind his botanical collections of living plants that were sent to the University of Ghent. The consequent expansion of this collection of rare and exotic plants led to the horticultural fame of Ghent
. In gratitude the University of Ghent presented him in 1841 with specimens of every plant from his original collection.
Siebold settled in Leiden, taking with him the major part of his collection. The "Philipp Franz von Siebold collection," containing many species type specimens, was the earliest botanical collection from Japan. Even today, it still remains a subject of ongoing research, a testimony to the depth of work undertaken by Siebold. It contained about 12,000 specimens, from which he could describe only about 2,300 species. The whole collection was purchased for a handsome amount by the Dutch government. Siebold was also granted a substantial annual allowance by the Dutch King William II
and was appointed Advisor to the King of Japanese Affairs. In 1842 the King even raised Siebold to the peerage as an esquire.
The "Siebold collection" opened to the public in 1831. He founded a museum in his home in 1837. This small, private museum would eventually evolve into the National Museum of Ethnology in Leiden. Seibold's successor in Japan, Heinrich Bürger, sent Siebold three more shipments of herbarium specimens collected in Japan. This flora collection formed the basis of the Japanese collections of the National Herbarium of the Netherlands
in Leiden and the natural history museum Naturalis
(National Natuurhistorisch Museum).
The Bibliotheca Japonica appeared between 1833 and 1841. This work was co-authored by Joseph Hoffmann and Kuo Cheng-Chang, a Javanese of Chinese extraction, who had journeyed along with von Siebold from Batavia. It contained a survey of Japanese literature and a Chinese, Japanese and Korean dictionary.
The zoologists Coenraad Temminck
(1777–1858), Hermann Schlegel
(1804–1884), and Wilhem de Haan
(1801–1855) "scientifically" described and documented Siebold's collection of Japanese animals. The , a series of monographs published between 1833 and 1850, was mainly based on Siebold's collection, making the Japanese fauna the best-described non-European fauna - "a remarkable feat for von Siebold". A significant part of the Fauna Japonica was also based on the collections of Siebold's successor on Dejima, Heinrich Bürger
.
Siebold wrote his Flora Japonica in collaboration with the German botanist Joseph Gerhard Zuccarini
(1797–1848). It first appeared in 1835, but the work was not completed until after his death, finished in 1870 by F. A. W. Miquel (1811–1871), director of the Rijksherbarium in Leiden. This work expanded Siebold's scientific fame from Japan to Europe.
From the Hortus Botanicus Leiden
—the botanical garden of Leiden—many of Siebold's plants spread to Europe and from there to other countries. Hosta and Hortensia, Azalea
, and the Japanese butterbur
and the coltsfoot
as well as the Japanese larch
began to inhabit gardens across the world.
, from 1852 he was became involved in correspondence with Russian diplomats such as Baron von Budberg-Bönninghausen
, the Russian ambassador to Prussia
.
American Naval Commodore Matthew C. Perry consulted Siebold in advance of his voyage to Japan in 1854.
In later years, von Siebold became an adviser on Japanese cultural and social issues for several governments. This position granted Siebold a return to Japan as an "adviser" from 1859 till 1863. While back in Japan, he went to see Kusomoto Sonogi several times. His proposals for a "cultural" approach to the Japanese, instead of a "mercantile" approach were not appreciated by the Dutch government. The Dutch Government recalled Siebold, first to Batavia and then to Holland. Disillusioned by this lack of understanding of Japan and his own failure to be appreciated, von Siebold returned to his native town of Würzburg, offering in vain his services to the French and Russian governments. He died in Munich
on October 18, 1866.
In addition to these examples, which demonstrate the honor gained by von Siebold, there are more plants named as a tribute to him, which are not mentioned above. Also a type of abalone
, Nordotis gigantea, is known as Siebold's Abalone, and is prized for sushi
.
Though he is well known in Japan ("Shiboruto-san"), mentioned in the relevant schoolbooks, von Siebold is almost unknown to the Dutch, Germans or Americans, except among gardeners who admire many plants with the entitlement of the sieboldii and sieboldiana. The Hortus Botanicus
in Leiden has recently laid out the "von Siebold Memorial Garden", a Japanese garden with plants sent by von Siebold. Japanese visitors come and visit this garden, to pay their respect for him.
s that honor him.
His collections laid the foundation for the ethnographic museums of Munich and Leiden. Alexander von Siebold
, his son to his European wife, donated much of the material left behind after von Siebold's death in Würzburg to the British Museum
in London. The Royal Scientific Academy of St. Petersburg purchased 600 colored plates of the Flora Japonica.
His other son Heinrich (Henry) von Siebold
(1852–1908), continued part of his father's research. As well, he is recognized together with Edward S. Morse
as one of the founders of modern archaeological
efforts in Japan.
}}
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. He obtained significance for his study of Japanese flora and fauna.
Early life
Born into a family of doctors and professors of medicine in WürzburgWürzburg
Würzburg is a city in the region of Franconia which lies in the northern tip of Bavaria, Germany. Located at the Main River, it is the capital of the Regierungsbezirk Lower Franconia. The regional dialect is Franconian....
(then in the Bishopric of Würzburg
Bishopric of Würzburg
The Bishopric of Würzburg was a prince-bishopric in the Holy Roman Empire, located in Lower Franconia, around the city of Würzburg, Germany. Würzburg was a diocese from 743. In the 18th century, its bishop was often also Bishop of Bamberg...
), von Siebold initially studied medicine at University of Würzburg
University of Würzburg
The University of Würzburg is a university in Würzburg, Germany, founded in 1402. The university is a member of the distinguished Coimbra Group.-Name:...
from November 1815, where he became a member of the Corps
German Student Corps
Corps are the oldest still-existing kind of Studentenverbindung, Germany's traditional university corporations; their roots date back to the 15th century. The oldest corps still existing today was founded in 1789...
Moenania Würzburg. One of his professors was Franz Xaver Heller (1775–1840), author of the ("Flora of the Grand Duchy of Würzburg", 1810–1811). Ignaz Döllinger
Ignaz Döllinger
Ignaz Döllinger was a German doctor, anatomist and physiologist and one of the first professors to understand and treat medicine as a natural science.- Biography :...
(1770–1841), his professor of anatomy and physiology, however, most influenced him. Döllinger was one of the first professors to understand and treat medicine as a natural science. Von Siebold stayed with Döllinger, where he came in regular contact with other scientists. He read the books of Alexander von Humboldt
Alexander von Humboldt
Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander Freiherr von Humboldt was a German naturalist and explorer, and the younger brother of the Prussian minister, philosopher and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt...
, a famous naturalist and explorer, which likely raised his desire to travel to distant lands. Philipp von Siebold became a doctor by earning his M.D. in 1820. He initially practiced medicine in Heidingsfeld, Germany (now part of Würzburg).
Invited to Holland by an acquaintance of the family, von Siebold applied for a position as a military doctor. This position would enable him to travel to the Dutch colonies. He entered Dutch military service on June 19, 1822. He was appointed ship's doctor on the frigate Adriana on the voyage from Rotterdam
Rotterdam
Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...
to Batavia (present-day Jakarta
Jakarta
Jakarta is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Officially known as the Special Capital Territory of Jakarta, it is located on the northwest coast of Java, has an area of , and a population of 9,580,000. Jakarta is the country's economic, cultural and political centre...
) in the Dutch East Indies
Dutch East Indies
The Dutch East Indies was a Dutch colony that became modern Indonesia following World War II. It was formed from the nationalised colonies of the Dutch East India Company, which came under the administration of the Netherlands government in 1800....
(present-day Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
). On his trip to Batavia on the frigate Adriana, he practiced his knowledge of the Dutch language and rapidly learned Malay
Malay language
Malay is a major language of the Austronesian family. It is the official language of Malaysia , Indonesia , Brunei and Singapore...
. During the long trip, von Siebold started a collection of marine fauna. He arrived in Batavia on February 18, 1823.
As an army medical officer, von Siebold posted with an artillery
Artillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
unit. He stayed, however, a couple of weeks at the residence of the governor-general to recover from illness. With his erudition, he impressed the governor-general baron Godert van der Capellen
Godert van der Capellen
Godert Alexander Gerard Philip, Baron van der Capellen was a Dutch statesman from Utrecht.Van der Capellen was made Prefect of Friesland and soon thereafter Minister of the Interior and a member of the Privy Council. At his advice, King Louis Napoleon abdicated the throne in 1810 in favor of his...
and the head of the botanical garden Buitenzorg (Bogor
Bogor
Bogor is a city on the island of Java in the West Java province of Indonesia. The city is located in the center of the Bogor Regency , 60 kilometers south of the Indonesian capital Jakarta...
), Caspar Georg Carl Reinwardt
Caspar Georg Carl Reinwardt
Caspar Georg Carl Reinwardt was a Prussian-born Dutch botanist.Reinwardt was the founder and first director of agriculture of the botanic garden at Bogor in Java...
. Already, these men sensed a successor to Engelbert Kaempfer
Engelbert Kaempfer
Engelbert Kaempfer , a German naturalist and physician is known for his tour of Russia, Persia, India, South-East Asia, and Japan between 1683 and 1693. He wrote two books about his travels...
and Carl Peter Thunberg
Carl Peter Thunberg
Carl Peter Thunberg aka Carl Pehr Thunberg aka Carl Per Thunberg was a Swedish naturalist and an apostle of Carl Linnaeus. He has been called "the father of South African botany" and the "Japanese Linnaeus"....
(author of Flora Japonica), both former resident physicians at Dejima. The Batavian Academy of Arts and Science made von Siebold a member.
Arrival in Japan
Siebold was sent to DejimaDejima
was a small fan-shaped artificial island built in the bay of Nagasaki in 1634. This island, which was formed by digging a canal through a small peninsula, remained as the single place of direct trade and exchange between Japan and the outside world during the Edo period. Dejima was built to...
, the artificial island next to Nagasaki, on June 28, 1823, and arrived on August 11, 1823 as the new resident physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
and scientist
Scientist
A scientist in a broad sense is one engaging in a systematic activity to acquire knowledge. In a more restricted sense, a scientist is an individual who uses the scientific method. The person may be an expert in one or more areas of science. This article focuses on the more restricted use of the word...
. During his eventful trip he barely escaped drowning during a typhoon in the East China Sea
East China Sea
The East China Sea is a marginal sea east of China. It is a part of the Pacific Ocean and covers an area of 1,249,000 km² or 750,000 square miles.-Geography:...
. Since only a very limited number of Dutch citizens were allowed on this island, the posts of physician and scientist had to be combined. At that time, Dejima was no longer in the possession of the Dutch East Indian Company but was kept running by the Dutch State, because of political reasons.
The European tradition of sending doctors with botanical training to Japan was a long one. Sent on a mission by the Dutch East India Company, Engelbert Kaempfer
Engelbert Kaempfer
Engelbert Kaempfer , a German naturalist and physician is known for his tour of Russia, Persia, India, South-East Asia, and Japan between 1683 and 1693. He wrote two books about his travels...
(1651–1716), a German physician and botanist who lived in Japan from 1690 until 1692, ushered in this tradition of a combination of physician and botanist. The Dutch East India Company did not, however, actually employ the Swedish botanist and physician Carl Peter Thunberg
Carl Peter Thunberg
Carl Peter Thunberg aka Carl Pehr Thunberg aka Carl Per Thunberg was a Swedish naturalist and an apostle of Carl Linnaeus. He has been called "the father of South African botany" and the "Japanese Linnaeus"....
(1743–1828), who arrived in Japan in 1775.
Medical practise
Japanese scientists invited Siebold to show them the marvels of western science, and he learned in return through them much about the Japanese and their customs. After curing an influential local officer, Siebold gained the ability to leave the trade post. He used this opportunity to treat Japanese patients in the greater area around the trade post. Siebold is credited with the introduction of vaccinationVaccination
Vaccination is the administration of antigenic material to stimulate the immune system of an individual to develop adaptive immunity to a disease. Vaccines can prevent or ameliorate the effects of infection by many pathogens...
and pathological anatomy for the first time in Japan.
Siebold began a medical school with 50 students appointed by the Shogun
Shogun
A was one of the hereditary military dictators of Japan from 1192 to 1867. In this period, the shoguns, or their shikken regents , were the de facto rulers of Japan though they were nominally appointed by the emperor...
(see Rangaku
Rangaku
Rangaku is a body of knowledge developed by Japan through its contacts with the Dutch enclave of Dejima, which allowed Japan to keep abreast of Western technology and medicine in the period when the country was closed to foreigners, 1641–1853, because of the Tokugawa shogunate’s policy of national...
). They helped him in his botanical and naturalistic studies. His school, the Narutaki-juku, grew into a meeting place for around 50 rangakusha. Recognized by the Japanese, von Siebold served as an expert on Western science. The Dutch language became the lingua franca
Lingua franca
A lingua franca is a language systematically used to make communication possible between people not sharing a mother tongue, in particular when it is a third language, distinct from both mother tongues.-Characteristics:"Lingua franca" is a functionally defined term, independent of the linguistic...
(common spoken language) for these academic and scholarly contacts for a generation, until the Meiji Restoration
Meiji Restoration
The , also known as the Meiji Ishin, Revolution, Reform or Renewal, was a chain of events that restored imperial rule to Japan in 1868...
.
His patients paid him in kind with a variety of objects and artifacts that would later gain historical significance. These everyday objects later became the basis of his large ethnographic
Ethnography
Ethnography is a qualitative method aimed to learn and understand cultural phenomena which reflect the knowledge and system of meanings guiding the life of a cultural group...
collection, which consisted of everyday household goods, woodblock prints, tools and hand-crafted objects used by the Japanese people.
Japanese wife
Kusumoto Ine
, also known as Oine was the first female doctor of Western medicine in Japan, and the daughter of German Dejima-based physician Philipp Franz von Siebold....
. Von Siebold used to call his wife "Otakusa" and named a Hydrangea
Hydrangea
Hydrangea is a genus of about 70 to 75 species of flowering plants native to southern and eastern Asia and North and South America. By far the greatest species diversity is in eastern Asia, notably China, Japan, and Korea...
after her. As a result of her father's efforts, Oine eventually became the first Japanese woman known to have received a physician's training, and became a highly-regarded practicing physician. She died in 1903.
Studies of Japanese fauna and flora
His main interest, however, focused on the study of Japanese fauna and flora. He collected as much material as he could. Starting a small botanical garden behind his home (there was not much room on the small island) Siebold amassed over 1,000 native plants. In a specially built glasshouseGreenhouse
A greenhouse is a building in which plants are grown. These structures range in size from small sheds to very large buildings...
he cultivated the Japanese plants to endure the Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
climate
Climate
Climate encompasses the statistics of temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, rainfall, atmospheric particle count and other meteorological elemental measurements in a given region over long periods...
. Local Japanese artists drew images of these plants, creating botanical illustrations and images of the daily life in Japan, which complemented his ethnographic collection. He hired Japanese hunters to track rare animals and collect specimens. Many specimens were collected with the help of his Japanese collaborators Keisuke Ito
Keisuke Ito
was a Japanese physician and biologist. He was born in Nagoya. He studied Western science under Philipp Franz von Siebold during the 1820s.As a doctor, Ito developed a vaccination against smallpox. He also widely studied the Japanese flora and fauna with Philipp Franz von Siebold , the author of...
(1803–1901), Mizutani Sugeroku (1779–1833), Ohkochi Zonshin (1796–1882) and Katsuragawa Hoken (1797–1844), a physician to the Shogun
Shogun
A was one of the hereditary military dictators of Japan from 1192 to 1867. In this period, the shoguns, or their shikken regents , were the de facto rulers of Japan though they were nominally appointed by the emperor...
. As well, von Siebold's assistant and later successor, Heinrich Bürger
Heinrich Bürger
Heinrich Bürger was a by birth German physicist, biologist and botanist employed by the Dutch government, and an entrepreneur. He was an important person for the study of Japanese fauna and flora.-Background:Bürger's exact birth date is unknown...
(1806–1858), proved to be indispensable in carrying on von Siebold's work in Japan.
Siebold first introduced to Europe such familiar garden-plants as the Hosta
Hosta
Hosta is a genus of about 23–45 species of lily-like plants in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Agavoideae, native to northeast Asia. They have been placed in their own family, Hostaceae ; like many 'lilioid monocots', they were once classified in the Liliaceae...
and the Hydrangea otaksa
Hydrangea
Hydrangea is a genus of about 70 to 75 species of flowering plants native to southern and eastern Asia and North and South America. By far the greatest species diversity is in eastern Asia, notably China, Japan, and Korea...
. Unknown to the Japanese, he was also able to smuggle out germinative seeds of tea plants
Camellia sinensis
Camellia sinensis is the species of plant whose leaves and leaf buds are used to produce Chinese tea. It is of the genus Camellia , a genus of flowering plants in the family Theaceae. White tea, green tea, oolong, pu-erh tea and black tea are all harvested from this species, but are processed...
to the botanical garden in Batavia. Through this single act, he started the tea culture
Tea culture
Tea culture is defined by the way tea is made and consumed, by the way the people interact with tea, and by the aesthetics surrounding tea drinking, it includes aspects of: tea production, tea brewing, tea arts and ceremony, society, history, health, ethics, education, and communication and media...
in Java, a Dutch colony
Colony
In politics and history, a colony is a territory under the immediate political control of a state. For colonies in antiquity, city-states would often found their own colonies. Some colonies were historically countries, while others were territories without definite statehood from their inception....
at the time. Until then Japan had strictly guarded the trade in tea plants. Remarkably, in 1833, Java already could boast a half million tea plants.
During his stay at Dejima, he sent three shipments with an unknown number of herbarium specimens to Leiden, Ghent
Ghent
Ghent is a city and a municipality located in the Flemish region of Belgium. It is the capital and biggest city of the East Flanders province. The city started as a settlement at the confluence of the Rivers Scheldt and Lys and in the Middle Ages became one of the largest and richest cities of...
, Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
and Antwerp. The shipment to Leiden contained the first specimens of the Japanese giant salamander
Japanese giant salamander
The Japanese giant salamander is endemic to Japan, where it is known as , literally meaning "giant pepper fish". With a length of up to almost 1.5 meters , it is the second largest salamander in the world, only being surpassed by the very similar and closely related Chinese giant salamander The...
(Andrias japonicus) to be sent to Europe.
In 1825 the East Indian Company provided him with two assistants: apothecary and mineralogist Heinrich Bürger
Heinrich Bürger
Heinrich Bürger was a by birth German physicist, biologist and botanist employed by the Dutch government, and an entrepreneur. He was an important person for the study of Japanese fauna and flora.-Background:Bürger's exact birth date is unknown...
(his later successor) and the painter Carl Hubert de Villeneuve. Each would prove to be useful to Siebold's efforts that ranged from ethnographical to botanical to horticultural, when attempting to document the exotic Eastern Japanese experience.
Reportedly, Siebold was not the easiest man to deal with; he was in continuous conflict with his Dutch superiors, who felt he was arrogant. This threat of conflict resulted in his recall in July 1827 back to Batavia. But the ship, the Cornelis Houtman, sent to carry Siebold back to Batavia, was thrown ashore by a typhoon in Nagasaki bay. The same storm badly damaged Dejima and destroyed Siebold's botanical garden. Repaired, the Cornelis Houtman set afloat. It left for Batavia with 89 crates of Siebold's salvaged botanical collection, but Siebold, however, remained behind in Dejima.
Siebold Incident
In 1826 Siebold made the court journey to EdoEdo
, also romanized as Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of the Japanese capital Tokyo, and was the seat of power for the Tokugawa shogunate which ruled Japan from 1603 to 1868...
. During this long trip he collected many plants and animals. But he also obtained from the court astronomer Takahashi Kageyasu several detailed maps of Japan and Korea (written by Inō Tadataka
Ino Tadataka
Inō Tadataka was a Japanese surveyor and cartographer. He is known for completing the first map of Japan created using modern surveying techniques.-Early life:...
), an act strictly forbidden by the Japanese government. When the Japanese discovered, by accident, that von Siebold had mapped northern parts of Japan, the government accused him of high treason
High treason
High treason is criminal disloyalty to one's government. Participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplomats, or its secret services for a hostile and foreign power, or attempting to kill its head of state are perhaps...
and of being a spy for Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
.
The Japanese ordered Siebold into house arrest and expelled him from Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
on October 22, 1829. Satisfied that his Japanese collaborators would continue his work, he journeyed back on the frigate Java to his former residence, Batavia, in possession of his enormous collection of thousands of animals and plants, his books and his maps. The botanical garden of would soon house von Siebold's surviving, living flora collection of 2,000 plants. He arrived in the Netherlands on July 7, 1830. His stay in Japan and Batavia had lasted for a period of eight years.
Return to Europe
Philipp Franz von Siebold arrived just at a time when, in 1830, political troubles erupted in BrusselsBrussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
, leading soon to the Belgian independence
Belgian Revolution
The Belgian Revolution was the conflict which led to the secession of the Southern provinces from the United Kingdom of the Netherlands and established an independent Kingdom of Belgium....
. Hastily he salvaged his ethnographic collections in Antwerp and his herbarium specimens in Brussels and took them to Leiden. He left behind his botanical collections of living plants that were sent to the University of Ghent. The consequent expansion of this collection of rare and exotic plants led to the horticultural fame of Ghent
Ghent
Ghent is a city and a municipality located in the Flemish region of Belgium. It is the capital and biggest city of the East Flanders province. The city started as a settlement at the confluence of the Rivers Scheldt and Lys and in the Middle Ages became one of the largest and richest cities of...
. In gratitude the University of Ghent presented him in 1841 with specimens of every plant from his original collection.
Siebold settled in Leiden, taking with him the major part of his collection. The "Philipp Franz von Siebold collection," containing many species type specimens, was the earliest botanical collection from Japan. Even today, it still remains a subject of ongoing research, a testimony to the depth of work undertaken by Siebold. It contained about 12,000 specimens, from which he could describe only about 2,300 species. The whole collection was purchased for a handsome amount by the Dutch government. Siebold was also granted a substantial annual allowance by the Dutch King William II
William II of the Netherlands
William II was King of the Netherlands, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, and Duke of Limburg from 7 October 1840 until his death in 1849.- Early life and education :...
and was appointed Advisor to the King of Japanese Affairs. In 1842 the King even raised Siebold to the peerage as an esquire.
National Herbarium of the Netherlands
The National Herbarium of the Netherlands was established in 1999 through a decentralized merger of the major university herbaria of Leiden , Utrecht and Wageningen...
in Leiden and the natural history museum Naturalis
Naturalis
Naturalis is the national natural history museum of the Netherlands, based in Leiden. It originated from the merger of the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie and the Rijksmuseum van Geologie en Mineralogie in 1984. In 1986 it was decided that the museum had to become a public museum and a new...
(National Natuurhistorisch Museum).
Writings
During his stay in Leiden Siebold wrote Nippon in 1832, the first volume of a richly illustrated ethnographical and geographical work on Japan. It also contained a report of his journey to the Shogunate Court at Edo. He wrote six further volumes, the last ones published posthumously in 1882. His sons published an edited and cheap reprint in 1887.The zoologists Coenraad Temminck
Coenraad Jacob Temminck
Coenraad Jacob Temminck was a Dutch aristocrat and zoologist.Temminck was the first director of the National Natural History Museum at Leiden from 1820 until his death. His Manuel d'ornithologie, ou Tableau systematique des oiseaux qui se trouvent en Europe was the standard work on European birds...
(1777–1858), Hermann Schlegel
Hermann Schlegel
Hermann Schlegel was a German ornithologist and herpetologist.-Early life and education:Schlegel was born at Altenburg, the son of a brassfounder. His father collected butterflies, which stimulated Schlegel's interest in natural history...
(1804–1884), and Wilhem de Haan
Wilhem de Haan
Wilhem de Haan was a Dutch zoologist. He specialised in the study of insects and crustaceans, and was the first keeper of invertebrates at the Rijksmuseum in Leiden, now Naturalis. He was forced to retire in 1846, when he was partially paralysed by a spinal disease...
(1801–1855) "scientifically" described and documented Siebold's collection of Japanese animals. The , a series of monographs published between 1833 and 1850, was mainly based on Siebold's collection, making the Japanese fauna the best-described non-European fauna - "a remarkable feat for von Siebold". A significant part of the Fauna Japonica was also based on the collections of Siebold's successor on Dejima, Heinrich Bürger
Heinrich Bürger
Heinrich Bürger was a by birth German physicist, biologist and botanist employed by the Dutch government, and an entrepreneur. He was an important person for the study of Japanese fauna and flora.-Background:Bürger's exact birth date is unknown...
.
Siebold wrote his Flora Japonica in collaboration with the German botanist Joseph Gerhard Zuccarini
Joseph Gerhard Zuccarini
Joseph Gerhard Zuccarini was a German botanist, Professor of Botany at the University of München. He worked extensively with Philipp Franz von Siebold, assisting in describing his collections from Japan, but also described plants discovered in other areas, including Mexico.-References:...
(1797–1848). It first appeared in 1835, but the work was not completed until after his death, finished in 1870 by F. A. W. Miquel (1811–1871), director of the Rijksherbarium in Leiden. This work expanded Siebold's scientific fame from Japan to Europe.
From the Hortus Botanicus Leiden
Hortus Botanicus Leiden
The Hortus botanicus of Leiden is the oldest botanical garden of the Netherlands, and one of the oldest in the world. It is located in the southwestern part of the historical centre of the city, between the Academy building and the Leiden Observatory....
—the botanical garden of Leiden—many of Siebold's plants spread to Europe and from there to other countries. Hosta and Hortensia, Azalea
Azalea
Azaleas are flowering shrubs comprising two of the eight subgenera of the genus Rhododendron, Pentanthera and Tsutsuji . Azaleas bloom in spring, their flowers often lasting several weeks...
, and the Japanese butterbur
Butterbur
The plants commonly referred to as Butterbur are found in the daisy family Asteraceae in the genus Petasites. They are mostly quite robust plants with thick, creeping underground rhizomes and large Rhubarb-like leaves during the growing season...
and the coltsfoot
Coltsfoot
Tussilago farfara, commonly known as Coltsfoot, is a plant in the family Asteraceae.It has been used medicinally as a cough suppressant. The name "tussilago" itself means "cough suppressant." The plant has been used historically to treat lung ailments such as asthma as well as various coughs by way...
as well as the Japanese larch
Japanese Larch
Japanese Larch is a species of larch native to Japan, in the mountains of Chūbu and Kantō regions in central Honshū....
began to inhabit gardens across the world.
International reputation
As a well-known expert on Japan, Siebold discovered that his expertise and opinions were sought after by a range of questioners. Whilst living in BoppardBoppard
Boppard is a town in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, lying in the Rhine Gorge, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It belongs to no Verbandsgemeinde. The town is also a state-recognized tourism resort and is a winegrowing centre.-Location:Boppard lies on the upper Middle...
, from 1852 he was became involved in correspondence with Russian diplomats such as Baron von Budberg-Bönninghausen
Andreas Feodorowitsch Budberg
Andrey Feodorovich Budberg - also known as Baron Andreas Ludwig Karl Theodor von Budberg-Bönninghausen Andrey Feodorovich Budberg - also known as Baron Andreas Ludwig Karl Theodor von Budberg-Bönninghausen Andrey Feodorovich Budberg - also known as Baron Andreas Ludwig Karl Theodor von...
, the Russian ambassador to Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
.
American Naval Commodore Matthew C. Perry consulted Siebold in advance of his voyage to Japan in 1854.
In later years, von Siebold became an adviser on Japanese cultural and social issues for several governments. This position granted Siebold a return to Japan as an "adviser" from 1859 till 1863. While back in Japan, he went to see Kusomoto Sonogi several times. His proposals for a "cultural" approach to the Japanese, instead of a "mercantile" approach were not appreciated by the Dutch government. The Dutch Government recalled Siebold, first to Batavia and then to Holland. Disillusioned by this lack of understanding of Japan and his own failure to be appreciated, von Siebold returned to his native town of Würzburg, offering in vain his services to the French and Russian governments. He died in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
on October 18, 1866.
Plants named after Siebold
The botanical and horticultural spheres of influence have honored Philipp Franz von Siebold by naming some of the finest and most garden-worthy plants in their genera. Examples are as follows:- Acer sieboldianumAcer sieboldianumAcer sieboldianum is a species of maple native to Japan and common in the forests of Hokkaidō, Honshū, Shikoku and Kyūshū Islands; in the south of the range it is restricted to mountain forests...
or Siebold's Maple is a variety of maple native to Japan - Calanthe sieboldiiCalanthe striataCalanthe striata is a species of orchid....
or Siebold's Calanthe is a terrestrial evergreen orchid native to Japan, the Ryukyu Islands and Taiwan. - Clematis florida var. sieboldiana (syn: Cl. florida 'Sieboldii' & Cl. florida 'Bicolor'): a somewhat difficult Clematis to grow "well" but a much sought after plant nevertheless
- Dryopteris sieboldii: a fern with leathery fronds
- Hosta sieboldii of which a large garden may have a dozen quite distinct cultivarCultivarA cultivar'Cultivar has two meanings as explained under Formal definition. When used in reference to a taxon, the word does not apply to an individual plant but to all those plants sharing the unique characteristics that define the cultivar. is a plant or group of plants selected for desirable...
s - Magnolia sieboldii: the under-appreciated small "Oyama" magnolia
- Malus sieboldiiMalus sieboldiiMalus sieboldii, commonly called Toringo crabapple or Siebold's crabapple, is a species in the family Rosaceae. It is sometimes considered to have three varieties: M. sieboldii var. sieboldii , M. sieboldii var. sargentii, which is sometimes considered to be a separate species M. sargentii, and M....
: the fragrant Toringo Crab-Apple, whose pink buds fade to white - Primula sieboldiiPrimula sieboldiiPrimula sieboldii is a species of primrose that is endemic to East Asia.-References:* * * * Belgique Hort. 23:97, t. 6. 1873* Iwatsuki, K. et al. 1993–. Flora of Japan.* Richards, J. 2003. Primula....
: the Japanese woodland primula Sakurasou (Chinese/Japanese: 櫻草) - Prunus sieboldii: a flowering cherry
- Sedum sieboldiiSedum sieboldiiSedum sieboldii is a species of stonecrop in the Crassulaceae family. It has variegated leaves and hot-pink flowers....
: a succulent whose leaves form rose-like whorls - Tsuga sieboldiiTsuga sieboldiiTsuga sieboldii, also called the Southern Japanese Hemlock, or in Japanese, simply Tsuga , is a conifer native to the Japanese islands of Honshū, Kyūshū, Shikoku and Yakushima...
: a Japanese hemlock - Viburnum sieboldiiViburnum sieboldiiViburnum sieboldii is a plant in the muskroot family, Adoxaceae.-Description:Viburnum sieboldii is a large shrub or small tree with opposite, simple leaves, on stout, brittle stems. The flowers are white, borne in spring....
: a deciduous large shrub (H: 4m by S: 6m) that has creamy white flowers in spring and red berried that ripen to black in autumn.
In addition to these examples, which demonstrate the honor gained by von Siebold, there are more plants named as a tribute to him, which are not mentioned above. Also a type of abalone
Abalone
Abalone , from aulón, are small to very large-sized edible sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the family Haliotidae and the genus Haliotis...
, Nordotis gigantea, is known as Siebold's Abalone, and is prized for sushi
Sushi
is a Japanese food consisting of cooked vinegared rice combined with other ingredients . Neta and forms of sushi presentation vary, but the ingredient which all sushi have in common is shari...
.
Though he is well known in Japan ("Shiboruto-san"), mentioned in the relevant schoolbooks, von Siebold is almost unknown to the Dutch, Germans or Americans, except among gardeners who admire many plants with the entitlement of the sieboldii and sieboldiana. The Hortus Botanicus
Hortus Botanicus Leiden
The Hortus botanicus of Leiden is the oldest botanical garden of the Netherlands, and one of the oldest in the world. It is located in the southwestern part of the historical centre of the city, between the Academy building and the Leiden Observatory....
in Leiden has recently laid out the "von Siebold Memorial Garden", a Japanese garden with plants sent by von Siebold. Japanese visitors come and visit this garden, to pay their respect for him.
Siebold museums
Although he was disillusioned by what he perceived as a lack of appreciation for Japan and his contributions to its understanding, a testimony of the remarkable character of von Siebold is found in museumMuseum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...
s that honor him.
- The Ethnological Museum at Leiden (The Netherlands) houses the large collection Von Siebold brought together during his first stay in Japan (1823–1829).
- The State Museum of EthnologyState Museum of EthnologyThe Bavarian State Museum of Ethnology in Munich, Germany is a museum for Non-European artworks and objects of cultural value.-The building:...
in Munich, Germany, houses the collection of Philipp Franz von Siebold from his second voyage to Japan (1859–1862) and a letter of Siebold to King Ludwig ILudwig I of BavariaLudwig I was a German king of Bavaria from 1825 until the 1848 revolutions in the German states.-Crown prince:...
in which he urged the monarch to found a museum of ethnology at Munich. Siebold's grave, in the shape of a Buddhist pagoda, is in the (Former Southern Cemetery of Munich). Also the name of a street and a plenty of hints in the Botanical Garden at Munich commemorate von Siebold. - A museum now stands in a transformed, refitted, formal, first house of von Siebold in Leiden: the Siebold Huis.
- A Siebold-Museum exists in Würzburg, Germany.
- Nagasaki, Japan, pays tribute to von Siebold by housing the Siebold Memorial MuseumSiebold Memorial Museumwas opened in Nagasaki city in 1989 in honour of Philipp Franz von Siebold's great contributions to the development of modern science in Japan. The building is modeled on his former house in Leiden and is located next to the site of his original clinic and boarding school known as Narutaki Juku.The...
on property adjacent to von Siebold's former residence in the Narutaki neighborhood. The first museum dedicated to a non-Japanese in Japan.
His collections laid the foundation for the ethnographic museums of Munich and Leiden. Alexander von Siebold
Alexander von Siebold
Alexander George Gustav von Siebold was a German translator and interpreter active in Japan during the Bakumatsu period and early Meiji period...
, his son to his European wife, donated much of the material left behind after von Siebold's death in Würzburg to the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
in London. The Royal Scientific Academy of St. Petersburg purchased 600 colored plates of the Flora Japonica.
His other son Heinrich (Henry) von Siebold
Heinrich von Siebold
Heinrich Jonkheer von Siebold was a German anthropologist and translator in the service of the Austrian Embassy in Tokyo.-Life:...
(1852–1908), continued part of his father's research. As well, he is recognized together with Edward S. Morse
Edward S. Morse
Edward Sylvester Morse was an American zoologist and orientalist.-Early life:Morse was born in Portland, Maine as the son of a Congregationalist preacher. His mother, who did not share her husband's religious beliefs, encouraged her son's interest in the sciences...
as one of the founders of modern archaeological
Archaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
efforts in Japan.
Published works
- (1832–1852) Nippon. Archiv zur Beschreibung von Japan und dessen Neben- und Schutzländern: Jezo mit den Südlichen Kurilen, Krafto, Koorai und den Liukiu-Inseln. 7 volumes, Leiden.
- (1838) Voyage Au Japon Executé Pendant Les Années 1823 a 1830 - French abridged version of Nippon - contains 72 plates from Nippon, with a slight variance in size and paper.
- Revised and enlarged edition by his sons in 1897: Nippon. Archiv zur Beschreibung von Japan ..., 2. veränderte und ergänzte Auflage, hrsg. von seinen Söhnen, 2 volumes, Würzburg and Leipzig.
- (1829) Synopsis Hydrangeae generis specierum Iaponicarum. In: Nova Acta Physico-Medica Academiae Caesareae Leopoldino-Carolina vol 14, part ii.
- (1835–1870) (with von Zuccarini, J.G.) Flora Japonica. Leiden.
- (1843) (with von Zuccarini, J.G.) Plantaram, quas in Japonia collegit Dr. Ph. Fr. De Siebold genera nova, notis characteristicis delineationibusque illustrata proponunt. In: Abhandelungen der mathematisch-physikalischen Classe der Königlich Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften vol.3, pp 717–750.
- (1845) (with von Zuccarini, J.G.) Florae Japonicae familae naturales adjectis generum et specierum exemplis selectis. Sectio prima. Plantae Dicotyledoneae polypetalae. In: Abhandelungen der mathematischphysikalischen Classe der Königlich Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften vol. 4 part iii, pp 109–204.
- (1846) (with von Zuccarini, J.G.) Florae Japonicae familae naturales adjectis generum et specierum exemplis selectis. Sectio altera. Plantae dicotyledoneae et monocotyledonae. In: Abhandelungen der mathematischphysikalischen Classe der Königlich Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften vol. 4 part iii, pp Band 4 pp 123–240.
- (1841) Manners and customs of the Japanese, in the nineteenth century. From recent Dutch visitors of Japan and the German of Dr. Ph. Fr. von Siebold. London: Murray 1841. (compiled by an anonymous author, not by Siebold himself !)
See also
- BunseiBunseiwas a after Bunka and before Tenpō. This period spanned the years from April 1818 through December 1830. The reigning emperor was .-Change of era:...
—Japanese era names - DejimaDejimawas a small fan-shaped artificial island built in the bay of Nagasaki in 1634. This island, which was formed by digging a canal through a small peninsula, remained as the single place of direct trade and exchange between Japan and the outside world during the Edo period. Dejima was built to...
- Karl Theodor Ernst von SieboldKarl Theodor Ernst von SieboldKarl Theodor Ernst von Siebold was a German physiologist and zoologist. He was responsible for the introduction of the taxa Arthropoda and Rhizopoda, and for defining the taxon Protozoa specifically for single-celled organisms.-Biography:He was born at Würzburg, Bavaria, the son of a professor of...
- Erwin BälzErwin BälzErwin Bälz was a German internist, anthropologist, personal physician to the Japanese Imperial Family and cofounder of modern medicine in Japan.- Biography :...
External links
- Scanned versions of Flora Japonica and Fauna Japonica
- Fauna Japonica—University of Kyoto
- Flora Japonica—University of Kyoto
- Siebold University of Nagasaki
- Siebold Huis—a museum in the house where Siebold lived in Leiden
- The Siebold Museum in Würzburg
- Siebold's Nippon, 1897
- Proceedings of the symposium 'Siebold in the 21st Century' held at the University Museum, the University of Tokyo, in 2003
}}