Makino Tomitaro (1862-1957) was a well-known scholar of botany and the creator of an original Japanese botanical system. He succeeded in this because he was able to surpass the boundaries of botany, engaging himself in the study of the humanities on the basis of not only botanical works but also of works related to English Studies.
A visit last year by Tomoo Endo and me to the Makino Library of the Prefectural Makino Botanical Garden in Kochi and an on-site research of his library and library catalogues enabled us to conclude that Makino Tomitaro was not only a botanist but also a scholar of English Studies. In this case the conventional notion of English Studies should be broadened and redefined as 'humanities', in the sense of the literae humaniores or the 'moral science' of 18th century England and Scotland. Just as the scope of Rangaku or the Study of Western sciences in Japan in the Edo period (through the Dutch language) went beyond Dutch Studies alone, English Studies were not restricted to English philology or English literature but treated by means of the English language all the Western sciences.
This shows us once again what remarkable man Makino Tomitaro actually was.