The influence of Toyo Hogei Co. and Roy Chapman Andrews on the modernization of Japanese Cetology

Abstract

I researched historical documents to find the influence of the Toyo Hogei Company and Roy Chapman Andrews (RCA) on modern Japanese cetology in early times. The predecessor of Toyo Hogei had uniformed in-house names of fin and blue whales and those names became the standard Japanese names. RCA was a pioneer who identified the scientific names of both toothed and baleen whales in Japanese waters through the direct observation of specimens. Japanese zoologists from those days also regarded him as a pioneer. Prof. Nagasawa Rokuro exchanged letters with RCA and discussed the scientific names of Japanese whales. The names of whales Prof. Nagasawa used in his paper reflected those discussed with RCA. It was the beginning of modernization for Japanese cetology when (1) Toyo Hogei made uniform the biological species names of whales out of necessity to publish their business reports, and when (2) RCA observed whale specimens and identified their scientific names in Japan.