Abstract
International forestry knowledge circulation took off in the middle of the 19th century. Germany was considered one of the leading countries in forest sciences. German forestry scholars travelled abroad to explore foreign forests and helped to establish modern forestry, e.g., in India or the US. Japan was also a country of interest, especially when German forestry scholars started trials with tree species from Japan in 1882. Dr. Heinrich Mayr, was the first forestry expert from Germany to explore the forests of Japan in 1885. He later held the chair for Forest Botany and Silviculture at the College of Agriculture and Dendrology in Tokyo from 1888-1891 and thus became one of the key persons in forestry knowledge circulation. Some of his students, e.g., Seiroku Honda or Zentaro Kawase, became leading forestry scholars in Meiji-Japan. For forest sciences in Germany, this circulation of knowledge was also important. For example, Mayr sent tree seeds to his colleagues and introduced new grafting and mushroom cultivation techniques; his reports about his travels in Japan gave deep insights into forest conditions and traditions. Traces of this knowledge circulation can still be found today, e.g., at the Experimental Forest Garden in Grafrath near Munich.
