抄録
The cinchona plant is an important source of quinine. This research has been focusing on the history of cinchona cultivation in Japan. As part of the study, this paper reports on cinchona cultivation efforts made in Taiwan under Japanese colonial rule from the Taisho Era to the early Showa Era (approximately 1912-1935).
At this time, cinchona cultivation began in 1912 at the Forest Experiment Station of the Office of the Governor General and the Experimental Forest of Tokyo Imperial University. The cultivation yielded fairly good results. However, they eventually failed to harvest cinchona bark. In 1928, Daigaku Numata began cinchona cultivation at the Experimental Forest of Kyoto Imperial University. He improved the cultivation method and led the cultivation at the Experimental Forest to a successful conclusion. Meanwhile, Hoshi Pharmaceutical Company began cinchona cultivation in 1922 and produced the first batch of quinine in Japan in 1934. Takeda Pharmaceutical Company and Shionogi & Co., Ltd. had also begun cinchona cultivation in Taiwan by 1935. A new era emerged wherein experimental forests of imperial universities, pharmaceutical companies and so on managed cinchona cultivation and quinine production as a business.
