Dr. Shinobu was awarded for his distinguished contributions by the Society for Actinomycetes, Japan. This paper outlines the personal history and actinomycete researches of Dr. Shinobu, consisting of 1) personal history, 2) starting point of studying actinomycetes, 3) studies on establishment of criteria for the identification of actinomycetes species, 4) summary of the studies on actinomycetes.
