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The most important point of natural history is that it constantly has an eye on historical development in an attempt to understand the current moment. Life’s true nature is manifest in that, immediately after the moment it emerged on earth, life began to diversify and still presents an embodiment of diversity. Without regarding historical development, biodiversity does not hold.
In recent society, people seem to place importance solely on the current moment and have forgotten to live according to what the history teaches. Looking at them, I realize with some pleasure that man will be able to live with dignity as an intellectual animal through the joy of learning natural history.
Excerpt from『Natural History』Chapter 6

2018年に東京大学出版会から刊行された『ナチュラルヒストリー』。全50巻にわたる『ナチュラルヒストリーシリーズ』の最終巻を英訳。研究・教育・普及の現場での経験をふまえて日本の博物学研究を総括。

最大の目的は、日本の自然環境についての伝統的な概念を説明することだった。近年、あらゆる分野で発展した多様な概念を理解することはむずかしくない。伝統的な日本の概念も、さまざまな方法で世界に紹介されている。しかし、日本固有の概念や自然については、ときに誤って紹介されたり、現代の日本人でさえも不正確に受け入れられることがある。日本の自然史研究を歴史的に総括するなかで、このような伝統的概念についてコメントする必要があった。

『Natural History』あとがきから抜粋し、翻訳

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CONTENTS

Foreword to the English Version
Preface

Chapter 1
Back through Natural History: Chronological Observations of Nature

• 1.1 The Category of Natural History

(1) The designation “natural history”

(2) ‘Bowuzhi’ (Records of Diverse Matters)

• 1.2 The Category of Natural History

(1) Aristotle’s natural philosophy

Tea Time 1Theophrastus

(2) Understanding nature in medieval Europe

(3) Development and growth of natural history outside Europe

(4) Natural history in Japan

(5) The renaissance and scientific revolution

• 1.3 Natural History and Scientific Modernization

(1) Modern science and natural history

(2) Science, religion and art as intellectual activities

(3) Darwin and Mendel: Bird’s eye view and analysis in biological science

Tea Time 2 Lamarck and His Theory of Evolution

Chapter 2
Contemporary Challenge of Natural History

• 2.1 Biological Science and Natural History

(1) Japanese terms derived from the term natural history

(2) Records of nature (自然誌 – Shizen-shi) and natural history (自然史 – Shizen-shi)

(3) Coordinates of biodiversity study: phylogeny (time-axis) and biota (horizontal axis)

(4) Understanding biodiversity

(5) Science and natural sciences in the broad sense

(6) Methods of natural history

• 2.2 Natural History as a Means of Exploring ‘What Is It to Be Alive?’

(1) Examining living things scientifically

(2) Biology, biological sciences, and life sciences: disciplines

Tea Time 3Actual Entities and Their Names: Evolution of Species and Changes in Species’ Names

(3) Analyzing life in a reductionist way

Tea Time 4Evolution from Diverse Matters to Living Organisms and Earth Science

(4) Human efforts in biology

• 2.3 Bird’s Eye View of Biodiversity in ‘Diversification of Plants under the Impact of Civilization’

(1) Science pursued in the Botanical Gardens, the University of Tokyo in the late 20th century

(2) Diversification of plants under the impact of civilizations – Locations of problems

(3) Agamospory in ferns

(4) Locations of agamosporous species: Classification

(5) Various agamosporous forms

(6) Phytogeography and plant ecology of agamosporous forms

(7) Advantages and disadvantages of agamospory from the perspective of evolution

(8) Universal challenges to the biosphere?

(9) Expansion of the issue and the subject of curiosity

Tea Time 5What Does It Mean to Know the Names of Plant Species?

Chapter 3
Passing Natural History Knowledge to the Next Generation

• 3.1 Teaching Natural History: The History of Inheriting Knowledge in Japan

(1) Matters taught at school and passed down in society

(2) Natural history in museums and related facilities

• 3.2 Natural History Specimens

(1) Specimens that represent nature

(2) Research based on specimens

(3) Use of specimens

(4) Natural history specimens and cultural properties

(5) What researchers can or cannot expect from specimens

(6) Basic research on biodiversity

(7) Research using specimens versus research on living organisms

(8) Nomenclatorial type specimens

(9) Natural history specimens as environmental indicators

(10) Storing, managing, maintaining and researching natural history specimens

(11) Studying living things – universal principles and diverse appearances of life

• 3.3 Natural History and Bioinformatics

(1) Biodiversity informatics

Tea Time 6International Organization for Plant Information (IOPI) and ‘Species Plantarum’

(2) Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) – Biodiversity Research and Its Social Contribution

(3) Evolutionary developmental biology (evo-devo)

Tea Time 7Humboldt’s Kosmos

Chapter 4
Learning Natural History: By Lifelong Learning

• 4.1 Natural History in Japan

(1) Natural history at universities

(2) Research by non-professional naturalists

Tea Time 8Contributions of Non-Professional Naturalists in Japan

(3) Natural history research at museums in Japan

(4) Promotion of natural history supported by society

• 4.2 Collaboration between Museums and Universities

(1) Administration of prefectural museums in Japan – Museum of Nature and Human Activities, Hyogo as an example

(2) Graduate schools in collaboration with museums – Biodiversity and Evolution Courses at the University of Tokyo

• 4.3 Natural History Research Viewed from a Global Perspective

(1) Natural history research in Europe and America

(2) Natural history research in Asia

Tea Time 9 Natural History of Copeland in the Philippines

(3) Natural history of earth

Chapter 5
Developing Natural History – What Are We Faced With?

• 5.1 Science and Intellectual Curiosity
• 5.2 Life Viewed from a Natural History Perspective

(1) Scientific analysis of life

(2) Natural history of the spherophylon

Tea Time 10 Death Viewed through Natural History

(3) Science of natural history

• 5.3 Human Society Viewed from a Natural History Perspective: Contributions to Society

(1) Culture based on natural history: How do we associate with nature?

(2) Natural history in our society

• 5.4 The Present-Day Role of Natural History

(1) Natural history research and studies

(2) Natural history and society

Chapter 6
The Joy of Learning Natural History: A Summary

• 6.1 Natural History and Science

(1) Accessing natural history

(2) Natural history versus history

(3) Research versus learning

• 6.2 Joy of Learning, Joy of Investigating

(1) Learning natural history

(2) Research pursued by natural historians

• References
• Afterword
• Postscript to the English Version
• Index