MINAKATA Kumagusu (1867–1941) was a natural historian whose life spanned the Meiji, Taisho, and Showa eras. He traveled to the United States and England at a young age, where he studied zoology and botany almost entirely on his own. After returning to Japan, he collected and studied slime molds while also writing a number of treatises on folklore. The National Diet Library holds 14letters written by Kumagusu between October 1926 andNovember 1927, all of which were addressed to thebotanist SHIRAI Mitsutaro (1863–1932). Shirai was aprofessor at Tokyo Imperial University who specialized inplant pathology but also studied Edo-era herbology. Hiscollection of some 6,000 books on herbology is now heldby the National Diet Library.
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