was a Japanese

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

and

biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual Cell (biology), cell, a multicellular organism, or a Community (ecology), community of Biological inter ...

. He was born in

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region, the fourth-most populous city and third most populous urban area in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020. Located on the Pacific coast in central Honshu, it is the capital and the most pop ...

. As a doctor, Ito developed a vaccination against

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...

. He also widely studied the Japanese flora and fauna with

Philipp Franz von Siebold Philipp Franz Balthasar von Siebold (17 February 1796 – 18 October 1866) was a German physician, botanist and traveler. He achieved prominence by his studies of Japanese flora (plants), flora and fauna (animals), fauna and the introduction of ...

, the author of ''Fauna Japonica'' and ''Flora Japonica''. '' Rhododendron keiskei'' was named after him. He wrote a translation of ''Flora Japonica'' titled ''Taisei honzou meiso'' (Japanese:"泰西本草名疏") that was published in 1829. Ito became a professor at the

University of Tokyo , abbreviated as or UTokyo, is a public research university located in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1877, the university was the first Imperial University and is currently a Top Type university of the Top Global University Project by ...

in 1881. He died in 1901, and he was ennobled with the title of

baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knig ...

(danshaku). In 1901, botanist

William Botting Hemsley William Botting Hemsley (29 December 1843, in East Hoathly – 7 October 1924, in Kent) was an English botanist and 1909 Victoria Medal of Honour recipient. He was born in East Hoathly, Sussex and in 1860 started work at the Royal Botanic Garden ...

named a genus of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

s in the

willow Willows, also called sallows and osiers, from the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 400 speciesMabberley, D.J. 1997. The Plant Book, Cambridge University Press #2: Cambridge. of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist s ...

family,

Salicaceae The Salicaceae is the willow family of flowering plants. The traditional family (Salicaceae ''sensu stricto'') included the willows, poplar, aspen, and cottonwoods. Genetic studies summarized by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG) have greatly ...

, from China and Vietnam, '' Itoa'' in his honour.

Images

File:Ito Keisuke at 88 years old.jpg, Keisuke Ito File:Tsuruma Central Library Keisuke Ito monument ac.jpg, A statue of Ito keisuke File:Florajaponica-japanesetranslation-1829book.jpg, His translation of Flora Japonica

References

External links

* *
KUL
Digital version of ''Taisei honzou meiso'' 19th-century Japanese physicians 19th-century Japanese botanists Japanese naturalists People from Nagoya Kazoku 1803 births 1901 deaths {{Japan-med-bio-stub