The is a non-profit scientific research organization in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, specializing in

ornithology Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the "methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds with all that relates to them." Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and th ...

History

The Yamashina Institute for Ornithology was founded by Dr.

Yoshimaro Yamashina Marquis was a Japanese ornithologist. He was the founder of the Yamashina Institute for Ornithology. Biography Yamashina was born in Kōjimachi, Tokyo, the second son of Prince Kikumaro Yamashina and Princess Noriko (Kujo) Yamashina. Throug ...

at his home in

Shibuya Shibuya ( 渋谷区 ''Shibuya-ku'') is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. As a major commercial and finance center, it houses two of the busiest railway stations in the world, Shinjuku Station (southern half) and Shibuya Station. As of April 1 ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

as a private museum to store his collection of bird specimens and books.

Marquis A marquess (; french: marquis ), es, marqués, pt, marquês. is a nobleman of high hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The German language equivalent is Markgraf (margrave). A woman wi ...

Yamashina was the second son of

Prince Yamashina Kikumaro , was the second head of the Yamashina-no-miya, a collateral line of the Japanese imperial family. Early life Prince Yamashina Kikumaro was the son of Prince Yamashina Akira. His mother was a concubine, Nakajo Chieko, but as Prince Akira had no ...

. He opened his museum to the public in 1942. At the Institute, Yamashina conducted research into bird

taxonomy Taxonomy is the practice and science of categorization or classification. A taxonomy (or taxonomical classification) is a scheme of classification, especially a hierarchical classification, in which things are organized into groups or types. ...

based on

chromosomes A chromosome is a long DNA molecule with part or all of the genetic material of an organism. In most chromosomes the very long thin DNA fibers are coated with packaging proteins; in eukaryotic cells the most important of these proteins are ...

, and wrote numerous technical journal articles and books on ornithology. The Institute relocated to its present location approximately 30 kilometer east of Tokyo at Abiko, Chiba in 1984. The Institute has maintained close ties to the

Imperial Family of Japan The , also referred to as the Imperial Family or the House of Yamato, comprises those members of the extended family of the reigning Emperor of Japan who undertake official and public duties. Under the present Constitution of Japan, the Emperor i ...

. It is chaired by Prince Akishino, younger brother to the

Crown Prince Naruhito is the current Emperor of Japan. He acceded to the Chrysanthemum Throne on 1 May 2019, beginning the Reiwa era, following the abdication of his father, Akihito. He is the 126th monarch according to Japan's traditional order of succession. ...

of Japan, and their younger sister Princess Sayako worked as a researcher at the Institute from 1992–2005, where she specialized in the study of

kingfishers Kingfishers are a family, the Alcedinidae, of small to medium-sized, brightly colored birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species found in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia, and Oceania, ...

Organization

The Institute is organized into three research sections: *The Ornithology Research Laboratory specializes in the

ecology Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...

and systematics of birds, including foraging patterns of marine birds and genetic variations of bird populations, mainly using

DNA sequencing DNA sequencing is the process of determining the nucleic acid sequence – the order of nucleotides in DNA. It includes any method or technology that is used to determine the order of the four bases: adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine. Th ...

. *The Bird Migration Research Center conducts

bird banding Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...

campaigns, tagging more than 200,000 birds each year. It also experiments with

radio telemetry Telemetry is the in situ collection of measurements or other data at remote points and their automatic transmission to receiving equipment (telecommunication) for monitoring. The word is derived from the Greek roots ''tele'', "remote", and ...

, radar and satellite tracking to investigate migratory patterns. *The Library and Collection Center maintains a collection of 69,000 different avian specimens from all over the world, especially from eastern Asia and the north-western Pacific regions and a library of 39,000 ornithological books and periodicals.

Publications and events

The Yamashina Institute publishes several journals and reports, including the ''Journal of the Yamashina Institute for Ornithology'', the annual ''Report of the Bird Migration Research Center'' and a monthly newspaper for support group members. The Institute also sponsors a biannual ''Yamashina Yoshimaro Memorial Ornithological Award'' to an individual or group who has made remarkable contributions to the development ornithology or the protection of birds.

References

External links

Journal of the Yamashina Institute
{{authority control Animal welfare organizations based in Japan Ornithological organizations Biological research institutes Research institutes in Japan 1942 establishments in Japan Abiko, Chiba