what was then the village of
Tomakomai
is a city and port in Iburi Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. It is the largest city in the Iburi Subprefecture, and the fourth largest city in Hokkaido. As of 31 July 2023, it had an estimated population of 167,372, with 83,836 households, an ...
.
His career as a specimen collector took off in 1906, when he provided his services first to
Malcolm Playfair Anderson
Malcolm Playfair Anderson (6April 187921February 1919) was an American zoologist and explorer. Anderson took part in several scientific expeditions and was chosen in 1904 to lead the Duke of Bedford's Exploration of Eastern Asia.
Early life
And ...
, then to
Alan Owston
Alan Owston (1853–1915) was born on 7 August 1853 at Pirbright, Surrey and was buried on 30 November 1915 at Yokohama in Japan.
He was a collector of Asian wildlife, businessman and yachtsman, and founded the Yokohama Yacht Club in Japan.
Alan Ow ...
.
In 1906/7, Orii collected for Owston on the
Korean Peninsula
Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically divided at or near the 38th parallel between North Korea (Dem ...
and in
Shandong Province
Shandong is a coastal province in East China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River. It has served as a pivotal cultural and religious center ...
, China; this arrangement continued in 1910, when Orii collected specimens in
Yunnan Province
Yunnan; is an inland Provinces of China, province in Southwestern China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 47.2 million (as of 2020). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the Chinese provinces ...
.
In the years between, he travelled and collected in the
Kuril Islands
The Kuril Islands or Kurile Islands are a volcanic archipelago administered as part of Sakhalin Oblast in the Russian Far East. The islands stretch approximately northeast from Hokkaido in Japan to Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia, separating the ...
, northern China and
Manchuria
Manchuria is a historical region in northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day northeast China and parts of the modern-day Russian Far East south of the Uda (Khabarovsk Krai), Uda River and the Tukuringra-Dzhagdy Ranges. The exact ...
, and
Sakhalin
Sakhalin ( rus, Сахали́н, p=səxɐˈlʲin) is an island in Northeast Asia. Its north coast lies off the southeastern coast of Khabarovsk Krai in Russia, while its southern tip lies north of the Japanese island of Hokkaido. An islan ...
.
In 1921, he collected for
Kuroda Nagamichi in the
Ryūkyūs
The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Geography of Taiwan, Taiwan: the Ryukyu Islands are divided into the Satsunan Islands (Ōsumi Islands, Ōsumi, Tokara Islands, Tokara and A ...
.
Between 1925 and 1935, collecting for
Yamashina Yoshimaro, his travels took him again to Sakhalin, to the northern Kurils, Korea, the
Pacific Islands
The Pacific islands are a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean. They are further categorized into three major island groups: Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Depending on the context, the term ''Pacific Islands'' may refer to one of several ...
(including
Palau
Palau, officially the Republic of Palau, is an island country in the Micronesia subregion of Oceania in the western Pacific Ocean. The Republic of Palau consists of approximately 340 islands and is the western part of the Caroline Islands ...
,
Pohnpei
Pohnpei (formerly known as Ponape or Ascension, from Pohnpeian: "upon (''pohn'') a stone altar (''pei'')") is an island of the Senyavin Islands which are part of the larger Caroline Islands group. It belongs to Pohnpei State, one of the fou ...
, and the
Marshall Islands
The Marshall Islands, officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands, is an island country west of the International Date Line and north of the equator in the Micronesia region of the Northwestern Pacific Ocean.
The territory consists of 29 c ...
),
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...
, and Manchuria, where he would also collect once again for Kuroda.
In 1936, he collected in the southern Ryūkyūs, and in 1944, around
Akkeshi and
Nemuro in eastern Hokkaidō.
The specimens he collected in these years number in the tens of thousands, including some 8,845 items from 556 species in the
Yamashina Institute for Ornithology
The is a non-profit scientific research organization in Japan, specializing in ornithology.
History
The Yamashina Institute for Ornithology was founded by Dr. Yoshimaro Yamashina at his home in Shibuya, Tokyo as a private museum to store his co ...
;
other specimens are in the
Natural History Museum
A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history scientific collection, collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, Fungus, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleo ...
in
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
,
Hokkaido University Faculty of Agriculture Museum, and
Tomakomai City Museum
opened in Tomakomai, Hokkaidō, Japan in 1985. The museum reopened after renewal work in 2013. The collection and display documents the natural and cultural history of the city and the area, and includes specimens collected by local resident Ori ...
.
In total, as many as 14
species
A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...
and 41
subspecies
In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...
of mammal, and 6 species and 68 subspecies of bird were
described from
type specimens
In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally associated. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes t ...
he provided.
Later in life he turned his hand to recording sightings of birds, participating in surveys for the
Forestry Agency
The is an agency under the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) of Japan.
Overview
Its headquarters is in Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda, Tokyo.
The agency manages Japan's forests, including those within Japanese national parks. Th ...
at
Lake Utonai and other lakes and marshes in the vicinity of his home.
Diaries
Orii left a large number of collection diaries — an important resource for ornithologists and mammalogists — which also include lively accounts of his expeditions, such as when, having spotted a rare bird on a list of specimens obtained by the
Whitney South Sea Expedition ship at the village office on
Pohnpei
Pohnpei (formerly known as Ponape or Ascension, from Pohnpeian: "upon (''pohn'') a stone altar (''pei'')") is an island of the Senyavin Islands which are part of the larger Caroline Islands group. It belongs to Pohnpei State, one of the fou ...
, he promptly collected and shipped a specimen back to
Tokyo
Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...
, where
Takatsukasa Nobusuke and
Yamashina Yoshimaro published the
long-billed white-eye
The long-billed white-eye (''Rukia longirostra''), known as ''tiht'' in Pohnpeian, is a species of bird in the family Zosteropidae. It is Endemism, endemic to the island of Pohnpei in the Federated States of Micronesia.
The long-billed white-ey ...
(''Rukia longirostra'';
protonym
In the scientific name of organisms, basionym or basyonym means the original name on which a new name is based; the author citation of the new name should include the authors of the basionym in parentheses. The term "basionym" is used in both botan ...
: ''Cynnirorhyncha longirostra'') as a new genus and species a few weeks before
Ernst Mayr
Ernst Walter Mayr ( ; ; 5 July 1904 – 3 February 2005) was a German-American evolutionary biologist. He was also a renowned Taxonomy (biology), taxonomist, tropical explorer, ornithologist, Philosophy of biology, philosopher of biology, and ...
published
the same bird as ''Rhamphozosterops sanfordi''.
The collection diaries are compiled in a somewhat idiosyncratic fashion, interspersed with
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Culture, language and peoples
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
* ''English'', an Amish ter ...
and
Chinese
Chinese may refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China.
**'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...
, and with names sometimes in
hiragana
is a Japanese language, Japanese syllabary, part of the Japanese writing system, along with ''katakana'' as well as ''kanji''.
It is a phonetic lettering system. The word ''hiragana'' means "common" or "plain" kana (originally also "easy", ...
, sometimes
katakana
is a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system along with hiragana, kanji and in some cases the Latin script (known as rōmaji).
The word ''katakana'' means "fragmentary kana", as the katakana characters are derived fr ...
; in 2013, they were published in a modern Japanese translation.
Death
Orii died in 1970, at the age of 87 by traditional
East Asian age reckoning
Traditional East Asian age reckoning covers a group of related methods for reckoning human ages practiced in the East Asian cultural sphere, where age is the number of calendar years in which a person has been alive; it starts at 1 at birth and i ...
.
Taxa named after Orii
The seven mammal
and ten bird
taxa named in honour of Orii Hyōjirō include:
*
Ryūkyū shrew (''Crocidura orii'';
protonym
In the scientific name of organisms, basionym or basyonym means the original name on which a new name is based; the author citation of the new name should include the authors of the basionym in parentheses. The term "basionym" is used in both botan ...
: ''Crocidura dsinezumi orii'')
*
Sakhalin hare (''Lepus timidus orii'')
*
Ezo flying squirrel (''Pteromys volans orii''; protonym: ''Sciuropterus russicus orii'')
*
Orii's least horseshoe bat (''Rhinolophus cornutus orii'')
*
Palau starling (''Aplonis opaca orii'')
*
Yakushima jay (''Garrulus glandarius orii'')
*
Japanese light-vented bulbul (''Pycnonotus sinensis orii'')
* †
Daitō varied tit (''Sittiparus varius orii'')
*
Taiwan turtle dove (''Streptopelia orientalis orii'')
*
Rota kingfisher (''Todiramphus albicilla orii''; protonym: ''Halcyon chloris orii'')
*
Kuril brown-headed thrush (''Turdus chrysolaus orii'')
*
Iriomote pygmy woodpecker (''Yungipicus kizuki orii'')
See also
*
List of Ramsar sites in Japan
*
Species description
A species description is a formal scientific description of a newly encountered species, typically articulated through a scientific publication. Its purpose is to provide a clear description of a new species of organism and explain how it diff ...
*
Binomial nomenclature
In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, altho ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Orii, Hyoujirou
Japanese ornithologists
Japanese mammalogists
20th-century Japanese zoologists
1883 births
1970 deaths
Scientists from Niigata Prefecture