A Doctor's Book of Birds

In addition to the Shobutsu ruisan zuyoku, the multicolored illustrated book on herbalism introduced in the previous issue, the Cabinet Library in the National Archives of Japan stores many other vividly colorful and handwritten (not printed) illustrated books. One such book is the Kachofu, an encyclopedia of birds authored by Mori Tatsuyuki (1807–1885) in 1861. Mori was a kampo doctor by profession but was also known as a herbalist and bibliographer who authored numerous books from the late Edo to Meiji periods.

His other books aside, let us look inside the Kachofu. Photo 1 is an illustration of a togan (goose); Photo 2 is a kawasemi (kingfisher) of the Alcedinidae fami ly; Photo 3 i s a species of chicken called shiro Nankin chabo (white Nanjing bantam). While all are illustrations of high quality, the kingfisher is particularly exquisite, to the point of art. The Kachofu compiles illustrations of sixty-one species of birds from manazuru (white-naped crane) to crow, each with an accompanying explanation.

The precise, colored illustrations that capture the details of the birds were drawn by Hattori Sessai (1807–?), a master painter of animals, plants and fish. Mori, as an author, selected sixty-one species of birds that he wanted to include in his book, asked Sessai to produce the illustrations, checked the work received and wrote in the explanations to complete the Kachofu.

So why was the Kachofu made? To benefit bird fanciers? Or as a textbook to teach us how birds look and behave? The answer is neither of the above. Mori states in the book's foreword, "There are countless species of birds in our country, with several dozen that are edible. This book selects sixty-one species and provides their illustration, Japanese name (name in Japan) and Chinese name (name as indicated on Chinese documents), together with their taste and effects." This encyclopedia, in other words, is not a guidebook or textbook, or much less an artwork; it was written to introduce the taste of edible birds and their effects as medicine.

Let us read some of the explanations. It says that a kitsutsuki (woodpecker) "relieves hemorrhoids and is also effective for cavities"; a swan "is effective for diseases of the eye and blotches on the head." It also mentions that a sparrow "warms the waist and knees and relieves pollakisuria. For men, it has significant effect on impotence." The toki (ibis), currently designated as an internationally protected bird, was edible in those days. Mori describes ibis meat as, "sweet, and not poisonous if you cook it lightly in heat. It is effective for female disorders, but may cause rashes when eaten." Also mentioned is that kingfisher meat smells and is barely edible, yet when taken charred, supposedly works wonders for a throat struggling with a fish bone.

Whether the birds really worked as indicated or not is unknown, but we know that back when birds and their charred meat were used as medicine, the Kachofu was, more than anything, a medical encyclopedia. Yet it is hard to believe that a book that took so much effort to create was made merely for such a practical purpose. We should perhaps remember that it reflects the author's desire to create a beautiful book as well as the circumstances of the times, when many bird fanciers sought more accurate encyclopedias on birds.

A popular hobby among daimyo and wealthy classes in the Edo period (1603–1867) was to keep expensive and rare birds as pets. One of the best known of such nobles was Shimazu Shigehide, lord of the Kagoshima Clan. A birdwatcher from his youth, he not only kept a variety of birds in his mansion garden but also ordered herbalists to edit Chomei benran, a dictionary of birds that listed the names of more than 415 species of birds, in the year 1830 when he was eighty-six years old.

In the Edo period, when hobbies and leisure were inseparable from academics and real profits, the Kachofu may have been the product of a generous fusion of academic pursuit and playfulness. Speaking of leisure, they say that Mori Tatsuyuki's hobby was imitating the voices of kabuki actors. It is said that when his love of the hobby gave him the chance to perform on stage with the actors, he was reprimanded for immoral behavior by the Fukuyama Clan where he worked as clan doctor and lost his job.