Kakuhika Specimen

Who Was Kaku Hika?

Kaku Hika (1816–1894) was born in the village of Takada in Kunisaki District of Bungo Province — modern-day Bungotakada City in Oita Prefecture — into a family of physicians serving the Shimabara domain. Losing his father at the age of one, he was placed under the care of the renowned Confucian scholar Hoashi Banri at the age of five, where he studied medicine and herbalism alongside his elder brother until the age of eighteen. He also trained in precise botanical illustration under the painter Toichi Sekkoku, and later traveled to Kyoto to deepen his studies in herbalism under Yamamoto Boyo.

Kaku Hika is counted, alongside Ito Keisuke of Nagoya and Iinuma Yokusai of Mino, as one of the "Three Great Herbalists of the Late Edo Period." From his youth through his thirties, he undertook extensive field expeditions across Kyushu, Shikoku, the Tohoku region, the Hokuriku and Koshinetsu regions, and even as far as the Ogasawara Islands, walking countless miles to observe, collect, and sketch the natural world. In 1877, during the early Meiji era, he was appointed to a research post at the Koishikawa Botanical Garden of the newly established Tokyo University, where he worked alongside Ito Keisuke on the cataloguing of plants — quite literally helping to pass the torch from traditional herbalism to modern botany.

What the Collection Contains

The Kaku Hika Specimens comprise 760 items in total, encompassing three principal categories: plants, geological and mineralogical samples, and animals. Many of the botanical items are accompanied by Hika's own painstakingly precise illustrations, executed in a refined style that blends scientific observation with the aesthetic sensibility of traditional Japanese natural drawing. Related manuscripts and field notes accompany numerous specimens, providing context about where and when each was gathered.

A particularly significant portion of the collection relates to the Takachiho region of what is now Miyazaki Prefecture. In 1846, Kaku Hika was invited by the Nobeoka domain to undertake a botanical and mineralogical survey of the mountainous Takachiho area — a region steeped in Japanese creation mythology. The resulting work, the Takachiho Saiyakuki (Record of Medicinal Plant Collection in Takachiho), remains one of the most important pre-modern natural-history records of southern Kyushu, and many specimens in the collection can be traced directly to this expedition.

Why the Collection Earned Cultural Property Status

The concept of systematically preserving physical specimens was almost unknown in traditional Japanese herbalism, which relied principally on illustrated manuscripts and written descriptions. Specimens, when they were prepared at all, were rarely thought of as objects worth keeping for posterity. Kaku Hika's collection is therefore exceptional simply by virtue of its survival — and even more so by virtue of its scope and care.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs registered the collection as a National Registered Monument in 2010 in recognition of two principal values. First, the specimens themselves bridge the gap between the late Edo era of traditional herbalism and the dawn of modern Japanese botany, making them invaluable for historians of science. Second, because each item is documented with the names used in Kaku Hika's day, the collection serves as an extraordinary reference for comparing pre-modern nomenclature with the Latin binomial system that took root in Japan thereafter. For botanists, mineralogists, and historians alike, the collection is a primary source of the first order.

Highlights for the Visitor

The Miyazaki Prefectural Museum of Nature and History — affectionately known to locals as "Miyahaku" — is a free-admission prefectural museum opened in 1971 and designed by the celebrated modernist architect Junzo Sakakura, a disciple of Le Corbusier. Walking through its quiet, forested setting and entering the museum's natural-history wing offers an immersive introduction to the flora, fauna, geology, and human heritage of southern Kyushu.

It should be noted that, as is typical for fragile historical specimens, the Kaku Hika Specimens are not permanently on full public display. Selected items appear in rotating exhibitions and special displays — particularly those focused on the natural history of Takachiho, the heritage of herbalism, or related themes. Visitors with a specific interest in the collection are encouraged to contact the museum in advance to inquire about current displays and any scheduled special exhibitions. Even when the specimens themselves are not on view, the museum's permanent natural-history gallery offers rich context for understanding the world Kaku Hika spent his life documenting.

Beyond the specimens, do not miss the museum's outdoor Folk House Garden (Minka-en), a short walk from the main building, where four traditional rural houses from across Miyazaki Prefecture have been carefully relocated and restored. Two of these — the former Kuroki residence and the former Fujita residence — are themselves designated as National Important Cultural Properties.

Visiting and Surrounding Attractions

The museum sits at the northern edge of the precincts of Miyazaki Jingu, the great shrine dedicated to Emperor Jimmu, Japan's legendary first emperor. A visit to the museum pairs naturally with a stroll along the shrine's long, lantern-lined approach, sheltered by towering cedars. The current main shrine buildings, completed in 1907 and designed by the eminent architectural historian Ito Chuta, are themselves registered tangible cultural properties.

Adjacent to the shrine grounds you will also find the Miyazaki Gokoku Shrine, the impressive Oo-shirafuji wisteria — a National Natural Monument said to be over 400 years old and one of the largest of its kind in Japan — and the smaller Goshoinari Shrine with its corridor of vermilion torii gates. From central Miyazaki, the area can be reached in about fifteen minutes by car, by a short ride on the JR Nippo Main Line to Miyazaki-jingu Station followed by a roughly ten-minute walk, or by Miyazaki Kotsu bus from Miyazaki Station to the "Museum-mae" stop.