was a German physician and botanist born in
Lemgo, Germany. He was in Japan from 1690 till 1692 sent on a mission by
the Dutch East-India Company (VOC) and stayed there on the small manmade
isle of Deshima off the coast of Nagasaki, the only port open to foreign
ships then from where he was allowed to make two journeys to Edo (Tokyo)
to the Shogun. He described the Ginkgo in his work "Amoenitatum Exoticarum"
(Lemgo, 1712).
Below is his original Latin text and
illustration as published in this work (5th volume, page 811-813).
It was the first botanical description of the Ginkgo for the Western
world. It is assumed that Kaempfer saw a Ginkgo tree
for the first time in his life in Nagasaki in February 1691. Later Kaempfer brought Ginkgo-seeds to Holland.
In the Botanical Garden in Utrecht one of the first Ginkgo trees outside
Asia was planted, where it can still be seen today.
The isle of Deshima looks like
a Ginkgo-leaf in outline. Painting by Keiga.
Kaempfer's notes and manuscripts are kept in the
British Museum. He also made notes about the use of the seeds: they were
roasted and eaten as a delicacy and for health and longevity. The
seeds - painted red - also function as a weddinggift and are
used on special occasions. The name Ginkgo was first used by Kaempfer
(read my Name-page). The Adiantum monochlamys fern was collected
by Kaempfer at Hakone near Mount Fuji in Japan. It is said he mentioned
that the fern was used to help a woman to maintain good health before and
after giving birth.
Page 811:
With thanks to Prof. Wolfgang Michel-Zaitsu,
Faculty of Languages and Cultures, Kyushu University, Fukuoka-City
(Japan) for sending me copies of the above pages 811-813 (and cover below)
from "Amoenitatum Exoticarum". His website has the most comprehensive bibliography
on Kaempfer available: http://rc.kyushu-u.ac.jp/~michel/
Translation of the Latin
text:
Ginkgo
or Gin an, vulgar Itsjó
A nut-bearing tree with
Adiantum (= Maidenhair fern) similar leaves. It reaches the stately size
of a walnut tree; has a long, straight, thick trunk with many branches
and an ashgrey, cracked crust rough when aging. Its wood is light, soft
and weak, its heart is soft and spongelike. The leaves grow alternately
on the branches, single or several (three or four) at one place; their
stalks are an inch to one handbroad long, squeezed together at the topside
and flow over into the leaf. The leaf is small at the beginning,
becomes however after a short bit three or four inches broad and resembles
thereby the leaf of the Adiantum; its outer edge is arc-shaped, irregularly
incised and in the centre deeply cut; it is thin, smooth, hairless and
darkgreen of colour, becomes however yellow in autumn, with a pass to red-brown;
it is striped with fine nerves all through and has otherwise no fibers
or nerves; the leaf is aequifazial (both surfaces are alike), but
at the beginning incised above.
In late spring appear rather
long, hanging catkins with many pollen on the branches of the crown. On
a fleshy, strong stalk, which is an inch long and comes out from the same
"cluster" as the leafstalk, hangs the fruit; it is completely round or
oblong round, has the form and the size of a Damaszener plum and an uneven,
with time yellow becoming surface. The fruitcoat is fleshy, juicy,
white and quite hard; it sticks to the nut which it encloses, so
that this cannot come out; it is then one lets the fruitcoat decay in water
and then squeezes the nut out, as one also does with the Areca catechu
(Betel nut).
The nut itself is called
Ginnaù (misprint, correctly Ginnan) and resembles a pistachenut
(in particular those, which the Persians call "Bergjès Pistài"),
is however almost twice as large. It has the appearance of an apricot
core and possesses a thin, frail, whitish woodish shell; in it is
loosely situated a white, unstructured kernel, which blends the sweet of
the almond with a bitter taste and is rather hard.
Eaten after a meal , the
kernels are to promote digestion and to slacken the from eating blown up
belly again; therefore they are never missing in the dessert of a
sumptuous meal. They also serve as an ingredient in several dishes, after
one took away its bitter taste by cooking or roasting . The nuts
are quite inexpensive: A Belgian Pound (approx. 480 g) costs about
two Drachm (approx. 7.5 g) of silver.
