[Historical research of cinchona cultivation in Japan (1): first trial cultivation in Japan in the early Meiji period recorded in Nomutenmatsu].

Cinchona is known as a magic bullet for malaria and its cultivation was dominated by Java on a global scale in the 19th century. In 1875, in accordance with a suggestion by Takeaki Enomoto, the Meiji government made a request to the Dutch government that cinchona seedlings be distributed to Japan. In response to that request, in 1876, 42 cinchona seedlings arrived in Yokohama from Java. It was the first time cinchona seedlings were shipped to Japan. After that, cinchona seeds and seedlings were shipped to Japan a total of three times between 1876 and 1883. The seeds shipped in 1878 were raised at the Nishigahara Agricultural Experiment Station and then planted at nine places in both Okinawa and Kagoshima Prefectures in 1882. The planter was Yasusada Tashiro. However, all of the planted seedlings had died by 1884. The first national farming plan of cinchona in Japan ended in failure. These matters were found in documents included in Nomutenmatsu compiled by the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce of the Meiji government in 1888.