MINAKATA Kumagusu lived in Tanabe

MINAKATA Kumagusu (1867-1941), known for his research in diversified fields including the study on Myxomycete lived in tanabe city, wakayama, for his last 25 years. His archives and the restored house where he lived while in tanabe is now open to the public. The cozy air conditioned Archives is free of charge with lots of interesting books and free use of PCs which are always connected to the internet. 

The house where he lived and pursued research is restored and accessible with a small fee. It's on the premises of the Archives. You will see a large backyard where trees grow, an ideal environment for his study. This is where he found a number of Myxomycete.It's interesting to see both his rooms and the trees he saw.

On the wall of a building in tanabe, the portrait of Kumagusu can be seen. It's originally a painting done by my grandfather who graduated from the most prestigious art school in Japan. It's in Ueno, Tokyo and still a very good school. 

The MINAKATA KUMAGUSU museum stands on the rocky hill in shirahama, located next to tanabe. This one was recently renovated and English captions on displayed panels are available and a good place to find out who he was.

Before anybody in Japan thought about ecology or when anybody else didn't even know the word, ecology, Kumagusu was already conscious of it. Thanks to him, many small shrines AND their forests survived. They were about to be destroyed due to a stupid national policy only focusing on short-sighted modernism and economy. The shrine premises showed exquisite ecological systems which Kumagusu knew had to be protected. Nobody else knew but him.

his portrait on a building wall

cozy archives, five minutes away on foot from my mom's home

the room where Kumagusu wrote articles

sendan or Japanese bead tree in the backyard

his storage

Kumagusu Museum on the cliff

the roof of the Kumagusu Museum 

directions to the three sacred shrines in Kumano
Kumagusu made a thorough research on Kumano 
from various aspects, from viewpoints of 
folklore, biology, natural history, and mythology

net-kin or myxomycete pic at a poster session
of an international conference on net-kin held in tanabe

poster session held in the lobby of the city library
oral sessions were on the second floor 
only for the members