- Evonymus sieboldianus (mayumi 木檀).
- Gourd (hisago 瓢).
- Hedysarum esculentum (wogi 荻).
- Hydropyrum latifolium (komo 菰).
- Kadzura japonica (sana-kadzura 蘰).
- Livistona sinensis (ajimasa 檳榔).
- Lotus [nelumbium] (hachisu 蓮).
- Musk-melon (hozochi 熟瓜).
- Oak, [three species, Quercus serrata (kunugi 歷木) and Q. glandulifera (nara 楢), both deciduous; Q. gilva (ichihi 赤檮) [evergreen].
- Orange (tachibana 橘).
- Podocarpus macrophylla (maki 檜).
- Radish, [Raphanus sativus] (oho-ne 大根).
- Sashibu (written phonetically) [not identified].
- Water caltrop, [Trapa bispinosa] (hishi 菱).
- Wild garlic [Allium nipponicum] (nu-biru 野赫).
- Zelkowa keaki [probably] (tsuki 槻).
A few more are probably preserved in the names of places. Thus in Shinano, the name of a province, we seem to have the shina (Tilia cordata), and in Tadetsu the tade (Polygonum japonicum). But the identification in these cases is mostly uncertain. It must also be remembered that, as in the case of all non-scientific nomenclatures, several species, and occasionally even more than one genus, are included in a single Japanese term. Thus chi-dori (here always rendered “dotterel”) is the name of any kind of sand-piper, plover or dotterel. Kari is a general name applied to geese, but not to all the species, and also to the great bustard. Again it should not be forgotten that there may have been, and probably were, in the application of some of these terms, differences of usage between the present day and eleven or twelve centuries ago. Absolute precision is therefore not attainable.[1]
Noticeable in the above lists is the abundant mention of plant-names in a work which is in no ways occupied with botany. Equally noticeable is the absence of some of those which are most common at the present day, such as the tea-plant and the plum-tree, while of the orange we are specially informed that it was introduced from abroad.[2] The difference between the various stones and metals seems, on the other hand, to
- ↑ Sect. CXXVIII preserves a very early ornithological observation in the shape of the Songs composed by the Emperor Nin-toku and his Minister Take-Uchi on the subject of a wild-goose laying eggs in Central Japan. These birds are not known to breed even so far South as the island of Yezo.
- ↑ See the legend in Sect. LXXIV.
