Honzo Zufu, and How a Copy Came to Be in the Kew Library

Abstract

Summary In the Library of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, there are some books and manuscripts which were made in Japan and whose background is uncertain. One of these is (Honzo Zufu) which consists of illustrations and descriptions of plants compiled in the first half of 19th century. Kew's Honzo Zufu was exhibited in the ‘Flora Japonica’ show at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery on 17th September 2016 to 5th March 2017. ‘Flora Japonica’ showed works of contemporary Japanese botanical artists and important illustrated books of Japanese plants made between the 17th and 20th centuries. The illustrations of Honzo Zufu are also used for the Kew's Floral Illustrated Calendar 2019. In this article, we describe Kew's copy of Honzo Zufu and tell the story about how it came to be in the possession of the Library.