Mycology Research

During the summer of 2022, through the Summer Research Institute program at the University of Chicago and with support from my research mentor Dr. Brad Bolman, I conducted research on the emergence of mycology in Japan from the late 19th to early 20th century.

What is mycology?

Mycology is the scientific study of fungi, and I imagine that many of us think of mushrooms to be the central image of this field. And while mushrooms are very important and often very tasty, there are many other components of fungal life that are more common in our lives than we may think. Fungi play a large role in creating antibiotics, such as penicillin, making bread and wine, and supporting plant growth through these underground growth networks called mycelium. If you took a gram of soil from the forest and managed to tease out the mycelium and laid it end to end, it would stretch anywhere from 100 meters to ten kilometers! That’s about 6.2 miles. Even though fungi are quite literally everywhere around us, they have not been scientifically studied until relatively recent times.

The term “mycology” was first coined in 1836 by M.J. Berkeley, and it really started picking up in the late 19th century in Europe, especially with the invention of microscopes. These scientists started talking to each other, discovering new species, and establishing a field studying these organisms. So how did this field spread to other areas of the world?

In my research, I explored how mycology was established in Japan with influence from Europe, America, and its own traditional practices. I examined the establishment of research institutions, university departments, and botanical societies in the context of broader socioeconomic and historical forces. I also looked at published scientific papers, books, periodicals, and archival correspondence which reflect the interests of the Japanese mycology community at the time. I also focused on transnational communication between scientists in Japan and America, showing how key Japanese figures bridge these two worlds by studying in foreign universities, bringing ideas to and from each region.

Of course, you need some historical background to discuss historical events. During the Edo Period, which started in 1603, Japan adopted an isolationist foreign policy that lasted for 265 years until 1868. This meant that contact with other countries was kept to a very minimum, leading to the growth of many domestic cultural practices. It also meant that once the borders were opened after negotiation from American commodore Matthew Perry, the Japanese government was eager to catch up and establish itself as a global powerhouse in the international economy.

Foreign experts from various fields were called to Japan to share their expertise, and many Japanese scholars were sent to other countries to bring back knowledge to Japan. This period of rapid industrialization is known as the Meiji Restoration.

Some of these people include Mr. Yatabe, who studied at Cornell, and Mr. Miyabe, who studied at Harvard. These men studied abroad in the late 19th century, when mycology was still an emerging field, so they actually studied under the botany branches of these institutions, although we know now that fungi are actually closer to animals than plants.

Even after coming back to Japan, these scientists often kept in touch with their mentors and fellow researchers overseas, and this was thanks to the increasing accessibility of international communication through steamship mail. You can see the progression of mycology in Japan even through just these letters - initially, scientists in Japan wrote to those overseas to ask them to name the fungi samples that they send and request copies of publications that are not available in Japan. But after a few years, there seems to be a more level playing field, with Japanese scientists growing more confident in their species identifications and both sides asking for samples and publications from each other.

With the leadership of scientists with a special interest in fungi, including Mr. Yatabe and Mr. Miyabe, Japanese universities and research institutions began to follow the European and American systems, first creating branches of botany, then mycology a few years later. After the establishment of these groups, we start to see a lot of publications being produced, again first starting off with more broad topics such as botany, then narrowing down to fungi, fungal plant diseases, medical mycology, and so on. And that seems to be the general trend of mycology emerging in the academic world of Japan: botany, then mycology.

Of course, there is a world outside of strict academia, and in this case, it’s the fermentation industry that is very popular in Japan. Specifically, the soy sauce, miso, and sake industries have long used a fungus called koji in its fermentation process, but before the Meiji restoration, the exact scientific details of these processes were not truly known. Improvements on quality and taste were done with the simple five senses, not with fancy microscopes or labs. But with the new scientific technology available from the opened borders and the rush to become an international powerhouse, the government had economic incentives to see if there could be any improvements made to the process for a more efficient product. This led to advancements such as developing a pure culture of the specific koji fungus, creating an alternative metabolic pathway for industrial alcohol, and the discovery of MSG.

So overall, in the academic circles, we can see the general trend of plant studies to mycology influenced by scientists and institutions in Europe and America. And in the manufacturing and industry areas, we can see the economic incentives for government funded research in fungi, especially in relation to traditional Japanese goods such as sake, miso, and soy sauce. In this way, mycology in Japan is a combination of the influences from Europe and America with its traditional practices.

The fascination with mushrooms and fungi continues to this day - we are currently going through what you might call a second mycology boom! I certainly experienced my own mycology boom when I was conducting this research. I had no background in fungi other than my excessive consumption of them (we eat a lot of mushrooms in Japan), but with the help of my mentor Brad Bolman, I was able to discover very insightful connections between mycology, historical events, international communication, institutions, botany, governments, and fermentation. I have since fostered a deep appreciation for the various forms of fungi in this world, not just the ones on my plate!