Jinhaku Sonan

Who was Jinhaku Sonan?

Jinhaku Sonan in Chinese Chu-Nan Yan Bo was a Japanese entomologist.

In 1908, at the age of 16, Jinhaku Sonan arrived in Taiwan where he completed his education in Creek Middle Schools evening division 1909 where he later taught.In 1909, the Taiwan Governor Museum was established to display zoological and insect specimens and he became an insect collector for the Central Purchasing Agency which administered the museums finance. From 1912 to 1916 he served in the Imperial Japanese Navy but returned to Taiwan. In 1947 after the Second World War he returned to Japan, working in agriculture, forestry, agriculture,the tea industry and the Japan Association of plant quarantine. In old age he settled in Tokyo,. Jinhaku Sonan died at the age of 92 years old.

His entomological research in Taiwan, concerned Lepidoptera, Ichneumonidae,and insect pests of tea and more generally, was the pioneer student of Taiwan's insect fauna.