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日本・ネパール協同植物調査史 1960-1980 [英文]

History of the cooperation in botanical researches between Japan and Nepal in the first two decades since 1960

［日本・ネパール協同植物調査ことはじめ］

When I first set foot in Kathmandu in 1963, the first place I visited was not the Department of Medicinal Plants (DMP) but the Headquarter of the Royal Nepal Airlines. The morning, when we were ready to leave Calcutta after two weeks customs procedure, our customs broker informed us that the landing permit for our chartered cargo flight to Biratnagar by the Indian Airlines was rejected by the Nepal Government, and he requested us to negotiate the matter with the Royal Nepal Airlines.

The Headquarter of the Royal Nepal Airlines was on New Road. An officer in charge said to me, "If you wish to import your cargo into Nepalese territory, you must charter our flight." My replay was, "Our cargo would be too heavy and beyond the capacity of your craft." I did not know if it was true or not. Anyway, shortly after the talk came to an end, and special landing permit was prepared and sent to Calcutta.

In such a way, customs clearing procedures in Calcutta were the most troublesome and terribly time-consuming business in the early days of our botanical research.

Dr. Hiroshi Hara started botanical research trips in the eastern Himalaya in 1960. We had no information about the availability of daily necessities or research equipment there. So we had to sent everything from Japan by ship two months prior to our departure. International air cargo was too expensive for our budget. There was no direct flight to Kathmandu at that time. It was why we had to run about Calcutta for many days to clear customs, which was said to be the most difficult in the world. In 1960 to Sikkim, it took 40 days to import and 30 days to export our cargo through the Calcutta Customs. It was quite difficult to obtain a special permit go north beyond the West Bengal border. Actually it was once issued, but was soon cancelled. Dr. Hara held long negotiations with the Delhi Government from Darjeeling by telephone. In 1967 when we went to Bhutan, the customs procedures were cleared in two weeks with the support of the Bhutan Agent, but the problem was the Inner Line Permit. Again Dr. Hara went to Delhi for negotiation. We were the first scientific research party ever to enter Bhutan. Cargo transport from Calcutta to Darjeeling and Phuntzoling was by vehicles to avoid delay or loss, because we thought that railway transport was risky.

The first expedition to Nepal

［第一次ネパール調査］

In 1963 when we organized the first expedition to eastern Nepal, we were able to finish the customs business in Calcutta within a rather reasonable number of days. It was Autumn. We were afraid of cold weather at high altitudes were in a hurry to send our things to our starting point as quick as possible. This was why we chartered a cargo flight from Calcutta to Biratnagar.

When we three, Dr. Hara, Miss. Kurosawa and I, reached Biratnagar after finishing talks with DMP in Kathmandu, our cargo was deposited in a customs shed on the Indian border at Jogbani. An Indian customs officer requested us, to our surprise, to present necessary document for customs clearance. We believed that our cargo was already cleared in Calcutta and were surprised to find that no such document was attached to the cargo. We only had a copy of the shipping bill. After that day, from morning till evening, I was in the Jogbani customs office trying to establish telephone linkage with the broker in Calcutta, beside sending him telegrams. But I failed to get in touch with him for three days.

We stayed in guesthouse of the zonal chief called Ancharadhish, which he kindly provided for us. The guest room was, however, equipped only with bed frames, and no bedding was there. Our bedding were in the cargo! I requested Ancharadhish's secretary to supply us with bedding, and he promised me to do so soon. But bedding did not come by that evening. I caught him on street and asked for the promised bedding. His replay was, "It is too late to supply you with bedding. How can I do it now? I cannot help you today. I shall arrange it tomorrow." This was my first baptism with "bholi aunus" (come tomorrow) which was, and probably is, a daily refrain here. We had to lie down on the floor without bedding. The electricity supply was cut off at nine o'clock in the evening and the ceiling fan stopped. The night was deadly hot, and we had severe attacks of numberless small biting insects. The next morning, I requested bedding again, and the secretary promised again, which I trusted. But in the night, the same event was repeated.

On the third day, when I went to the Indian customs office for telephone call, the officer told me, "I very much sympathize with your difficulty especially with that lady. I am thinking of requesting special permission from my boss who is in a nearby big town, if you can arrange a motorcar to go there." I rushed back to Ancharadhish himself, not his secretary, and asked him to provide us his official jeep for this purpose, which he agreed to do. The day, the customs officer and I drove to the town to meet his boss. It took nearly three hours to reach there. After several talks with his boss, he complied with issuing special permission. On the way back, the jeep driver complained sleepiness and said that he could not drive any more. Then I replaced him myself and drove the vehicle without an Indian licence. On the way, a group of bull occupied the road. The break pedal of our jeep was nearly useless, and the car stopped after knocking a bull into a roadside ditchz. The bull's owner, however, did not claim damages because of the presence of an Indian officer.

We got back Jogbani in the evening. Thus, we could at last clear our cargo through the Indian Customs. The next obstacle was the Nepalese Customs, because there was no customs document to show. After many talks with the Nepalese officers, our cargo passed the border customs, and I was able to bring it into the guesthouse after dark. On that day, the other members of the expedition, Dr. T. Tsuyama, Mr. G. Murata, Mr. M. Togashi, came to Biratnagar with the Sherpa team. I was barely able to supply our equipment to all of our members on time.

It was the time of the autumn festival of Dashain, when everybody in Nepal must be at home, of which we were quite ignorant at that time. We had difficulty in collecting porters at Dharan Bazaar. After that, we marched beyond Hile without much trouble. At Birbatay Bhanjyang (Basantapur), however, Miss Kurosawa fell ill with a high fever and could not even stand up, probably because of an infection from insect bites at Biratnagar. We stayed there, watching her condition and giving her all aveilable medicines. Mr. Murata and Mr. Togashi continued collecting in the vicinity. This is why we have many collections from Birbatay Bhanjyang. Miss Kurosawa recovered after three days, but since that event, she never took meals. She continued walking for a further one month, surviving only on fruits juice!

It rained heavily during the summer of that year. After Taplejung, we had to cross landslides and temporary bamboo bridges over the roaring Tamur. At Helok we split the party, and the elder members stayed there, dispatching the younger members to Wollangchunggola. At Wollangchunggola. We found that one-third of the village was washed away. On the way to Ilam (Illam), we found Tetracentron and heard news of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

We expected jeep transport at Illam, as the Helok people had told us. Actually, the jeep was there, but it could not go out of the town because the road was dissected by erosion. We were informed by district chief that jeep transport would be available at Sanichare, at the foot of the Siwalik Range. So we descended three days on foot to the margin of the Indian Plain. Sanichare was once connected with Biratnagar by a "highway", but repeated floods washed the road away. We saw bridges intact without road connection on either side. We were again informed that motor transport would be available at the next stop. The Nepalese people were not inconvenienced by such conditions because they could go anywhere by train after crossing the Indian border to the south. But there was no "recognized point" for foreigners to cross the border in this area except at Biratnagar.

We discharged most of our porters at Sanichare. They were hill people and did not like to walk in the hot plain. We employed buffalo carts in their place. Buffaloes proceeded very slowly and used to sit at every ford to cool themselves. We had to slow down our march to keep watch our specimens. Two days passed in such a way. The sun rose from behind us and set in our destination. At last, Dr. Hara hastened his pace. He reached Biratnagar one day before us and arranged for a jeep to pick up us at Rangali where we were very much pleased to see a vehicle. The next morning, however, the jeep did not come out of the shed until ten o'clock. We came to know that the jeep was out of order. Again, we proceeded along the last section of our treck to Biratnagar on foot.

During this trip, we collected plants as much as possible. Mr. Murata and Mr. Togashi contributed the most. Drying work was done till midnight. Thus we produced excess luggage of dried specimens on the way. They were sent to Dhankuta. According to the agreement between Dr. Hara and the district chief, they were to be stored in nearby houses until due occasion. After getting back Biratnagar, we sent a collecting team to Dhankuta and to retrieved the specimens. When our packing was nearly finished, Mr. Murata found that the number of specimens was less than expected. Again we dispatched a Sherpa team to Dhankuta to re-collect the rest of dried plants. They looked for the specimens from house to house and found the rest of the specimens, for which the inhabitants expected additional baksis (tip in Nepali).

Thus our cargo to Japan was ready. Customs clearance both in Nepal and India were not difficult, because the cargo contained nothing of commercial value. We contracted with a Indian transport company at Jogbani to send the cargo to Calcutta. The manager promised that the cargo would be dispatched early in the next morning. So, our members left for Kathmandu, leaving me to see through the last procedure. When I reached Jogbani at ten o'clock the next morning, our cargo was still under the eaves of the transport company. The manager said that the pickup vehicle would not come today. I inquired about the reason, and he did not know why. Then I asked when the cargo would be picked up. Again he did not know. Then I declared that I should stay here until the vehicle would arrive. So, I sat down all day in front of company office. The vehicle did not come before dark. The manager went to bed after turning off the room light. I had to go back to Biratnagar helplessly. The next day, the vehicle did not come. I spent all the day sitting in front of the company office. In the morning of the third day, a lorry was there when I reached the office. It was loaded with our cargo and left after passing the checkpost at the Indian border without stopping. Thus, my longest days in Biratnagar came to an end.

My stay in Nepal as a Colombo Plan advisor

［ネパール滞在 - コロンボ計画専門家として - ］

In February 1969, I was attending a staff meeting of the Department of Medicinal Plants, at Thapathali. As a Colombo Plan advisor, I was to cooperate with the botanical survey of DMP for two years. My family soon joined me and lived on the Thapathali hilltop and then at Kamal Pokhari (no traces of my old residence were left in the vicinity when I visited there again in May 2001). I concentrated my daily work on the rearrangement of herbarium specimens by giving them species covers. DMP was planning a field survey in western Nepal, but there were two kinds of obstacles. One was Khanba (Tibetan refugees) disturbance in the western region at that time. Another was the recognized points on the Indian border. Nepalese people usually got into far western Nepal by crossing back and forth over the Indo-Nepal border after going north in Indian territory along the western margin of Nepal. But there was no recognized point for foreigners other than Nepalese and Indians to cross the border. Probably because of these obstacles, our official botanizing trips had to be restricted to central Nepal. I participated in six official trips Vegetation surveys were also done on the way upon the request of DMP. Brief notes on those trips are given below.

In October to November, 1963, we went to eastern Nepal. This was the first Nepal-Japan cooperative trip, and Mr. A.V. Upadhyay joined the expedition. Beside those incidents described above, there were numerous happenings nearly every day in relation to the local people, porters, and Sherpas. Because Japanese members knew nothing about the customs and daily life of the Nepalese, professor Hara consulted with Mr. Upadhyay about all matters, and he solved them smoothly.

The first official trip in which I participated as an advisor was in April 1969, lead by Mr. M.S. Bista. We flew to Simra, went east along the East-West Highway, then under construction, on foot for half a day, went north crossing the Churia and Mahabarat Ranges with numerous fordings via Makwanpur, and climbed up Mt. Phulchoki. It was the hottest season. I became one of the few Japanese who entered the Kathmandu valley from the Indian plain on foot.

The second official trip was in June to Gosaikunda, lead by Mr. S.B. Malla. It was the occasion of big festival in Gosaikunda and we were unable to purchase food on the way back, because all had been consumed by pilgrims.

The third was the longest official trip held in June to July of 1970 to Chilime and Langtang, lead by Mr. P.R. Shakya. We ran short of salt and sugar at Langtang and had to take completely tasteless meals flavored only with chili for four days. Rain was heavy on those days, and the Trisuli road was dissected by landslides. On the way back, we chartered a Soviet jeep at Trisuli and started in the afternoon with 17 persons and all of our luggage. We had to construct a jeepable road for about 10 meters to cross a landslide and came back to Kathmandu the next day.

The fourth short trip was to Chandragili in September, lead by Mr. T.B. Shrestha. This was a rather peaceful trip. We missed a good chance to see bathing of girls on the "Day of Achyranthes".

The fifth trip to Kalinchok was also in September lead by Mr. T.B. Shrestha and Mr. S.R. Adhikari. One evening, our porter team lost the sahib team, and the two teams stayed separately at different places expecting each other. The sahib team had to spent the night without bedding and foodstuff in a well-ventilated Khalka shed.

The sixth and the last official trip was to Makwanpur and Narayanghat held in November and lead by Mr. P.R. Shakya. We used an office jeep from Kathmandu to save time. The clutch-arm of the jeep broke on a hill near Hetauda, and the low gear could not be released. The car's battery was nearly finished. We had to push the car with all of our manpower to restart it several times until we reach Hetanda.

Specimens collected during these trips were dried using the Nepalese method of changing blotting paper or, on long trips, were heat-dried using corrugated cardboards or corrugated duralumin plates. In Kathmandu, I dried them with an electric fan-heater after accumulating specimens and corrugated duralumin plates alternately and bind them with chains and springs to press them. When using the electric fan-heater, 200 to 300 specimens could be dried overnight. On my field trips, I dried plants in the same way over charcoal fire.

Nepalese way of life

［ネパールの流儀］

During my two years stay in Nepal, I learned various customs of Nepalese life which we never noticed when we Japanese were conducting our own trips. For example, I took four meals a day at first when I was attending the office. Every day at noon, I went back my residence for lunch. Soon after I returned to the office, khaajaa (tiffin in Nepali) was served at three o'clock, which was like a lunch. After keen consideration, I came to know that Nepalese people generally take two meals a day. As office hours made it difficult to keep their custom and as they do not like to take cold cooked rice, khaajaa was served to solve the dilemma. So, when a Nepalese was attached to a Japanese botanizing team as a liaison officer, he must have felt physiological disorder because the Japanese consumed three meals a day with a box lunch of cold rice. In contrast, when I participated in Nepalese trips, I was served three meals a day together with Nepalese officers. I never noticed that this meal style was a special service for me against the Nepalese daily life. Now, I wish to thank for that special service offered to me. Once in the field, I offered my "rice balls" to the Nepalese officers. After more than 30 years, I was informed that in Nepal, "rice balls" are offered only to dead persons. In such a way, mutual ignorance of customs between peoples of different culture presents quite delicate problems.

Knowledge of the climate and weather of Nepal through the year gave me a better background for preparing a botanical trip in the monsoon season. As we had no knowledge of the rainy season in Nepal, we were afraid of the monsoon very much. This is why our botanical trips in the early years were in pre- or post-monsoon seasons. Naturally, we had poor collecting of alpine plants. However, by participating in Nepalese official trips to Chilime, Langtang and Gosaikunda in the rainy seasons, and as a resident of Kathmandu valley, I learned what the monsoon is. Monsoon rain was different from what we Japanese thought was analogous to typhoons or ‘Tsuyu‘ (eary summer rainy season) in Japan.

I planned a botanical trip in 1972 in rainy season, liaisonned by Mr. P.R. Shakya, to traverse high altitude range of the Jaljale Himal. The Jaljale Himal was a steep ridge, and we never saw even a single yak tent for three consecutive days. Instead, we found the rare moss Takakia and a large site of Rheum nobile. Dr. H. Ohashi followed the same idea in 1977 liaisonned by Mr. S.K. Dhungana, and succeeding parties after that, organized by Dr. H. Ohba and his colleagues since 1983, began to go up to the alpine zone in the rainy season.

It was much to our convenience that the Thai Airways International established a direct flight to Kathmandu from Bangkok. In Kathmandu, every necessity is now available. So we can manage by sending the minimum amount of items from Japan by air without worrying about the Calcutta and border customs. Customs business at Kathmandu airport became quite easy with the support of the Department of Plant Resources. Motor road communication in Nepal now reaches as far as Syabrubensi, Hile and Ilam, which it once took several days to reach on foot.

During the first twenty years from 1960, the purpose of our botanical trips were to collect plants from as many places and as much as possible to grasp the floristic outline of this country. Recent technological advancement, however, make possible not only taxonomic studies, but also various studies in the life sciences on the basis of accumulated materials. Mutual cooperation of Nepalese and Japanese botanists is required for further successful development of Himalayan botany. My recent contribution to the Nepal-Japan botanical cooperation was with Miss. Shinozaki. During her stay in Nepal as a JOCV (Japan Overseas Cooperative Volunteers), she published a paper, in the Proceedings of 2nd National Conference of Nepal Botanical Society, co-authored by me, on a program to produce plant distribution maps for Nepal with hearty support from Mr. Y. Fujikawa, another JOC volunteer and her present husband.

At the end of my account, I would like to record the non-cooperative botanical activities during my stay, carried out by my family. During my stay as a Colombo Plan advisor, my family, including my wife and two boys in St.Xavier School, made private botanical trips around the Kathmandu valley to such places as Kakani, Shivapuri, Sundarijal, Nagarkot, Doralghat, Phulchoki and Daman. Two of those trips took us far out of the valley. One was a five day trip to Kalinchok, a good place to see laaliguraas (Rhododendron arboreum) in spring and Impatiens in autumn. Another was a ten day trip to Pokhara from Trisuli via Arughat and Tarku. Although our collections was few, I am sure that our small party surely contributed to Himalayan botany. My family is thankful to all of the support and kindness provided by the Nepalese friends during our two year stay in Nepal.

in Noshiro S. & Rajbhandari K.R. (eds.),
Himalayan Botany in the Twentieth and Twenty-first Centuries.
The Society of Himalayan Botany, Tokyo, 2002.

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