About
Crossing the Enoshima Benten Bridge and feeling the sea breeze caress your cheeks, the quiet North Green Space Plaza appears on your left. There, a white stone monument stands silently, engraved with the figures of Dr. Edward S. Morse and three Japanese men. This place marks the dawn of modern zoology in Japan and is where the first marine laboratory in the East was established.
In 1877, Dr. Morse, an American naturalist, came to Japan to study the brachiopod Lingula. He rented a fisherman’s hut on Enoshima and set up a marine laboratory. From this small hut, the history of Japanese marine biology began. During his brief two-year stay, Dr. Morse laid the foundation for Japanese zoology and anthropology through discoveries such as the Omori Shell Mounds and his teaching at the University of Tokyo.
Standing before the monument, you can hear the distant sound of the surf and feel the passion of the researchers of that era. Dr. Morse also took a deep interest in Japanese customs and ceramics, collecting many items. These are now preserved in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts as the “Morse Collection.”
This site on Enoshima is a place where science and culture intersect, where the past and present quietly speak to each other. Visitors, feeling the breath of history, will surely hold hope for the future in their hearts.