Hirase Sakugorō

was a Japanese botanist and painter. Born into a samurai family in Fukui, Hirase discovered the spermatozoids of the ginkgo in January 1894, before Seiichiro Ikeno discovered the spermatozoids of the cycad. He is a laureate of the Imperial Prize of the Japan Academy.

Works Selections regarding Ginkgo biloba: 1894a. Fecundation period of Ginkgo biloba. (In Japanese) Bot. Mag., Tokyo 8: 7-9. 1894b. Notes on the attraction-spheres in the pollen-cells of Ginkgo biloba. (In Japanese) Bot. Mag., Tokyo 8: 359-60; 361 -364. 1895a. Etudes sur le Ginkgo biloba (note pröliminaire). Bot. Mag., Tokyo 9: 239-240. 1895b. Etudes sur la föcondation et l´embryogönie du Ginkge biloba (1). J. Coll Sci. imp. Univ. Tokyo 8: 307-3 22. 1896a. Spermatozoid of Ginkgo biloba. (In Japanese) Bot. Mag., Tokyo 10:171. 1896b. On the spermatozoid of Ginkgo. (In Japanese) . Bot. Mag., Tokyo 10: 325-328. 1897. Untersuchungen über das Verhalten des Pollens von Ginkgo biloba. Bot. Zbl. 49: 33-35. 1898. Etudes sur la fécondation et l´embryogénie du Ginkgo biloba (second mémoire). J. Coll. Sei. imp. Univ. Tokyo 12: 103-149.