Born in Hamamatsu in 1861 into a samurai family of Hamamatsu Domain, at the age of fifteen he entered the Kaisei Gakkō [ja] school in Tokyo, before enrolling as a student in the Science College at the Imperial University, Tokyo in 1878.[1][2] There he studied under Edward Sylvester Morse and Charles Otis Whitman.[2] In 1879, together with Sasaki Chūjirō [ja], both having previously received training from and assisted Morse in his exploration of the Ōmori Shell Mounds, Ijima excavated the Okadaira Shell Mound; this is credited with being the first modern archaeological survey conducted solely by Japanese.[6][7][8] Upon graduation in 1881, as one of three from the first cohort in the Department of Zoology, he became an assistant in the College.[1][2] The next year he went to Germany to study zoology at the University of Leipzig, where he spent three years working under the direction of Doctor Rudolf Leuckart; he was awarded his Ph.D. in 1884.[1]
Returning to Japan in 1886, at the age of 25 he was appointed Professor of Zoology at the Imperial University, Tokyo, where he remained until his death.[1][2] In 1893, with the description of Parus owstoni (now Sittiparus owstoniorOwston's tit), he became the first zoologist from Japan to describe a bird.[9]: 276 [10] In 1903, he was involved in the establishment of Sakai Aquarium [ja] and in 1904 he was appointed the second director of the Misaki Marine Biological Station [ja].[2][11] In 1912, he was the founding president of the Ornithological Society of Japan.[2] In 1918, he published his influential A Manual of Zoology (動物学提要, Dōbutsu-gaku Teiyō).[2][12] In his personal life, Ijima enjoyed hunting, shooting, fishing, wine, and smoking a pipe.[1] He died in 1921.[1]
^ abcdefgh日本鳥学会100年の歴史 [The 100-Year History of The Ornithological Society of Japan] (PDF). Japanese Journal of Ornithology (in Japanese). 61: 9 ff. 2012.
^陸平貝塚 [Okadaira Shell Mound] (in Japanese). Ibaraki Prefectural Board of Education. Retrieved June 8, 2022.
^Isomura, Yukio; Sakai, Hideya (2012). 国指定史跡事典 [National Historic Site Encyclopedia] (in Japanese). 学生社. p. 91. ISBN978-4311750403.
^特別展 大森貝塚発掘130周年・区政60周年記念事業「日本考古学は品川から始まった-大森貝塚と東京の貝塚-」 [Special Exhibition: 130th Anniversary of the Excavation of the Ōmori Shell Mounds and 60th Anniversary of the Formation of the Ward "In Shinagawa Japanese Archaeology Began — the Ōmori Shell Mounds and the Shell Mounds of Tokyo"] (PDF) (in Japanese). Shinagawa Ward. Retrieved June 8, 2022.
