Minakata is asteroid #6160, also known as 1993 JF, and a member of the asteroid family Flora or Ariadne. Minakata was discovered at the Nachi-Katsuura Observatory.

Minakata is named after Minakata Kumagusu (南方 熊楠), who lived from 1867 until 1941 and was a Japanese scholar and scientist. He did research in many fields, mainly biology and within biology mainly mycology. He studied in several countries, mainly in the USA and in England. He was the first Japanese, who passed the entrance exam at the Michigan State Agricultural College. Although Minakata (南方) was seen by his landsmen as at least eccentric, he was also very much respected, even worshipped. He was called “a great scholar with no degree”. He fought for the preservation of forests. It could have added to his oddness that Minakata (南方) was an epileptic, who suffered from grand mal seizures.

Japanese family names are usually translatable and derived from places. So is Minakata (南方). This name translates as southern realm.

Minakata belongs to the astrological forces, that caught my attention because they conjoin the midheaven in my own natal chart. Although I’m not Japanese and I rather dislike southern realms (where serious infectious diseases are abundant), I can really relate with Minakata conjunct my midheaven. Especially “a great scholar with no degree” (This is a pun! It also wants to say incomparable or beyond any limitation.) represents me. Achieving academic degrees is the less likely, the more fields you study and reject the idea of specializing. And biology is also my main science. I’m not Japanese, but I’m interested in the Japanese culture and the Japanese language. So I could hardly be better represented than by the asteroid Minakata in a conjunction with my natal midheaven. Nothing in the meaning or relevance of the astrological force Minakata could be disputed.