Nihon ishigaku zasshi. [Journal of Japanese history of medicine]最新文献

This research is based on materials of the Bureau of Hygiene (see text) and the minutes of the Central Board of Health (see text) contained in Hosokawa Junjiro's (see text) monograph Goen Sosho (see text). It showed that the movement toward allowing the qualification of modern female doctors in Japan was going on in various parts of Japan from 1881 or earlier. This history shows the presence of many female doctors in the Edo Period. At an extraordinary meeting of the Central Board of Health, an advisory body of the Bureau of Hygiene, the qualification of female doctors was approved of in 1881. This was based on an article in the yororyo law (see text) about female doctors contained in the ancient laws of Japan. As a result, the Department of the Interior allowed female doctors in June, 1884. At this time, five females took the national examination for medical practitioners. The following year, Ogino Ginko (see text) became the first modern female doctor in Japan. Owing to the yororyou law about female doctors, and the efforts of many other females who wanted to become doctors, the first modern female doctors in Japan came into being.

John C. Berry (1847-1936) came to Japan in 1872, worked as a medical missionary for the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM . He attempted to influence Japanese medical education toward a more Christian-influenced approach. In early Meiji, the Japanese government adopted the German language and principles for its national medical program. This promoted a tendency towards the adoption of German concepts in Japanese medical education. The director of of Doshisha, Niijima, was concerned about such a tendency, which he considered rather science-oriented or skeptical and atheistic, according to his writings. The tradition of corruption among Japanese doctors also deeply disappointed him. Niijima sought the type of medical institution in which the students would learn Western medicine based on a moral base of Christianity, presumably in Kyoto, to take advantage of the foundation of Doshisha, which had already been built. Missionaries in Japan, especially Berry, supported Niijima's intentions. During his visit to the U.S. he promoted a mission statement in support of Niijima's idea in order to raise funds among Christian communities. This project produced a resolution among the Christian community in Philadelphia to establish an interdenominational foundation for establishing such a medical institution and it encouraged other cities to follow. However, the American Board of Missionaries in Japan disagreed with the idea of its being interdenominational, and then, along with other struggles such as the lack of funding in light of the economic slowdown, and the widespread social rejection of Christianity in Japan, the project fell apart and was suspended.

This paper analyzes the notes of Xinkan huangdimingtangjiujing which are in the possession of the National Diet Library, particularly referring to those notes which include "master said", or "master's theory". Some of those are found in the answers from Manase Dosan (see text for symbol) to Hata Soha (see text for symbol) collected in the Kotei meido kyukyo hushin shosho (see text for symbol) which is the record of the question and answer letters between Manase Dosan and Hata Soha. This research indicates that this volume has a close relation to the acupuncture research of Dosan's or Soha's school. And it indicates that the "master" in the Notes of Xinkan huangdimingtangjiujing refers to Dosan. Acupuncture research has been flourishing since the Edo era and has compiled a lot of volumes on acupuncture. This volume contains some pioneering pieces of this research done in the Azuchi Momoyama era by Dosan and Soha, and is a precious material, showing that some of the state of affairs of the research done in that age still remains today.

In early 1946, immediately after World War II, there was a smallpox epidemic in Japan. In this paper we investigated trends in the occurrence of smallpox by week and region using official documents of the General Headquarters, Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (GHQ/SCAP), which are stored in the National Diet Library Modern Japanese Political History Materials Room, and summarized the measures taken against this epidemic. The following two points were clarified: 1) The 1946 smallpox epidemic peaked in Week 13 (March 24-30; 1,405 new patients), and the highest morbidity during this epidemic was seen in Hyogo Prefecture, followed by Osaka Prefecture, Aichi Prefecture, Tokyo Prefecture, and Hokkaido Prefecture. 2) Measures taken against this epidemic were classified into the following three stages: 1. "Vaccine shortage/Manufacture acceleration stage," 2. "Vaccine sufficiency/Smallpox vaccination program implementation stage," and 3. "Detection of defects in vaccination technique/Reimplementation of the smallpox vaccination program stage".