A Galaxyof Old Japanese Medical Books

A Galaxy of Old Japanese Medical Books With Miscellaneous Notes on Early Medicine in Japan Part V. Biblio-historical Addenda. Corrections. Postscript. Acknowledgments BY GORDON E. MESTLER Department of Anatomy, State University of New York Downstate Medical Center Brooklyn, New York ADDENDA I T is especially important in this study to call attention to Japanese writings on the historical aspects of the development in Japan of medicine in general and also of particular or specific medical disciplines. Of significance, too, are references to important works written in the form of essays, biographies, auto- biographies and bibliographies. It was stated in Part I of this study that the earliest known history of medicine in Japan was written by Doyui or Michisuke KUROKAWA as the Honcho iko, a work which appeared in three volumes in the 3rd year of Kan- bun (= 1663), "on thoughts about Japanese medicine." It is interesting to know that KUROKAWA's HonchJ iko was "revised with corrections of mis- takes" by Chikanobu KAZIMA when he wrote his medical history of Japan entitled Kocho ishi, which appeared in three volumes during the Koka period (1844-1847). In the discussion of medico-historical writings in Part I of this study it was suggested that there was a hiatus in such writings from the time of Doyud KUROKAWA to the Meiji restoration, a period of nearly 200 years .... Fur- ther investigation, however, has uncovered at least seven works of a truly historical nature, excepting those of an essay or autobiographical type. These works will now be referred to and described so far as possible. Katsumoto HOSOKAWA wrote an early work on medical superstitions, which he had compiled by patient perusal of many medical writings of his own time and of earlier date. He summarized his notes, corrected them, and, writing in a mixture of Chinese and Japanese characters, he published his work in 1472 with the title Reiran-shui. HOSOKAWA was not a physician, but he was a powerful figure at the court of the Ashikaga Shogunate in 1446. 164 A GALAXY OF OLD JAPANESE MEDICAL BOOKS 165 In the 9th year of Kyoho (= 1724) appeared a one-volume work by Sanei MOCHIZUKI entitled Meii shlshi, which was a brief history of medicine. In the first year of Genbun (= 1736) a comparatively obscure physician named Jofun WATARAI compiled medical abstracts and quotations from many Chinese and Japanese classical writings, from sacred Buddhist literature, and from writings of famous physicians and priests of an earlier time. This work was published in the third year of Genbun (= 1738) in three volumes with the title Kokun ikuchi. However obscure the author, this work was con- sidered important enough by the great Japanese medical historian, Asobu or Yii FUJIKAWA, to reprint in full in Volume 2 of his collection, the Kyorin sosho (1922). Kotoku or Tsunenori NASU or TAZAWA (1772-1841) investigated the ancient medicine of Japan-medical "systems", drugs, prescriptions and dis- eases-and as a result of his studies wrote a one-volume work known as the Honcho idan. It was published for the first time in the 5th year of Bunsei (= 1822), and was reprinted in full in 1922 in Volume 1 of the collection known as the Kyorin sosho. NASU or TAZAWA revised his earlier work and in 1830 he published the Honcho idan niken, which was also in one volume and essen- tially the same as the HonchO idan, but with added material that he had "for- gotten" to put in the original writing of 1822. The HonchM idan niken was also reprinted in full in Volume 1 of the Kyotrin sosho (1922). Hotei or Kakuj6 SATO, a follower of the Chinese school of medicine in Japan and who had been born in T6hoku and studied at T6kyo, wrote a work on medical history in the form of essays with the title Kikon which first appeared in 1831 and was reprinted in 1839. A copy of that work is known to have been in the Library of the Medical Department at the University of Tokyo during the early years of the Meiji period. The Kokushi igensho, a work consisting of abstracts relating to medicine taken from Japanese history and from Buddhist texts, compiled by Kentoku or Koremichi or Yoshinori YOSHIDA (died 1837), has already been thoroughly described in Part I of this study. It need only be mentioned here that 1834-1835 marks the date when YOSHIDA began his writing; the date of the first print- ing was 1852. An undated work appeared during the Edo period, composed by Genkan YAMASHINA in 10 volumes with the title Honcho iseki, which gave facts about medicine as derived from novels, biographies and Japanese history. As intimated above, a valuable source of information on early medical practice in Japan can be found in the essays written by outstanding physicians, delineating their observations on the art and practice of the medicine of their times-a form of literary recreation popular to this day, and not unique in Japan. Important among such medical writings were the following: The earliest (or oldest) essays in Japan on experiences in medicine as given in medical 166 GORDON E. MESTLER writings by other men were composed by Tomotoshi KOREMUNE in a two- volume work known as the Idan-sho, supposedly written at the end of the 13th century. That work was (re)printed in Volume 1 of the Kyjrin sosho, and its possible publication prior to 1922 is unknown .... A copy of the Idan-sho was exhibited at Tokyo in 1925; the exact nature of that exhibited copy is unknown .... It is not known if the work by Gyuizan or Keiaki or Norizane or Sokushin KAZUKI (1656-1740) entitled Shfui-sennyfu which appeared in three volumes in the 18th year of Kyoho (= 1733) was printed or existed only in manuscript. In either event it was (re)printed in full in Volume 3 of the Kyorin sosho in 1922, describing the experiences of KAZUKI over a long period of time, and giving his explanation of the order or sequence in which medical science should be learned and what he believed should be the morals or ethics of the physician. Kogen or Shiusuke or Tamenori or Todo YOSHIAIASU (1702-1773) wrote a group of essays on "medical decisions," which were compiled into one volume in 1759 by one of his pupils, Genitsu TSURU (sometimes called CHO), a work known by the title Idan. In 1811 Kyoan KAYA, a pupil of Nangai YOSHI- MASU (1750-1813) the son of Todo, continued the medical essays begun by the elder YOSHIMASU in a writing of his own entitled Zoku idan, also in one volume. A somewhat similar work was written originally in the 4th year of Kansei (= 1792) by Gentoku or Motonori or Rankei TAKI (1732-1801) in one volume with the title Ika shokun. It was probably not published prior to its appear- ance of Volume 3 of the KyJrin solsho (1922), where it was printed in full giving the views of TAKI on the ethics of the physician in medical practice-in the form of advice to his pupils and disciples. Tomon YAMAWAKI (1736-1782) was the author of an original manuscript known as T3mon-zuihitsu in which he compiled his notes for lectures on a variety of subjects concerning medicine in general. Specifically, the content of the TJmon-zuihitsu was as follows: On the history of the "Kohoke school" of medicine which followed the classical tradition;' on a description of treatments based on the teachings of both schools, using various kinds of herbs; on the heart as the center of vitalism in the body; on exsanguination; on scatology; on fasting for medical purposes; and on beri-beri. The Tomon-zuihitsu was never published in YAAIAWAKI's time, but handwritten copies were made. About 150 years after the original writing, FUJIKAWA borrowed the original manuscript, which had been preserved in the YA1IAWAKI family, compared it with another existing handwritten copy, and published the complete original 1 The so-called "Kohoke school" evolved as a result of dissent against the practices of Kon- zan GOTO. Later, when GOTO was refused admittance to the "Kohoke school," he founded a school of his own, known as the "GOTO school," and became famous. Incidentally, Tomon YAMAWAKI's father, T6yo YAMAWAKI, was a disciple of Gonzan GOTO. A GALAXY OF OLD JAPANESE MEDICAL BOOKS 167 manuscript of Tomon YAMAWAKI's TTomon-zuihitsu for the first time in Volume 2 of the Kyorin sosho (1922). The justly famous Gempaku SUGITA (1732-1817) wrote a series of essays on the practice of medicine in his time, in the form of fanciful stories of "night talks with a shadow," in a two-volume work called Keiei yawa published originally in the 7th year of Bunka (= 1810). Those essays were especially designed to be read by medical students. A full reprint of Keiei yawa is in Volume 1 of KyJrin so5sho (1922), and sample excerpts of the imaginative conversations between SUGITA and his "Shadow-priest" were translated in Whitney's "Notes on the history of medical progress in Japan" (Trans. Asiatic Soc. of Japan, 12: 245-469, 1885; p. 331-336). Also in the Keiei yawa was a remark of SUGITA regarding Dutch medicine, written after his indelible experience at the dissection in 1771 at which he had compared Western anatomical draw- ings with those of the traditional Chinese then in use in Japan: "After this I saw that the true principles of medical art were those brought to us from Holland, the country far away in the West, for in that country it is a recog- nized principle that true medical art is founded upon an accurate knowledge of the normal condition of the various portions of the body, both internal and external.

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