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The Kōzuke Physicians: Rangaku in the Countryside

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The Kōzuke Physicians: Rangaku in the Countryside chapter 2 The Kōzuke Physicians: Rangaku in the Countryside Nestled among the mountains of provincial Kōzuke (present-day Gunma prefecture), the villages around Nakanojō might seem an unlikely setting for lively scholastic activity. Nevertheless, in the 1830s, the region was the picturesque backdrop to a number of ex- changes between Takano Chōei and a network of country doctors. Chōei shared his knowledge of Western medicine with his provin- cial friends through visits, lectures, letters, and, eventually, two collaborative publications. Their activities provide an excellent ex- ample of the way that rural doctors were actively seeking knowl- edge, including Western knowledge, even in remote, mountainous areas of Japan well before the Meiji period. The first part of this chapter explores the significance of Naka- nojō as a geographical backdrop to medical networking. It paints a picture of nineteenth-century rural society in order to see how the rise of medicine and networks fitted in with contemporary eco- nomic and social developments. The second part of the chapter in- troduces the lives of the Kōzuke physicians, their medical commu- nity, and the nature of their connections to Chōei. This leads into a final section that examines the growing network of ranpō doctors beyond the borders of Kōzuke. 71 72 The Kōzuke Physicians A Place to Practice A contemporary journey from Tokyo to Nakanojō on the Aga- tsuma train line provides a scenic introduction to the area’s geog- raphy. The great metropolis of Tokyo fades slowly to flat fields dotted with buildings, interspersed again with the built-up areas of Takasaki and Maebashi. The level Kantō plain is left abruptly at Shibukawa, as the train swings to the northwest and begins to climb. Following the course of the Agatsuma River as it flows from the west down into the Tonegawa at Shibukawa, the line passes through Nakanojō before terminating in the mountains at Ōmae. The entire journey now takes less than three hours. In the Edo period, it usually required four days.1 Nakanojō is situated in the center of the Nakanojō plain, a mountain plain that stretches along the middle reaches of the Agatsuma River about 350 meters above sea level. The plain is sur- rounded by mountains on all sides: Takeyama in the north, Yaku- shigatake in the west, Harunasan in the south, and Jūnigatake and Onokoyama in the east. The mountains and the bubbling rivers that flow into the Agatsuma are spectacularly beautiful. Indeed, Nakanojō and nearby Sawatari thermal springs, about ten kilome- ters to the northwest, are not unworthy of their place on one of Japan’s “romantic roads” for tourists. Although Nakanojō now administratively incorporates several villages, such as Sawatari, which are dotted along the local rivers, these villages originally had quite separate identities. As a natural link between the mountain and farming villages further beyond in the north and west and towns on the Kantō plain, Nakanojō was ideally situated for economic exchange. There is some evidence that, as a result of increasing economic activity, the region was already beginning to take on such a role even before the Edo period. Thereafter, Nakanojō continued to develop as a market town, which marketed locally some rice that came through from Echigo on its way to Edo, and acted as a post station, which provided horses and other transportation facilities.2 ————— 1. Kanai, “Rangaku to waga Nakanojōmachi,” p. 1112. 2. Koike, Edo jidai no Nakanojōmachi, pp. 4–7. .
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