Basic research on the spread of vaccination in the Kyushu area and the modernization of regional health care
Outline of results
After several failed attempts active vaccine finally arrived in Japan on 11th August 1849. From Nagasaki it quickly spread throughout Kyushu as many Japanese physicians were already well aware of the principles of inoculation and the safety of vaccination compared to variolation. Nevertheless, there were remarkable differences within the domains depending on the local finances and the policies adopted by the ruling clan. During this three-year project a considerable number of related old documents have been discovered and the routes and means of the propagation of vaccination have been clarified significantly. The Saga clan, for example, introduced a well-organized and completely financed vaccination policy. In the Ōmura domain vaccine material from inoculated recipients was collected in all villages in order to maintain uninterrupted vaccination activities. In Nakatsu well-informed physicians brought vaccine from Nagasaki and partly from Saga as well. Two years later merchants financed the establishment of a medical house (igakkan) for further studies and vaccination. In the Fukuoka domain too, a clan physician took the initiative in 1849 until his activities were acknowledged and supported by the clan. During those early years vaccination was maintained by arm-to-arm transfer, but in 1858 Kokura domain physicians experimented with the retrovaccination (cow-human-cow-human transfer) introduced by Galbiati and Troja in 1803.
The effects of vaccination could be easily observed during the frequent small-pox outbreaks. This deeply influenced the general acceptance of Western medicine and the establishment of regional health care structures. It also stimulated the establishment of networks between rural physicians studying “Dutch-style Medicine” (ranpō-igaku).
Fighting Small-Pox – Vaccination in Kyushu (Tennentō to no tatakai – Kyūshū no shutō). Tokyo: Iwata Shoin, 2018
Introduction
Small-pox in Kyushu Toshiyuki AOKI
General Background
Small-pox – its global expansion and eradication Tadaomi AIKAWA
On the spread of variolation in Japan Toshiyuki AOKI
Small-pox in early modern Japan as seen by Europeans Wolfgang MICHEL
On the dawn of vaccination in Japan Toshiyuki AOKI
Reevaluating the beginning of vaccination in Japan Toshiyuki AOKI
Special Topics
Small-pox and Nagasaki Tadaomi AIKAWA
Vaccination in the Ōmura Domain Yūki YAMAUCHI
The small-pox deities of Saga Shinji KANEKO
Vaccination in the Saga Domain Toshiyuki AOKI, Akari HORI
Medical treatment and vaccination in the territory of Taku Toshiyuki AOKI
The „Medical School“ of the Chōshū Clan and vaccination Ayako Ogawa
Vaccination in the Kokura Domain Toshiyuki AOKI
Yūshi Takeya and the introction of vaccination by the Fukuoka Clan Wolfgang MICHEL
Medicine in the Kurume Domain Yōichi YOSHIDA
Fighting small-pox in the Nakatsu Domain Wolfgang MICHEL
Curing small-pox in the Kumamoto Domain Akihide Ōshima
Kenkai Wakayama and vaccination in Miyazaki Ryō UMIHARA
Vaccination in the Satsuma Domain Shōzō TAMURA
Vaccination as seen in documents of the Kuroe family Masahiro IMAJŌ
Vaccination in Amakusa Toshiyuki AOKI
Closing Chapter
On the comparison and evaluation of variolation and vaccination Wolfgang MICHEL