Juntendo at Its Dawn: How Did the Facility of Western Medical Therapies and Educational Survive the Era of Reform between the Edo and Meiji Period?

Abstract

Juntendo University has the longest history as a medical education institution in Japan. Juntendo started out in the Edo period (1603-1868) as an institution for medical treatment and education, especially in the field of surgery, and has survived and continued to develop through the period of change from the early modern era to the modern era. The purpose of this research paper is to examine the activity of Juntendo in its early times focusing on the first two directors of Juntendo, Taizen Sato and Takanaka Sato. This literature analysis shows that Juntendo continued to practice Western medicine at the highest level in Japan at the time, and was committed to increasing access to health care for the masses. During the Edo period, when traditional Chinese medicine was the mainstream, Taizen practiced the treatments described in Dutch medical books and trained physicians who understood the Dutch language and could implement advanced treatments. Takanaka was involved in the administration of medical care and medical education at the national level during the early Meiji period, when Western medicine was becoming mainstream, and laid the groundwork for Western medicine to take root. He also realized that public medical institutions alone could not provide sufficient opportunities for medical services and decided to create private medical institutions. Inheriting the will of both directors, Juntendo has continued to grow to the present day.