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| Japanese Society for the History of Medicine | |
|---|---|
| Name | Japanese Society for the History of Medicine |
| Native name | 日本医学史学会 |
| Formation | 1926 |
| Type | Learned society |
| Headquarters | Tokyo |
| Region served | Japan |
| Leader title | President |
Japanese Society for the History of Medicine is a learned society dedicated to the study and promotion of medical history in Japan. The Society fosters research on historical figures, institutions, texts, and events related to health and healing, and cultivates ties with comparable organizations internationally. It engages scholars, curators, clinicians, and archivists through meetings, publications, and collaborative projects.
Founded in 1926 during the Taishō and early Shōwa transformations of Tokyo, the Society emerged amid debates involving scholars associated with Keio University, University of Tokyo, Kyoto University, Osaka University, and Kyushu University. Early membership included physicians and historians influenced by transnational exchanges with Germany, United Kingdom, France, United States, and scholars who studied at institutions such as University College London, Harvard University, and Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin. The Society navigated wartime pressures during the Second Sino-Japanese War and Pacific War and underwent reconstruction in the postwar era alongside cultural reforms led by figures connected to Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (Japan). From the 1950s onwards it expanded networks with the International Society for the History of Medicine, the Asia-Pacific Society for Medical History, the Wellcome Trust, and museums including the National Museum of Nature and Science (Tokyo) and the Science Museum (London). Notable historians associated with the Society include scholars who studied or wrote about Hippocrates, Galen, Hōryū-ji medical texts, and Japanese practitioners such as Hōryu-ji physicians and Edo-period doctors linked to Sugita Genpaku and Kaitai Shinsho.
The Society's objectives emphasize documentation and analysis of historical materials from archives, libraries, and collections such as the National Diet Library, the Historiographical Institute, University of Tokyo, and regional repositories in Hokkaido, Okinawa Prefecture, and Nagasaki Prefecture. It promotes comparative studies involving sources related to Traditional Chinese medicine, Kampo, Dutch studies tied to Dejima, and Western medicine introduced via figures like Philip Franz von Siebold and institutions such as Nagasaki Medical School. Objectives include preservation of manuscripts, cataloguing of artifacts from collections like the Tokyo National Museum, and fostering dialogues with specialists in paleopathology connected to Paleopathology Society and historians of science affiliated with Japanese Society for the History of Science.
Membership spans professors from Tohoku University, curators from the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum, clinicians from university hospitals such as Juntendo University Hospital and St. Luke's International Hospital, and graduate students from programs at Osaka City University and Waseda University. Governance typically includes a board with a President, Vice Presidents, a Secretary, and committees for publications and conferences, often collaborating with organizations like the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science and the Japanese Association of Medical Sciences. Regional branches coordinate events in cities including Sapporo, Sendai, Nagoya, Hiroshima, and Fukuoka. Honorary members have included scholars with ties to Cambridge University, Universität Heidelberg, Columbia University, Seoul National University, and the National University of Singapore.
The Society organizes annual meetings, symposia, and workshops held at venues such as Keio University Medical School Auditorium, the University of Tokyo Hongo Campus, and the Kyoto International Conference Center. It hosts special sessions on topics ranging from Edo-period public health and epidemics (linked to events like the Great Nōbi Earthquake aftermath studies) to modern medical education reforms associated with Meiji Restoration-era institutions. Collaborative conferences have been convened with the International Society for the History of Medicine, the Asian Society for the History of Medicine, the Medical Heritage Library, and national archives such as the Diplomatic Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Japan). Field trips to sites including Kaitakushi hospitals, Sugita Genpaku memorial sites, and preserved Dutch enclaves on Dejima form part of pedagogical outreach.
The Society publishes a peer-reviewed journal and a bulletin featuring research articles, critical editions of historical texts, and exhibition catalogues; these outputs are often distributed to libraries including the National Diet Library and university collections at Kyoto University Library. Monograph series and translations have addressed sources like Kaitai Shinsho, clinical casebooks from the Edo period, and missionary medical reports related to Hollandmissionary records and Christian missionaries in Japan such as Ludwig Klement. The journal includes contributions by scholars from institutions like Princeton University, University of California, San Francisco, Seoul National University Hospital, and research centers like the Wellcome Centre for the History of Medicine.
The Society confers prizes for outstanding scholarship, including awards named for eminent figures and benefactors connected to medical historiography in Japan, and collaborates with foundations such as the Japan Foundation and the Yokohama Foundation for Advancement of Medical Research. Recipients have gone on to receive national honors and fellowships from bodies like the Japan Academy and international grants from the Wellcome Trust and the European Research Council. The Society's museum and archival partners have won recognition from institutions such as the International Council of Museums.
Category:Learned societies of Japan Category:History of medicine