The Practice of Medical Missionaries from the Late Tokugawa Period to the Early Meiji Era: Focusing on Dr. James Curtis Hepburn

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  • 幕末・明治初期の宣教医の活動――宣教医ヘボンを中心に――
  • バクマツ ・ メイジ ショキ ノ センキョウイ ノ カツドウ : センキョウイ ヘボン オ チュウシン ニ

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Abstract

<p>In this paper, Dr. Hepburn's attitudes and his dispensary are considered during the time he spent in Japan from 1859 to 1887, when his work switched from the dispensary to completing a translation of the Old Testament and establishing a school. When the “Treaty of Amity and Commerce between the United States and Japan” was concluded in 1858, Protestant missionaries began coming to Japan from the late Tokugawa period to the early Meiji era. Japan's first relief act was “Juttukyu Kisoku” promulgated in 1874;however, until 1887, medical missionaries left behind many contributions in areas where medical care was insufficient. Dr. Hepburn opened his dispensary at Soukouji in 1861, with funding from the missionary board, foreigners, and his own contributions. He voluntarily gave free medical treatment and medicine to the poor, treating all patients equally, regardless of their social status or wealth. He also taught Western medicine to medical students in the Yokohama settlement. Dr. Hepburn thus served the cause of medicine through his missionary work and retired gracefully when he recognized that Japanese doctors had gained the necessary skills and knowledge to continue his medical practice. Dr. Hepburn was meticulous, and a person of immense goodwill. Dr. Hepburn's philosophy and practices influenced the people who studied under him, and they continued his work by the establishment of a school for the blind and other dispensaries. These activities seem to be the origin of welfare for the blind and medical social work in Japan.</p>

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