Kampo, Western Medicine and Religion

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  • 漢方と西洋医学と宗教
  • カンポウ ト セイヨウ イガク ト シュウキョウ

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Kampo is the traditional Chinese medicine which was originated from “Somon”. Somon medicine is the medicine of “spirit” whose theory of treatment is to cure diseases through regulating “emotions”. Kampo defines joy, anger, distress, meditation, sorrow, fear and surprise as the “seven emotions”, and makes it as its principle to heal diseases by controling these seven emotions. The true aim of Confucianism is to observe this principle through religion.<BR>Confucianism taught humanity, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and faithfulness as the “five constant virtues”, which regurated ethics and morals of human relationship and served for controling human minds.<BR>In the preface of Shokanron, Cho Chukei stated that nature was composed of five elemerits while human beings consisted of the five constant virtues. In Cho Chukei's days, however, people lost respect for the five constant virtues, sought only for profit and power and failed to love others and to know themselves. Hence, they became not being able to adapt themselves even to the changes of weather, and died of a disease in the end. There fore having realized that medication was the only way to cure diseases, Cho wrote a book on medication called Shokanron. Like this, he proposed medication based on Confucianism.<BR>Western medicine has originally developed in the circle of Christianity. It is observed only in Japan that western medicine has gone alone all by itself parting from Christianity.<BR>The circumstances were as follows. Although the Tokugawa shogunate prohibited Christianity, it allowed Holland-whose state religion was Protestant-to introduce medical science without religious tinge which was, so to speak, mere biological techniques. Since no suitable Dutchman was found for this purpose, a German named P.F. Shiebold who was a biologist and physician was singled out and sent out to Japan as a Dutchman. Therefore Japan as medical science has shown a malformed development as biology. Religion of any sort is still eliminated from the education in medical colleges today in Japan. Considering these circumstances, I now propose the necessity to adopt Kampo as one subject of general arts of medical education.

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