Experiential Foundations of the University Elevation Movement in Prewar Japan : From Research to Movement

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  • 大学昇格運動の「経験」的基盤 : 佐多愛彦における研究と運動のあいだ

Abstract

This research investigates the underlying reasons for the social devotions of Aihiko Sata, as a leader who helped elevate the status of Japanese medical university. Sata was born in Kagoshima in 1871. He first learned pathology in an elective course of the Imperial University. After graduation, he continued to work as a part-time assistant at the Medical School of Imperial University, where he wrote many papers based on his microscope research of various specimen, as well as his fieldwork. His first fieldwork was an investigation of the plague disease epidemic in Kanagawa Prefecture in 1890. In his recordings he noted his shock with the status of the subjects infected. In 1891, his second fieldwork was done in Hokkaido, where leg ailments were prevalent. Sata slept and ate with the residents, many of whom were poor fishermen. This proximity to their lives attracted his attention to their dilemmas. In 1891 Sata became a teacher of Osaka Medical School. From 1897 to 1900 he studied abroad in Germany under Rudolf Ludwig Karl Virchow, a world-renowned pathologist. Immediately upon his return, Sata began his social activities. He worked firmly with the belief that the weight of life is equal for both prince and pauper, young and old, rich and poor-- there should be no difference in the qualifications of the physicians, nor in the attitude of who deserves treatment. This research suggests that Sata’s belief may have been informed by his experiences as a young man. Later, he lobbied the Ministry of Education to elevate the Osaka Medical School to Osaka Medical University, which became the first public university in Japan.

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