[A study of Kyokan Gijuku: a supplement to the history of syphilis testing in Tokyo].

The testing and treatment of licensed prostitutes for syphilis in the Tokyo area began around February 1872 (Meiji 5) within the Yoshiwara red-light district, surprisingly enough from the request of the brothels themselves. In 1876 (Meiji 9), an ordinance for the testing of licensed prostitutes for syphilis was passed, making testing and treatment mandatory, but little research has been done on the changes this brought about within the district in the intervening period. It is this interval of time that we have undertaken to examine, making use not only of laws, ordinances, and other public documents, but also manners and customs, incidents within the district, and sources from the hygiene police, among other materials. The results of our research into the four-and-a-half-year period beginning in May 1871 (Meiji 4) lead us to surmise that, due to three disastrous conflagrations, the district hit an economic dead end, and its syphilis testing activities were swallowed up by an officialdom bent on strengthening the hygienic police. Some of the physicians at the Kyokan Gijuku showed a subjective concern with syphilis testing at the Yoshiwara in its early stages, but they never carried out systematic education on the subject within the school.