Medical Education and Practice at Early Juntendo During the First Three Generations of Directors: Analysis from the Standpoint of History of Medicine.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to clarify the characteristics of medical education and clinical practice at early Juntendo under its first three generations of directors.

MATERIALS: We collected and analyzed historical documents related to early Juntendo, as well as bibliographic materials on medical and surgical textbooks published in the early modern and modern periods.

METHODS: The textbooks in early Juntendo were specified and contents of their originals were analyzed and evaluated.

RESULTS: The first three directors of Juntendo-Sato Taizen, Sato Takanaka, and Sato Susumu-studied Western medicine and surgery in Nagasaki or abroad and subsequently introduced and developed these practices at Juntendo in three successive stages. In the first stage (1838-1862), following Taizen's return from Nagasaki, Taizen and Takanaka translated pre-modern surgical textbooks, particularly those by Chelius, and applied their contents in clinical practice. In the second stage (1862-1875), after Takanaka's training under Pompe van Meerdervoort, he translated semi-modern textbooks by Stromeyer and Wunderlich and established systematic medical education. In the third stage (1875-1921), after Susumu's return from Germany, modern surgery incorporating anesthesia and antiseptic techniques was introduced, and Takanaka translated Niemeyer's modern textbook of internal medicine. These developments reflected the rapid modernization of Western medicine in the nineteenth century, particularly in surgery and internal medicine.

CONCLUSIONS: The first three directors of Juntendo continuously adopted the most advanced phases of Western medicine and surgery of their time, thereby establishing Juntendo as a leading medical school and hospital in modern Japan.