A BRIEF OUTL/NE OF' THE HISTORY OF MEDICINE IN JAPAN 235 



There remained yet very much to he desired. Yoshimiine, the eighth 

 viceroy of Tokugawa, at last found out that the Dutch science was 

 excellent and in 1720 raised the ban upon the importation of Dutch 

 hooks. He also ordered the official scholar Aoki Bunzo and the official 

 physician Noro Genjo to learn Dutch letters. Upon the petition of the 

 interpreters Nishi, Yoshio, and others, permission to read foreign books 

 was gTanted. 



At this time, there was a physician in Yedo by the name of 

 Mayeno Ryotaku He was a medical officer in the service of the pro- 

 vincial governor of Nakatsu, in Kyushu. He studied the Dutch alphabet 

 under Aoki Bunzo and had a desire to pursue Dutch learning. It 

 happened that in March 1771, there was a dissection of the cadavers 

 of criminals at the execution ground of Kotsuka-hara near Yedo. 

 Mayeno Ryotaku was given permission to attend the dissection, together 

 with Sugita Genpaku and Nakagawa Jun'an. They took with them 

 the Dutch book of anatomy. Tabula Anatomica, by Johann Adams 

 Kulmus, and found with astonishment that what they actually observ- 

 ed agreed perfectly with the drawings in the book. Thereupon, they 

 decided to translate the book, appointing Mayeno Eyotaku leader of 

 the enterprise. They began the work on the following day with tSugita 

 Genpaku, Katsuragawa Hoshu, Nakagawa Jun'an, Ishikawa Genjo, Mine 

 Shuntai, Toriyama Shoen, and Ivuriyama Seitetsu as associates. They 

 met several times a month to discuss the meaning of the words they 

 tried to decipher, with Sugita Genpaku as general editor-in-chief. 

 After four years, the epoch-making work of translating the first 

 European work into Japanase was completed after rewriting the proof 

 sheets eleven different times. In 1773, it was published in five 

 volumes under the name of Kaitai-Shinslio meaning a " New Manual 

 of Anatomy." 



Upon the publication of the '"New Manual of Anatomy", the 

 educated circle recognized with astonishment the facts that first, a 

 Dutch book had been intelligibly translated into Japanese and secondly, 

 that the construction and logic in the Dutch work were forceful and 

 exact. Able young men of the country now vied with each other in 

 studying the language. Among them, we may count Udagawa Genzui, 

 Otsuki Gentaku, Udagawa Genshin, Sugita Hakugen, Koishi Genshun, 

 and Inamura Sanpaku. They studied by the aid of Dutch books the 

 subjects of anatomy, therapeutics, pharmacology, the preparation of 

 drugs, physics and chemistry, astronomy, and military science. Thus, 



