Promotion of Academics in the Obama Domain
Overview
Throughout the Edo period (1603–1867), lords of the Obama domain encouraged education and learning. They opened the first domain-funded school in the region that is now Fukui Prefecture and financed scientific research with a particular focus on medicine. This helped produce a succession of outstanding scholars whose efforts changed medical understanding throughout Japan. Two such scholars were Obama physicians Nakagawa Junan (1739–1786) and Sugita Genpaku (1733–1817), who introduced Western medical knowledge of anatomy to the country, contributing to the cultural exchange between Japan and Europe.
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Promotion of Confucian Studies
Sakai Tadakatsu (1587–1662), the first Sakai lord of the Obama domain, initiated the promotion of Confucian studies by inviting a teacher of Confucianism to educate the citizens of the domain. His successor, Sakai Tadanao (1630–1682), was similarly enthusiastic about learning and organized open lectures for the Obama townspeople. The seventh Sakai lord of the domain, Sakai Tadamochi (1723–1775), invited a Confucian scholar to instruct high-ranking retainers.
Development of Medical Science
The first medical dissection of a human body in Japan took place in 1754 in Kyoto. It was performed at the request of physicians from Obama and was approved by Tadamochi, who was the representative of the Tokugawa shogunate in the capital. This substantially improved understanding of human anatomy and increased interest in medical science in the Obama domain.
Procuring Dutch Anatomy Books
In 1771, Nakagawa Junan, an Obama physician who also specialized in Dutch studies, showed his colleague Sugita Genpaku two Dutch books on anatomy, Ontleedkundige tafelen (Anatomical Tables) and Anatomicae institutiones corporis humani (Textbook of Human Anatomy). Sugita found them highly informative and submitted a request to Sakai Tadatsura (1752–1806), the ninth Sakai lord, to buy the expensive books for the domain.
The First Complete Translation of a Western Medical Text
Sugita and Nakagawa referred to Ontleedkundige tafelen when they witnessed another autopsy. The two scientists were stunned by the accuracy of the anatomical diagrams in the book and decided to create a translation of the Dutch text to be used in Japan. Three other physicians were involved in the project, and the resulting translation, titled Kaitai shinsho (New Text on Anatomy), was published in 1774. This was the first complete translation of a Western medical text in Japan.
The First Domain-Funded School in Wakasa and Echizen
In the same year of 1774, Tadatsura founded Junzokan, which became the first school to be funded and run by a domain in the Wakasa and Echizen regions (present-day Fukui Prefecture). Younger students learned to read, while older students focused on Japanese and Chinese history, sutra recitation, and Confucian studies. Several other domain-run schools and over 500 terakoya schools managed by Buddhist temples were built in Wakasa and Echizen during the Edo period.
Exhibition Items
Items of note include the original four volumes of Kaitai shinsho and a French edition titled Tabules anatomiques from 1734, which contains drawings identical to those in the Dutch version obtained by Sugita and his colleagues. A poster compares the illustrations found in the Dutch book with the new renditions made for Kaitai shinsho by the Western-style painter Odano Naotake (1749–1780). Two hanging scrolls feature portraits of Sugita and Nakagawa. Other exhibits include Sugita’s memoir on medical science titled Keiei yawa (Talks with My Shadow), which was published in 1810, and a research text on tobacco compiled by Otsuki Gentaku (1757–1827), a student of Sugita. The gauntlets and headgear come from a suit of armor that belonged to Ban Nobutomo (1773–1846), a retainer of the Obama domain and a scholar of Japanese classics who once studied at Junzokan.
