Fuseya Soteki

Table of contents by Oranda Iwa (1805)

Fuseya Soteki ( Japanese 伏 屋 素 狄 ), (born January 1, 1748 in the village of Nishimura, Kawachi Province , Tannan District; † January 10, 1812 in Osaka ), was a Japanese doctor and "Holland expert " ( Rangakusha ).

Life

Fuseya originally came from a family called Yoshimura. At the age of 14 he was adopted by the Fuseya family, to whom there were old relatives. A sake brewery was operated there, but he decided to pursue a medical career. Nothing is known about his traditionally oriented training, which he certainly received as a student of a doctor in his region. He practiced in Sakai for a while , but then moved to Osaka between 1789 and 1801 . Here he got a copy of the “New Book of Anatomy” ( Kaitai Shinsho ) published by Sugita Gempaku in 1774 , a translation of the “Anatomical Tables” by the Breslau anatomist Johann Adam Kulmus . The illustrations in this work stimulated him so much that he became a student of the Dutch expert and doctor Hashimoto Sōkichi ( 橋本 宗 吉 ). The eagerness to learn of the then almost 50-year-old Fuseya made a big impression on the 16-year-old teacher and led to a close personal relationship between the two.

In addition to his theoretical studies in Western medicine, Fuseya took part in some of the still rare corpse sections. In addition, he carried out his own animal sections and anatomical experiments to examine the functions of the kidneys, urinary tract, bladder, bile, bile ducts, spleen, heart, nerves and the like. a. m. to explore. The most famous of his experiments today took place on the occasion of the dissection of a woman's corpse, which he carried out on May 13, 1800 together with Ōya Shōsai ( 大 矢 尚 斎 , 1765-1826) and Kagami Bunken ( 各 務 文献 , 1755-1819). Here he injected Indian ink into the kidney via the renal artery and observed that a clear liquid ran out of the ureter. He and his companions represent a growing number of Dutch scholars who, while doubting traditional Chinese doctrines, did not blindly adopt the Western teachings that came into the country through European books, but rather checked them through their own practical investigations.

In 1805 he published the "Conversations on Holland Medicine" ( Oranda Iwa , 和 蘭 医 話 ). The 28 “conversations” are designed in the form of question and answer in order to introduce laypeople to medicine, especially Western medicine. In terms of content, the work extends from anatomical questions to medication to acupuncture and moxa points. The script also contains his various experiments.

Fuseya is now considered the father of experimental physiology in Japan. In 1967 the Physiological Society of Japan and the Japanese Society for the History of Medicine donated a memorial stone in the area of ​​the Wakō Temple ( Wakō-ji ) at Osaka.

Works

• Fuseya Soteki: Ruin shōsen . Yamaguchiya Mataichirō, 1803 ( 伏 屋 素 狄 『類 音 小 牋』 山口 屋 又 一郎, 享 和 3 年刊 )
• Fuseya Soteki: Shisei Tekisan . Yamaguchiya Mataichirō, 1803 ( 伏 屋 素 狄 『四聲 摘 纂』 山口 屋 又 一郎, 享 和 3 年刊 )
• Fuseya Soteki: Oranda Iwa . Osaka: Ueda Kichibē, 1805 ( 伏 屋 素 狄 述 『和 蘭 医 話』 』浪 速 ： 上 田吉兵 衛, 文化 2 年刊 )

literature

• Miki, Sakae / Nakano, Misao: Fujiya Soteki no kenkyū tokushū (special issue: Research on Fujiya Soteki). Itan, Neue Serie, No. 7, 1955 ､ pp. 2–50 ( 三 木 栄 ・ 中 野 操 ： 屋 素 狄 の 研究 特集 特集 、 『医 譚』 復刊 ７ 号 （通 巻 24 号） )
• Nakano, Misao: Fuseya Soteki . In: Nakano, Misao: Ōsaka Rangaku shiwa . Kyōto: Shibunkaku Shuppan, 1979 ( 中 野 操 「伏 屋 素 狄」. 『大 坂 蘭 学 史話』 、 思 文 閣 出版 )
• Sōda, Hajime: Nihon iryōbunka shi . Kyōto: Shibunkaku Shuppan, 1989, p. 210f. ( 宗 田 一 『日本 医療 文化史』 、 思 文 閣 出版 )

Web links

• Proof of important writings by Fuseya Soteki in the "Database of Pre-Modern Japanese Works" ( National Institute of Japanese Literature )

Notes and individual references

1. ^ According to the Japanese calendar 1st day of the 12th month in the 4th year of the motto Enkyō
2. ↑ 河内 国 丹南 郡 西村 . Now part of Sakai City, Osaka Prefecture
3. ↑ according to the Japanese calendar 26th day of the 11th month in the 8th year of the motto Bunka

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . So Fuseya is the family name, Soteki the first name.