Manase Dōsan

Manase Dōsan (scroll in the Kyōu Shooku collection, Takeda Science Foundation)

Manuscript copy of the Keiteki-shū script, 1582 (University of Tokyo Library System)

Manase Dōsan ( Japanese 曲直 瀬 道 三 , also Shōkei (正 慶); * 1507 ; † 1594 ) was a Japanese doctor who played a decisive role in the development of medicine in Japan in the Age of the Warring States ( 戦 国 時代 , Sengoku-jidai ) Exerted influence and, along with Nagata Tokuhon and Tashiro Sanki, is one of the "three venerable doctors" ( 三聖 , sansei ) in the upheaval of early modernism . The "school direction of the later age" ( 後世 派 , Gosei-ha also 後世 方 派 , Goseihō-ha ) goes back to him.

Life

Manase had already lost his parents in childhood. In 1516 he entered the Shōkoku Temple ( Shōkoku-ji ), a Zen temple in Kyōto, where he lived as a mendicant monk. During this time he changed his name Tachibana ( 橘 ) to Manase. In 1528 he went to the " Ashikaga School ", one of the oldest academic institutions in the country, in which Confucianism , Chinese medicine , war science, I Ching , etc. were taught. It was here that Manase became interested in medicine. After meeting the famous doctor Tashiro Sanki , he became his pupil and dealt primarily with the teachings of the Chinese physicians Lǐ Gǎo ( 李 杲 ), alias Lǐ Dōngyuán ( 李東垣 , 1180–1251) and Zhū ​​Dānxī ( 朱 丹溪 , 1281 -1358).

In 1546 Manase returned to Kyoto and practiced as a doctor. After a successful treatment of the Shogun Ashikaga Yoshiteru , he won other high-ranking patients such as the warlords Hosokawa Harumoto (1514-1563), Miyoshi Nagayoshi ( 三好 長慶 ) and Matsunaga Hisahide ( 松 永久 秀 ) and great reputation. Finally he founded the "Enlightenment Academy " ( 啓迪 院 , Keiteki-in ). The treatment of Mōri Motonari during a campaign led to the text " Evening Talks in the Snow Camp" ( 雲 陣 夜話 , Setsujin yawa ). In 1574 he wrote his most famous work, the "Keiteki Collection" ( 啓迪 集 , Keiteki-shū ). The Tennō Ōgimachi , to whom he presented the script after a treatment, commissioned the Zen monk Sakugen Shūryō with a foreword and granted Manase the honorary name “Green Bamboo Hall” ( 翠竹 院 , Suichiku-in ). Among the well-known patients we also find Oda Nobunaga , one of the most powerful generals of that time.

Manase attracted hundreds of students who spread his teachings and scriptures widely. Whether he converted to Christianity and was baptized in 1584 on the occasion of a treatment by the Italian missionary Gnecchi-Soldo Organtino , as stated in letters from the Jesuits , is controversial. What is certain, however, is that a large number of his students had Christian baptismal names.

Manase died in 1594 at the age of 88, posthumously honored once more by being appointed court doctor in second rank. The nephew Gensaku adopted by him ( 曲直 瀬 朔 朔 , Manase Gensaku , 1549-1632) and his descendants continued Dōsan's medical tradition for generations.

Manase began a cautious detachment from the Chinese medicine, which was mainly operated by the monasteries, and at the same time strove to systematize it. His often extensive case histories show the strong emphasis on the role of observation and experience. On this point he prepared a stronger independence for Japanese medicine.

Works (selection)

• Keiteki-shū ( 啓迪 集 ).
• Yakushō nōdoku ( 薬 性能 毒 )
• Hyakufuku zuetsu ( 百 腹 図 説 )
• Shōshin-shū ( 正心 集 )
• Shinkyū shūyō ( 鍼灸 集 要 )
• Shinmyaku kuden-shū ( 診脈 口 伝 集 )
• Benshō haizai itō ( 弁 証 配 剤 医 灯 )
• Manase Dōsan zenshū (complete works of Manase Dōsan). Ōsaka: Oriento Shuppansha, 1995- ( 『曲直 瀬 道 三 全集』 オ リ エ ン ト 出版社 )

literature

• Sōda Hajime: Manase Dōsan . In: Kokushi daijiten 6. Tokyo: Heibonsha, 1992.
• Endō Jirō, Nakamura Teruko: Manase Dōsan no zenhanki no igaku (1) . In: Nihon Ishigaku Zasshi - Journal of the Japanese Society for the History of Medicine, Vol. 45, No. 3, pp. 323–338, 1999. (= Manase Dōsan's medicine in the first half of life)
• Yakazu Dōmei: Kinsei Kampō igaku-shi: Manase Dōsan to sono gakutō . Tokyo: Meicho-shuppan, 1982.
• Papinot, Edmond: Manase, 曲直 瀬　In: Historical and Geographical Dictionary of Japan. Reprinted by Tuttle, 1972 edition of 1910 edition. ISBN 0-8048-0996-8 .

Web links

• Manase Dōsan's writings in the Database of Pre-Modern Japanese Works (National Institute of Japanese Literature)

Remarks

1. ↑ There were actually no universities in the western sense of the word in Japan, but the Jesuit Francisco de Xavier described Ashikaga in 1549 as the largest and most famous university in eastern Japan. The school, which is believed to have originated in the 9th century, gained a national reputation in 1432 with the support of Uesugi Norizane , who imported large quantities of Chinese literature.
2. ↑ Lǐ Dongyuan lived in the Jin Dynasty , Zhū Danxi in the Yuan Dynasty . The teachings are usually summarized in Japanese medical history under the keyword "Li-Zhu medicine" ( 李 朱 医学 , Japanese Rishu igaku ). Both advocated tonifying therapies and, in their theoretical foundation, paid special attention to the relationship between the body and the environment, ie the way of life. Among Li's writings, the "Treatise on the Spleen and Stomach" ( 脾胃 論 , Pí weì lùn , 1249) was widely used.

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus Manase surname, Dosan the first name.