Mitsuda Kensuke

Mitsuda, 1956

Mitsuda Kensuke ( Japanese 光 田 健 輔 ; born January 12, 1876 in Nakanoseki (中 関 町), Saba County (佐波 郡) in Yamaguchi Prefecture ; died May 14, 1964 in Okayama Prefecture ) was a Japanese leprosy researcher.

Live and act

Mitsuda Kensuke passed after his graduation in 1896 at the medical college "Saisei gakusha" (済 生 学 舎) the medical practice examination. Then he studied at the Medical Faculty of the University of Tokyo Pathology and then worked in 1898 for the orphanage of the city of Tokyo (東京 市 養育 院, Tōkyō-shi yōiku-in). There he came into contact with leprosy sufferers and began to be interested in this disease. There he set up a separate room for the sick, a "convalescent sick room" (回春 病 室, Kaishun byōshitsu).

Mitsuda suggested building a hospital specifically for leprosy treatment. So in 1909 the Zenrai Hospital (療養 所 全 生病 院, Zenrai-jo zensei byōin) opened in Tōkyō, a public sanatorium, the medical director of which he was until he became director of the hospital in 1914. He was appointed director of the first national leprosy facility "Nagashima Aisei Garden" (長島 愛 生 園, Nagashima aisei-en), which was set up in the Inland Sea in 1913 in Okayama Prefecture on Nagashima Island . He remained the director of this facility until he retired in 1957.

The "Mitsuda reaction" goes back to Mitsuda, which is used to prove the disease. Through his isolating measures, he was able to reduce the spread of the infection, although the strict isolation was also criticized. He received the Asahi Community Service Award and the Damien-Dutton Award for his commitment to combating leprosy. The entrepreneur Shibusawa Eiichi supported the project, and so Mitsuda was able to train excellent doctors and nurses. His books include the "collection of images on leprosy pathology" (癩 病理 図 譜, Zenbyōri zuu).

In 1951 Mitsuda was honored as a person with special cultural merits and was awarded the Order of Culture in the same year .

Others

The Japanese film “ Cherry Blossoms and Red Beans ” from 2015 focuses on the isolation of leprosy sufferers.

Remarks

1. ↑ Today part of the city of Hofu .

literature

• S. Noma (Ed.): Mitsuda Kensuke . In: Japan. An Illustrated Encyclopedia. Kodansha, 1993. ISBN 4-06-205938-X , p. 982.

Web links

• Biographies Mitsuda Kensuke in the Kotobank, Japanese

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus Mitsuda is the family name, Kensuke the first name.