TALES FROM HISTORY
How a Headless Woman Sparked a Medical Revolution in Japan
Sugita Genpaku — Remarkable Edo-era pioneer of human anatomy
Sugita Genpaku was born in 1733, while his father was in attendance to the Lord of Wakasa, now Fukui, at his Edo estate. Although the official physician of the Wakasa Domain, Genpaku’s father stood in helpless anguish as his wife suffered and died giving birth to her third son.
He was a physician of the highest order, having studied Chinese medicine and was well-versed in herbal cures, yet he knew little of real human anatomy. His son, Genpaku, would grow up to banish that ignorance and revolutionize medicine in Japan.
At age 8, Genpaku moved from Edo to Obama, in what is today Fukui Prefecture. There he attended school, studying Confucianism and traditional Chinese medicine. Western books had been banned by Tokugawa Iemitsu in the early 17th century, and classical Chinese studies continued to be the basis of education.
When Genpaku was 25, he returned to Edo and set up his first clinic. By then, Tokugawa Yoshimune had relaxed the ban on Western books, permitting the import of scientific literature while retaining a strict ban on anything related to Christianity.
