Magyar László szerk.: Orvostörténeti közlemények 166-169. (Budapest, 1999)

TANULMÁNYOK — ARTICLES - Ishida, Sumio: Reception of a Viennese physician in Japan. A bibliographic study on the works of Joseph Jacob Edler von Plenck (1730—1807) — Egy bécsi orvos hatása Japánban. Bibliográfiai tanulmány Joseph Jacob Edler von Plenck (1730—1807) munkásságáról

RECEPTION OF A VIENNESE PHYSICIAN IN JAPAN A BIBLIOGRAPHICAL STUDY ON THE WORKS OF JOSEPH JAKOB EDLER VON PLENCK (1730—1809) SUMIO ISHIDA In 1600 Ieyasn Tokugawa, a feudal lord whose power base was in Mikawa (the middle of Japan, the East part of the Aich Prefecture), won the battle of Sekigahora and established a new governmental system centred at Edo (Tokyo). The Tokugawa shogunate (or the Edo period) ended in 1868, when the 15

th Shogun, Yoshinobu Tokugawa transferred power over to the Emperor. The year of the battle, however, indicates also the first contact between the United Provinces and Japan. In this year the Liefde ex Erasmus came to shore at Bungo on the East coast of Kyushu Island. Making profit out of this route, the famous Dutch East India Company, the VOC, was established in 1602. Dutch merchants built their first trading house at Hirado. Being the sole European nation that could legally maintain contacts with Iapan, the Dutch profited particularly of the isolation policy from 1639. Their trading house was moved to Dejima, an artificial island of 13 000 square meters constructed within Nagasaki harbour, where a captain, several staff members and a surgeon or physician were garrisoned. Later a factory was added to the storehouse where European (mostly Dutch, German and Swedish) labour was employed. Throughout the 200 years of national isolation there were over a hundred surgeons and physicians who served at Dejima. These Dutch surgeons offered the only possibility for Japanese doctors to come across Western medical techniques until the isolation policy officially ended in 1858. During the 19

th century Dutch medical learning labelled as Rangaku which (although unsuccessfully) was to challenge Chinese medicine (Kampo) was the main representative of Western medical knowledge in Japan. In 1774 Genpaku Sugita (1733—1817) and Ryotaku Macno (1723—1803) with the contribution of others published the Kaitaishinsho (A Textbook of Anatomy). It was a translation from the 1734 Dutch edition (entitled as Outledkundige Tafelen) of John Adam Kulmus's originally German Anatomische Tafellen (2

nd edition, 1732). This is arguably the first Western book ever translated into Japanese, and it does superbly illustrate the nature of Western cultural influence in 18—19

th century Japan. From this time a number of Dutch medical books were translated into Japanese. The bulk of these books were selected according to the principle to translate those items that had been originally intended in the Netherlands for surgeons and not for physicians. As a result of the exclusive commercial links with the Netherlands Japanese scholars could mostly read Dutch. It is impressively indicated by the fact that most Western books that were translated into Japanese during this period were translated from Dutch. Not all of