The Acceptance of Vaccination and the Establishment of a Medical School in the Hirosaki Feudal Domain at the End of the Edo Period (Section I. Medicine and Rangaku)

application/pdf本稿は幕末期に弘前藩において種痘がどのように受容されたかということと、幕末期に行われた医学制度の改革である医学館の創立を、蘭学の受容や種痘の実施と絡めて考察したものである。 弘前藩領における本格的な蘭学の受容は文化年間以降に始まるものと思われるが、その際重要な人物は、芝蘭堂に学んだ福野田村（現北津軽郡板柳町福野田）の在村医高屋東助である。彼は寛政四年（一七九二）五月五日に入門が許されており、今のところどのような経緯で入門ができたのか全く不明な人物である。東助はのち郷里に帰って地域医療に従事し、ここに在村医による蘭学の導入がみられた。芝蘭堂にはその後文化十年（一八一一）に藩医の三上隆圭が学んでおり、藩医でも蘭学を志す者が出てくる。 このように蘭学を志す者が多くなっていったが、その成果の一例として種痘の受容に焦点をあてて考察してみた。弘前藩領においては嘉永五年（一八五二）四月に秋田の医者板垣利齋が木造（現西津軽郡木造町）あたりで三十人程に種痘を実施したのが種痘実施の最初の様である。この利齋の動きに刺激されたためか、弘前藩医の中でも種痘を実施しようという動きがでてくる。その中心が藩医唐牛昌運とその弟昌考である。しかし、残念ながら弘前藩においては積極的な種痘の導入は図られなかった。 唐牛兄弟の種痘はうまくいかなかったが、ある程度種痘を成功させ、普及していったのは幕末期に弘前藩の蘭方医として活躍した佐々木元俊である。元俊は自身が多くの人々に種痘を実施した他、当時創設されていた医学館に種痘館を併設させ、そこで弘前領内の医師に種痘技術を伝授する方法をとった。この元俊の活動を理解しバックアップしてくれたのが、医学館を創設し、医学制度の改革を積極的に実施した医学館頭取北岡太淳であった。This paper examines the manner in which vaccinations were accepted in the Hirosaki feudal domain at the end of the Edo Period and the establishment of a medical school as part of reforms to the medical system during that time in conjunction with the acceptance of Rangaku and the implementation of vaccinations. It is believed that the acceptance of Rangaku of any significance began in the Hirosaki feudal domain after 1804 and that an important figure in its acceptance is Takaya Tosuke who was a physician in Fukunoda village (present-day Itayanagi-machi, Kita-tsugaru-gun) and had learned medicine at Shirando, a Rangaku school in Edo. He was given permission to enter the school in May 5, 1792, though at the present time nothing at all is known about how he succeeded in gaining entry. He later returned to his natal village to work as a physician, which is viewed as the introduction of Rangaku by a village physician. Shirando was also where the feudal domain physician Mikami Ryukei learned medicine (1811), showing that even feudal domain physicians were interested in Rangaku. In this way, the number of physicians who pursued Rangaku increased, and this paper takes a look at one consequence of this, which is the acceptance of vaccinations. It would appear that the first instance of the administration of vaccinations in the Hirosaki feudal domain occurred in April 1852 when a physician from Akita called Itagaki Risai vaccinated about 30 people in Kizukuri (present-day Kizukuri-machi, Nishi-tsugaru-gun). Perhaps motivated by the action of this physician, some physicians working for the Hirosaki domain decided to administer vaccinations. Central among these were the feudal domain physician Karouji Shoun and his younger brother Shoko. Unfortunately, however, the active introduction of vaccinations was not pursued in the Hirosaki feudal domain. Although vaccinations administered by the Karouji brothers did not go very well, there was some measure of success and adoption of vaccinations at the end of the Edo Era owing to the actions of Sasaki Genshun who was a Western physician working for the Hirosaki feudal domain. Besides administering vaccinations to many people, Genshun established a vaccination annex at the medical school that had been built by that time, and there he taught vaccination techniques to physicians from within the Hirosaki domain. Genshun's activities were appreciated and supported by the school's head, Kitaoka Tajun, who had built the medical school and who had been actively involved in reforms to the medical system.departmental bulletin pape