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Leprosy In Japan
As of 2009, 2,600 former leprosy patients were living in 13 national sanatoriums and 2 private hospitals in Japan. Their mean age is 80. There were no newly diagnosed Japanese leprosy patients in 2005, but one in 2006, and one in 2007. History Ancient and medieval ages *The route of leprosy into Japan has not been settled but the presence of leprosy in Japan at least in the Nara Era (710-784) and the earliest record of leprosy in Korea at Cheju Island in 1445 suggests that leprosy came from the south. *In a collection of government documents titled "Ryounogige", written in 833, leprosy was described as the following: "It is caused by a parasite which eats five organs of the body. The eyebrows and eyelashes come off, and the nose is deformed. The disease brings hoarseness and necessitates amputations of the fingers and toes. Do not sleep with the patients, as the disease is transmittable to those nearby." **This is the first document in the world that identifies leprosy as trans ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leprosy
Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease (HD), is a long-term infection by the bacteria ''Mycobacterium leprae'' or ''Mycobacterium lepromatosis''. Infection can lead to damage of the nerves, respiratory tract, skin, and eyes. This nerve damage may result in a lack of ability to feel pain, which can lead to the loss of parts of a person's extremities from repeated injuries or infection through unnoticed wounds. An infected person may also experience muscle weakness and poor eyesight. Leprosy symptoms may begin within one year, but, for some people, symptoms may take 20 years or more to occur. Leprosy is spread between people, although extensive contact is necessary. Leprosy has a low pathogenicity, and 95% of people who contract ''M. leprae'' do not develop the disease. Spread is thought to occur through a cough or contact with fluid from the nose of a person infected by leprosy. Genetic factors and immune function play a role in how easily a person catches the disease. Lepro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tama Zenshoen Sanatorium
Tama Zenshōen Sanatorium, or National Sanatorium Tama Zenshōen, is a sanatorium for leprosy or ex-leprosy patients situated in Higashimurayama, Tokyo, Japan starting in 1909. History Background The Japanese Government promulgated the first leprosy prevention law on March 19, 1907, but it became effective on April 1, 1909 because of financial difficulties. Japan was divided into 5 areas, and the first area included Tokyo-fu, Kanagawa Prefecture, Niigata Prefecture, Saitama Prefecture, Gunma Prefecture, Chiba Prefecture, Ibaragi Prefecture, Tochigi Prefecture, Aichi Prefecture, Shizuoka Prefecture, Yamanashi Prefecture and Nagano Prefecture. In this area, Tokyo was selected as the site of the sanatorium. Two main reasons for the leprosy prevention law were pressure from foreigners who came into Japan after the Meiji Restoration, who were very much surprised to find wandering leprosy patients in Japan, as well as the Japanese Government worrying about the considerable number of lepr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Empress Teimei
, born , was the wife of Emperor Taishō and the mother of Emperor Shōwa of Japan. Her posthumous name, ''Teimei'', means "enlightened constancy". Biography Sadako Kujō was born on 25 June 1884 in Tokyo, as the fourth daughter of Duke Michitaka Kujō, head of Kujō branch of the Fujiwara clan. Her mother was Ikuko Noma. She married then-Crown Prince Yoshihito (the future Emperor Taishō) on 10 May 1900, at the age of 15. The couple lived in the newly constructed Akasaka Palace in Tokyo, outside of the main Tokyo Imperial Palace complex. When she gave birth to a son, Prince Hirohito (the future Emperor Shōwa) in 1901, she was the first official wife of a Crown Prince or Emperor to have given birth to the official heir to the throne since 1750. She became Empress (Kōgō) when her husband ascended to the throne on 30 July 1912. Given her husband's weak physical and mental condition, she exerted a strong influence on imperial life, and was an active patron of Japanese Red Cro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Hansen's Disease Museum (Japan)
The is a museum in Higashimurayama, Tokyo, Japan that is dedicated to education about Hansen's disease (leprosy) and to eliminate leprosy stigma, discriminatory practices against its sufferers. It was formerly (1993–2007) named "Nobuhito, Prince Takamatsu, His Imperial Highness Prince Takamatsu Memorial Museum of Hansen's Disease". The museum's purpose, located next to one of Japan's remaining leprosy sanatoriums, is to: * To promote awareness of leprosy * To represent and preserve the history of leprosy in Japan * To show what persons affected by leprosy have achieved * To help restore the dignity of persons affected by leprosy * To demonstrate the importance of human rights and the linked need to end prejudice and discrimination History Fujio Ohtani wrote in a pamphlet "H.I.H. Prince Takamatsu Memorial Museum of Hansen's Disease": Our Museum was conceived as a commemorative undertaking for the Fortieth Anniversary of the ''Tofu Kyokai'' Foundation. While the construction pl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shunzo Sugimura
Shunzō Sugimura (杉村春三 1910–1994) wrote his lifework "leprosy and social welfare" through fieldwork. He worked at Hoshizuka Keiaien Sanatorium, Manchuria Doukouin Sanatorium and Riddell-Wright Memorial Home for the Aged. Life *1910: He was born in Hakodate, Hokkaido. *1932: He discontinued attending Kyushu University because of tuberculosis. *1940: He worked at Hoshizuka Keiaien Sanatorium. *1942: He was given navy-related work. *1944: He assumed the post of the secretary at Manchuria Leprosy Sanatorium Doukouin. *1945: He left the Doukouin Sanatorium in August, 1945. *1947: Part-timer at the leprosy prevention association. *1951-1959: Director of the Riddell-Wright Memorial Home for the Aged. *1959-1980: Director of the Jiaien Home for the Aged. *1994: He died. His lifework "Leprosy and social welfare" *He had continued to write this series of studies between 1951 and 1958 in a journal "Keifuh" of Kikuchi Keifuen Sanatorium. He discontinued writing it by press ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cornwall Legh
Mary Helena Cornwall Legh, (20 May 1857 – 18 December 1941) also known as ("Nellie" Cornwall Legh) was a British Anglican missionary, who late in life devoted herself to the welfare, education and medical care of leprosy patients in Kusatsu, Gunma Prefecture, Japan. Background and early life Cornwall Legh was born in 1857 at Canterbury, England, into a prominent Cheshire family. Her father, Brigadier Edmund Cornwall Legh O.B. was a decorated veteran of British military campaigns in Crimea and India. He died of reported heat stroke in India at the age of 37 when Mary was only two years old. Cornwall Legh's early years were spent with her widowed mother and younger brother Neville at her uncle, George Cornwall Legh M.P.'s estate at High Legh in Cheshire. She regularly visited London and in later life credited the influence of Rev. George Wilkinson then Vicar at St. Peter's Church, Eaton Square with her lifelong interest in overseas Christian mission work. She traveled widel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ryumyo Tsunawaki
(January 24, 1876 – December 5, 1970) was a Japanese Buddhist priest who established a leprosy hospital Minobu Jinkyo-en, in Minobu-cho, Yamanashi-ken, Japan in 1906. Early life He was born on January 24, 1876, in Fukuoka-ken. His parents were farmers. After his tuberculosis cleared miraculously at the end of his primary school days, he determined to become a priest. He attended several temples and then a school "Tetsugakkan" (now "Toyo University”) and studied philosophy. He happened to visit the Kuonji Temple, the center of Nichiren Buddhism in Yamanashi-ken. There he witnessed a group of miserable leprosy patients living in the dry riverbed and decided to save them. His wife Sada was surprised to hear his determination, but cooperated with him for many years. Minobu Jinkyoen Hospital The Minobu Junkyoen Hospital started in 1906. Prior to the start he visited the Interior Ministry of the Japanese government, where he was encouraged to go, while he was told that the go ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hannah Riddell
Hannah Riddell (1855–1932) was an English woman who devoted her life to the care of patients with leprosy in Japan. Life Early life and her determination Hannah Riddell was born in 1855 in Barnet, then a village to the North of London. Her father was a sergeant in the Army who was engaged in the training of the local militia. In 1877 the family moved to Mumbles in South Wales, and Hannah and her mother started a private school. The school was a success for some time but in 1889 it went into bankruptcy. Hannah's next job was as a superintendent for the YWCA in Liverpool. In 1890 she was selected by the Church Missionary Society (CMS) as a missionary to Japan. She arrived in Japan in 1891 and was transferred to Kumamoto, Kyūshū. At Honmyoji, the most popular temple in Kumamoto, she witnessed leprosy patients begging for mercy and made up her mind to dedicate her life to their care. The Kaishun Hospital Hannah successfully approached influential people such as leaders of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tairoin Hospital
Tairoin Hospital is a hospital for leprosy patients initiated by Jean Marie Corre (1850–1911) in Shimasaki Machi Kumamoto shi, Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan, in 1898, initially hospitalizing patients who gathered around Honmyoji Temple. He was a member of M.E.P. or "Missions Etrangères de Paris". The hospital started with the arrival of 5 sisters from the "Franciscan Missionaries of Mary" in 1898. The name of the hospital was changed to Biwazaki Tairo Hospital in 1952, and then to Tairo Clinic in 1996. The number of in-patients was 121 in 1948, and was 8 in 2008. History In 1898, Biwazaki Sanatorium (Leprosy Hospital) was established by Father Jean Marie Corre, a French priest. Corre had been born in Brittany, France, in 1850. After being ordained to the priesthood, he came to Nagasaki, Kyushu (Japan), at the age of 26. He was greatly moved at the sights of leprosy patients and other poor people around the Honmyoji temple in Kumamoto. They were making a bare living by the charitab ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Koyama Fukusei Hospital
is the oldest leprosy hospital in Japan. It was established by the Roman Catholic priest Germain Léger Testevuide of the Paris Foreign Missions Society in 1889, for treating leprosy in Japan and is thereby the oldest lepers' home in Japan. As of 2009, at the time of its closure as a leprosy hospital, there were 8 ex-leprosy residents. This hospital is now open to the general public as a clinic and a hospice for the terminally ill. The spelling of the hospital For pronunciation, "Kohyama Fukusei Hospital" and "Kōyama Fukusei Hospital" are more descriptive. But, "Koyama Fukusei Hospital" is considered to be a reliable English spelling. History *1883:Father Germain Léger Testevuide started to visit 5-6 leprosy patients living in a watermill. *1886:Father made them to live in a house. *1888:Father obtained land for a hospital. *1889:May 16, The opening of a hospital was admitted. May 22, the opening day. *1891:Father became ill and died in Hong Kong. Father Francois Paulin Vi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hoshizuka Keiaien Sanatorium
Hoshizuka Keiaien Sanatorium, (National Sanatorium Hoshizuka Keiaien) is a sanatorium for leprosy patients or ex-leprosy patients in Kanoya-shi, kagoshima-ken, Japan which was established in 1935. History Background Following the establishment of prefectural sanatoriums, the Japanese government decided to increase sanatoriums, first with National Sanatorium Nagashoma Airakuen in 1930. Hoshizuka Keiaien was the 4th sanatorium which was established in 1935. Unlike other areas, resistance to the establishment of this sanatorium was small. Hoshizuka Keiaien *Oct 28, 1935: The opening ceremony was held. The first director was Fumio Hayashi. *Feb 1944: The 2nd director was Einosuke Shionuma. *Mar 18, Jun 8, Aug 12, 1945: Air raids with 6 patients killed. *Apr 1996: The 1953 Leprosy Prevention Law was abolished. *Jul 1998: The trial for compensation started. *May 11, 2001: The trial for compensation ruled that the previous Leprosy Prevention was unconstitutional. *May 25, 2001: The trial ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kikuchi Keifuen Sanatorium
Kikuchi Keifuen Sanatorium or National Sanatorium Kikuchi Keifuen is a sanatorium for leprosy patients or ex-leprosy patients at Kohshi-shi, Kumamoto-ken, Japan founded in 1909. The mean age of residents (ex-patients) is about eighty. History Background The Japanese Government promulgated the first leprosy prevention law on March 19, 1907 but it did not come into effect until April 1, 1909 because of financial constraints. Under this law, patients who did not have family to support them were forcibly treated in public leprosaria. Japan was divided into five areas, the fifth of which included Nagasaki-ken, Fukuoka Prefecture, Ooita Prefecture, Saga Prefecture, Kumamoto Prefecture, Miyazaki Prefecture and Kagoshima Prefecture. In this area, Kumamoto was selected as the site of the sanatorium. The two main reasons for the leprosy prevention law were that foreigners visiting Japan after the Meiji Restoration (1868) were very much surprised to find leprosy sufferers wandering at la ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
