Kusumoto Ine (, 31 May 182727 August 1903; born Shiimoto Ine ) was a Japanese physician. She was the daughter of Kusumoto Taki, who was a courtesan from
Nagasaki
is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan.
It became the sole port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hidden Christian Sites in the ...
; and the German physician
Philipp Franz von Siebold
Philipp Franz Balthasar von Siebold (17 February 1796 – 18 October 1866) was a German physician, botanist and traveler. He achieved prominence by his studies of Japanese flora (plants), flora and fauna (animals), fauna and the introduction of ...
, who worked on
Dejima
, in the 17th century also called Tsukishima ( 築島, "built island"), was an artificial island off Nagasaki, Japan that served as a trading post for the Portuguese (1570–1639) and subsequently the Dutch (1641–1854). For 220 years, it ...
, an island foreigners were restricted to during Japan's
long period of seclusion from the world. Ine was also known as O-Ine and later in life took the name Itoku (). In Japanese she is often called Oranda O-Ine ("Dutch O-Ine") for her association with Dejima and its
Dutch-language Western learning. She was the first female doctor of Western medicine in Japan.
Siebold was banished from Japan in 1829 but managed to provide for Ine and her mother and arranged for his students and associates to care for them. Ine's reputation grew after she became a doctor of Western medicine, and she won the patronage of the
feudal lord
An overlord in the Kingdom of England, English Feudalism in England, feudal system was a lord of the manor, lord of a manor who had Subinfeudation, subinfeudated a particular Manorialism, manor, Estate in land, estate or fief, fee, to a Leaseho ...
Date Munenari __NOTOC__
The Marquis was the eighth head of the Uwajima Domain during the Late Tokugawa shogunate and a politician of the early Meiji era.
Early life
Munenari was born in Edo, the 4th son of the hatamoto Yamaguchi Naokatsu. Munenari, then k ...
. She studied in various parts of Japan under numerous teachers, one of whom impregnated her—likely having raped her—resulting in her only daughter; she never married. She settled in Tokyo after the country
ended its seclusion, and assisted in the birth by one of
Emperor Meiji
, also called or , was the 122nd emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession. Reigning from 13 February 1867 to his death, he was the first monarch of the Empire of Japan and presided over the Meiji era. He was the figur ...
's concubines in 1873. Since her death Ine has been the subject of novels, plays, comics, and musicals in Japan.
Life and career
Early life
![Dutch personnel and Japanese women watching an incoming towed Dutch sailing ship at Dejima by Kawahara Keiga](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f5/Dutch_personnel_and_Japanese_women_watching_an_incoming_towed_Dutch_sailing_ship_at_Dejima_by_Kawahara_Keiga.jpg)
Shiimoto Ine was born on 31 May 1827 in the city of
Nagasaki
is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan.
It became the sole port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hidden Christian Sites in the ...
. The surname ''Shiimoto'' came from a Japanese rendering of the surname of her German father, the physician
Philipp Franz von Siebold
Philipp Franz Balthasar von Siebold (17 February 1796 – 18 October 1866) was a German physician, botanist and traveler. He achieved prominence by his studies of Japanese flora (plants), flora and fauna (animals), fauna and the introduction of ...
, who was living on
Dejima
, in the 17th century also called Tsukishima ( 築島, "built island"), was an artificial island off Nagasaki, Japan that served as a trading post for the Portuguese (1570–1639) and subsequently the Dutch (1641–1854). For 220 years, it ...
, an
artificial island
An artificial island is an island that has been constructed by people rather than formed by natural means. Artificial islands may vary in size from small islets reclaimed solely to support a single pillar of a building or structure to those tha ...
off Nagasaki to where foreign trade was restricted during the more than two centuries of Japan's near-total
self-seclusion from the world. There he played a role in introducing Western medical techniques to Japan. Ine's mother was Kusumoto Taki, a sent at 16 from the Nagasaki
pleasure district Maruyama in 1823 to be Siebold's concubine.
Ine lived with her parents on Dejima until Siebold was banished on 22 October 1829 for allegedly exporting restricted information illicitly gathered from the geographer . He was accused of smuggling items including maps which it was believed could fall into the hands of Japan's enemies, such as Russia, which posed a threat on Japan's northern borders. Taki and the two-year-old Ine were not permitted to leave Japan; they waved him goodbye from a small boat in the harbour as his ship left. Taki soon after married a man named Wasaburō.
![Kusumoto Otaki (1807-1865), aka Sonogi](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b7/Kusumoto_Otaki_%281807-1865%29%2C_aka_Sonogi.jpg)
The wealthy Siebold left Taki and Ine with a stockpile of valuable sugar to support themselves and arranged for his associates to watch over them. He sent Ine books of Dutch grammar, important for
Western studies at the time in Japan, and students of Siebold's contributed to her education. An apocryphal story tells of Ine running away at age 14 or 15 to study medicine with one of them, , in
Uwajima Domain
270px, Date Munenari
270px, Uwajima Date Museum
was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, in what is now western Ehime Prefecture on the island of Shikoku. It was centered around Uwajima Castle, and was ruled throu ...
, where he had been placed under house arrest for his involvement in the Siebold Affair.
Education and early career
Ine's medical training got an official start in 1845 when she began studying
obstetrics
Obstetrics is the field of study concentrated on pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period. As a medical specialty, obstetrics is combined with gynecology under the discipline known as obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN), which is a surgi ...
in
Okayama Domain
The was a Japanese domain of the Edo period. It was associated with Bizen Province in modern-day Okayama Prefecture.">DF_18_of_80">"Ikeda"_at_''Nobiliare_du_Japon'',_p._14_[PDF_18_of_80/nowiki>_retrieved_2013-4-25.
# .html"_;"title="DF_18_of_8 ...
under another of Siebold's students, , through the introduction of Ninomiya Keisaku. She cut her studies with Sōken short when in 1851 he impregnated her. She returned to Nagasaki, where she gave birth in 1852 to a daughter, whom she named , meaning "free", symbolizing that heaven had granted her this child "for free". Her account of her mother's life is amongst those that assert Ine's pregnancy resulted from Sōken having raped her. Ine was to rebuff Sōken's attempts to become involved in Tada's life.
![Date Munenari (coloured)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/Date_Munenari_%28coloured%29.jpeg)
Ine continued her studies in Nagasaki under Abe Roan. In 1854 she left Tada with her mother and went with Ninomiya Keisaku's nephew to study under Keisaku in Uwajima, whose lord, the ''daimyō''
Date Munenari __NOTOC__
The Marquis was the eighth head of the Uwajima Domain during the Late Tokugawa shogunate and a politician of the early Meiji era.
Early life
Munenari was born in Edo, the 4th son of the hatamoto Yamaguchi Naokatsu. Munenari, then k ...
, enthusiastically promoted Western learning. After he suffered a stroke in 1856, Keisaku returned to Nagasaki with Ine and Shūzō.
Japan's seclusion
came to an end in 1854 and in 1859 Nagasaki was opened as a
treaty port
Treaty ports (; ja, 条約港) were the port cities in China and Japan that were opened to foreign trade mainly by the unequal treaties forced upon them by Western powers, as well as cities in Korea opened up similarly by the Japanese Empire.
...
and the Dutch abandoned Dejima for a consulate in the capital city
Edo (modern Tokyo). Siebold received a pardon and returned to Nagasaki 4 August that year with his 13-year-old son Alexander, from his German marriage. Shūzō became Siebold's student, translator, and personal assistant, and Alexander's Japanese teacher. Ine lived at first in her father's house, but the relationship was strained, in part over her command of Dutch, and in part over Siebold's impregnating a maid; Ine soon moved out. She worked closely with Shūzō, who assisted her communications with his advanced Dutch ability. Her father's reputation helped her gain patients of her own. In April 1862 Siebold was made to return to Europe again and never returned to Japan.
Ine continued to learn from Dutch physicians in the Nagasaki community such as
J. L. C. Pompe van Meerdervoort, who lauded her skills in print. Van Meerdervoort founded in 1861 the first Western-style hospital and medical school in Japan, the Nagasaki Yōjōsho, with the support of the
military government
A military government is generally any form of government that is administered by military forces, whether or not this government is legal under the laws of the jurisdiction at issue, and whether this government is formed by natives or by an occup ...
, and Ine attended classes in the women's ward and assisted in operations there. She was the first woman in Japan to witness the dissection of a human corpse, carried out by Van Meerdervoort.
![Kusumoto Takako and Mise Shūzō](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7c/Kusumoto_Takako_and_Mise_Sh%C5%ABz%C5%8D.jpg)
Her reputation and connections in the Western-learning community won Ine the patronage of Date Munenari, whose favour extended to her daughter, now named Takako. As her mixed German–Japanese blood could lead her to suffer discrimination, Munenari had her change her name to Kusumoto Itoku. He extended a modest official rice stipend to Ine, and she was expected to be ready to serve in the women's quarters at the castle; she was one of three doctors present when Munenari's wife Yoshiko gave birth in 1867. Ine had a busy practice in Uwajima and made frequent travel between Nagasaki and Uwajima during the 1860s. Munenari made effort on behalf of her father and Shūzō, who were arrested in 1861 in Edo by anti-foreign factions. Shūzō was released in 1865 and returned to Uwajima, where in 1866 he married Takako.
Ine's mother died in 1869. About this time Ine studied obstetrics in Nagasaki with Antonius Bauduin, who pioneered
ovariotomy
Oophorectomy (; from Greek , , 'egg-bearing' and , , 'a cutting out of'), historically also called ''ovariotomy'' is the surgical removal of an ovary or ovaries. The surgery is also called ovariectomy, but this term is mostly used in reference t ...
there and was appointed to the Tōkō national medical school in Tokyo, which had just been renamed from Edo and where the Emperor had moved after
his restoration. After other moves Ine also settled in Tokyo. There she became acquainted with Takako's half-brother Ishii Kendō, the son of Ishii Sōken. Ine maintained contact in Tokyo with her half-brother Alexander, who worked for the British legation, and another half-brother Heinrich, who had worked there as an interpreter for the Austro-Hungarian legation since 1869.
Later career and death
Kendō and Shūzō won prestigious appointments in the capital, and in 1873, through her connections with
Fukuzawa Yukichi
was a Japanese educator, philosopher, writer, entrepreneur and samurai who founded Keio University, the newspaper '' Jiji-Shinpō'', and the Institute for Study of Infectious Diseases.
Fukuzawa was an early advocate for reform in Japan. His ...
and other Western scholars, she attended the birth of the child of
Emperor Meiji
, also called or , was the 122nd emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession. Reigning from 13 February 1867 to his death, he was the first monarch of the Empire of Japan and presided over the Meiji era. He was the figur ...
's concubine
Hamuro Mitsuko; the child was stillborn and Mitsuko died four days later. Ine received the considerable sum of for her effort. Shūzō and Takako moved to Osaka in 1876, where Shūzō worked for the Osaka Hospital. In 1877 he became sick and died there. Takako became pregnant from an acquaintance and gave birth to a boy in 1879, whom Ine adopted as her heir and named Shūzō. Takako married the doctor Yamawaki Taisuke, with whom she had a further three children before his death in 1886.
![Kusumoto](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/Kusumoto.jpg)
Ine returned to Nagasaki, where she earned her midwife's license in 1884. She returned to Tokyo in 1889 and may have retired by 1895, at which time the family moved into a Western-style house Heinrich had had built in
Azabu
is an area in Minato,Tokyo, Japan. Built on a marshy area of foothills south of central Tokyo, its coverage roughly corresponds to that of the former Azabu Ward, presently consisting of nine official districts: Azabu-Jūban, Azabudai, Azabu ...
. She died there on 27 August 1903 after eating
freshwater eel
The Anguillidae are a family of ray-finned fish that contains the freshwater eels. Eighteen of the 19 extant species and six subspecies in this family are in the genus ''Anguilla''. They are elongated fish with snake-like bodies, their long dorsa ...
and watermelon, which are said to have given her
food poisoning
Foodborne illness (also foodborne disease and food poisoning) is any illness resulting from the spoilage of contaminated food by pathogenic bacteria, viruses, or parasites that contaminate food,
as well as prions (the agents of mad cow disease) ...
. She enjoyed the social support of the Western-style medical and scholarly communities, the high regard of her students and fellow practitioners, and the financial support of her father.
Ine was said to have had fair skin, somewhat curly brown hair, and blue eyes. She never married. In later life she preferred not to reveal her mixed ancestry.
Legacy
Ine appears as a leading character in the novels (1972) by
Ryōtarō Shiba
, also known as , was a Japanese author. He is best known for his novels about historical events in Japan and on the Northeast Asian sub-continent, as well as his historical and cultural essays pertaining to Japan and its relationship to the r ...
and
Akira Yoshimura
was an award-winning Japanese writer. Internationally he is best known for his novels ''Shipwrecks'' and ''On Parole''.
Life and work
Yoshimura was the president of the Japanese writers' union and a PEN member. He published over 20 novels, o ...
's ''Von Siebold no Musume'' (1979; translated by Richard Rubinger as ''Siebold's Daughter'' (2016)), and in the television dramas (''"Ine of Holland"'') in 1970, in 1977 (based on Shiba's novel), and ''O-Ine: Chichi no na wa Siebold'' (''"O-Ine: Her Father's Name is Siebold"'') in 2000. Musicals based on Ine's life include ''Bakumatsu Gāru: Dokutoru O-Ine Monogatari'' (''"Bakumatsu Girl: The Tale of Doktor O-Ine"''), which opened in
Ehime
is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Shikoku. Ehime Prefecture has a population of 1,342,011 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 5,676 km2 (2,191 sq mi). Ehime Prefecture borders Kagawa Prefecture to the northeast, Tokush ...
in 2012.
A volume written by and illustrated by titled ''Nihon de Hajimete no Joi: Kusumoto Ine'' ("''The First Woman Doctor in Japan: Kusumoto Ine''") appeared in 1992 as part of the ' (''"Biography: Learn from People"'') series of biographies for youths.
The cartoonist Maki Masaki adapted Ine's story to comics in ''Siebold O-Ine'' in 1995; Masaki depicts Ine with red-tinted hair and focuses the story on Ine's strength of will in the face of the trials she underwent both as a female medical student and an , a derogatory term for a mixed-race child.
See also
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Honorific speech in Japanese#Female names
Notes
References
Works cited
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kusumoto, Ine
1827 births
1903 deaths
Japanese women physicians
Japanese people of German descent
People from Nagasaki Prefecture
19th-century Japanese physicians
20th-century Japanese physicians
20th-century women physicians
19th-century women physicians
19th-century Japanese women