'Tomoyasu' is a common reading of the Japanese characters 知安, but according to Sagara's descendants his first name was read 'Chian'. Cf. Sagara (2009) was the third son of a surgeon in the feudal domain Saga (nowadays

Saga Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyushu. Saga Prefecture has a population of 809,248 (1 August 2020) and has a geographic area of 2,440 km2 (942 sq mi). Saga Prefecture borders Fukuoka Prefecture to the northeast and Nagasak ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. Among his childhood friends was Etō Shimpei (1834–1874) who lived nearby and also became one of the influential figures of the

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...

. After receiving an education in traditional disciplines and Dutch-style medicine in local domain institutions, Sagara was dispatched to

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 ...

where he continued his medical studies under the Dutch doctor Anthonius Franciscus Bauduin (1820–1885) and was taught English by the Dutch-American missionary

Guido Verbeck Guido Herman Fridolin Verbeck (born Verbeek) (23 January 1830 – 10 March 1898) was a Dutch political advisor, educator, and missionary active in ''Bakumatsu'' and Meiji period Japan. He was one of the most important foreign advisors serving th ...

. After the resignation of the last shōgun the Meiji government took control over the medical institutions of the Tokugawa regime and assigned Sagara Chian and Iwasa Jun from Echizen to draft a program for the new system of medical care and education. In 1870 Sagara recommended

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

as the model for Japan's medical modernization. After heavy struggles with proponents of British medicine, Sagara's concept was adopted, and in 1871 the first two German teachers ( Benjamin Karl Leopold Müller and Theodor Eduard Hoffmann) arrived in

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of To ...

. For several years Sagara was involved in medical administration as chief of the Medical Affairs Bureau in the Ministry of Education. He also served as the head of Tokyo Medical School No. 1 that later became the Medical Faculty of the University of Tokyo, After retiring from his various positions, his life deteriorated quickly.　Having left his family in Saga, he died alone from

influenza Influenza, commonly known as "the flu", is an infectious disease caused by influenza viruses. Symptoms range from mild to severe and often include fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pain, headache, coughing, and fatigue. These symptoms ...

in 1906. When an

Imperial Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imperial, Nebraska * Imperial, Pennsylvania * Imperial, Texa ...

envoy arrived with a monetary offering to the departed spirit (''saishiryō''), people in the neighborhood could not understand why the envoy of the emperor had come to the home of such a poor old man. Sagara's grave is at the Jōun Temple (Jōun-in) in Saga. His posthumous Buddhist name (''kaimyo'') summarizes his life: ''The man who had a strong will and carried out his belief'' (鉄心院覚道知安居士). A monument honoring Sagara was raised at the University of Tokyo in 1935. Its inscription was drafted by

Ishiguro Tadanori was the Japanese Army surgeon inspector general. Biography He was born in Fukushima may refer to: Japan * Fukushima Prefecture, Japanese prefecture ** Fukushima, Fukushima, capital city of Fukushima Prefecture, Japan ***Fukushima Universit ...

, a physician in the

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...

Literature

* Kagiyama Sakae, ''Sagara Chian''. Tōkyō: Nihon ko-igaku shiryō sentā, 1973. * Sagara Takahiro, ''Saga-han-i Sagara Chian to doitsu igaku''. In: Nihon Ishigaku Zasshi. Vol. 55, No. 2, 2009, pp. 135–8. * Shinoda Tatsuaki, ''Shiroi gekiryū – Meiji no ikan Sagara Chian no shōgai''. Tōkyō: Shinjinbutsu ōraisha, 1997.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sagara, Tomoyasu 1836 births 1906 deaths Japanese healthcare managers People from Saga Prefecture