Torajirō　Imada(今田虎次郎, 1859–1940) was a Japanese

police chief The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and th ...

who became the first director of Sotojima Hoyoen, a

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 damag ...

sanatorium in

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

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 ...

from 1909 to 1926. He admitted the autonomy right of the patients' association. The Sotojima sanatorium was destroyed in Muroto Typhoon in 1934 and it was reconstructed as Oku-Komyo-En Sanatorium,

Okayama Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Okayama Prefecture has a population of 1,906,464 (1 February 2018) and has a geographic area of 7,114 Square kilometre, km2 (2,746 sq mi). Okayama Prefectur ...

Personal history

He was born in

in 1859. After becoming the chief of several police stations in

, he became the marshal of Sonezaki Police Station, in

. In 1909, he was appointed the director of the Sotojima Hoyōen Sanatorium, situated in

Osaka Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Osaka Prefecture has a population of 8,778,035 () and has a geographic area of . Osaka Prefecture borders Hyōgo Prefecture to the northwest, Kyoto Prefecture ...

. He retired in April 1926 and lived in Sakai,

. After eight months, Masataka Murata became the second director of the sanatorium. He died around July 1940 in Sakai.

Sotojima Hoyōen Sanatorium (1909-1934)

At the start of the sanatorium, it was a lawless area with wandering vagabonds. However, order and safety were gradually established by his efforts. The director of the sanatorium admitted that he used a free hand. With the exception of Kyushu Sanatorium, in Kumamoto, directors of leprosy sanatoria came from police, since wandering leprosy patients included criminals. However, physicians took the parts of directors later in other sanatoria. Imada exceptionally stayed as the director of the sanatorium for 17 years. The first chief doctor of the hospital was Takekichi Sugai, who studied leprosy intensively, and wrote many papers and guided other doctors. There were about 300 leprosy patients which was the capacity of the sanatorium in one and a half years. The problems of food, drinking water, and clothing first appeared very difficult, and later stabilized. A patient recreation organization was formed at his proposal. Those who could work were paid, and farms and gardens were made. A church was established. He was an able administrator and was loved by patients. In 1919, when the patient organization wanted to withdraw their autonomy right, Imada strongly inspired the spirit of autonomy.

References

*The records of Sotojima Hoyoen, Sakurai H. (1)-(44), Kaede.1968-1971 **A photograph of Torajiro Imada was in (3)(4). *History of leprosy in Japan. Shun-ichi Yamamoto, 1993. C3047 {{DEFAULTSORT:Imada Torajiro Japanese police officers 1859 births 1940 deaths People from Okayama Prefecture Japanese leper hospital administrators