was a Japanese physician and

rangaku ''Rangaku'' (Kyūjitai: , ), and by extension , is a body of knowledge developed by Japan through its contacts with the Dutch enclave of Dejima, which allowed Japan to keep abreast of Western technology and medicine in the period when the countr ...

scholar in late

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

Japan, noted for establishing an academy which later developed into Osaka University. Many of his students subsequently played important roles in 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 Imperial House of Japan, imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Althoug ...

and the westernization of Japan in the

Meiji period The was an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868, to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonizatio ...

. His true name was or ; the name of Kōan was his

courtesy name A courtesy name ( zh, s=字, p=zì, l=character), also known as a style name, is an additional name bestowed upon individuals at adulthood, complementing their given name. This tradition is prevalent in the East Asian cultural sphere, particula ...

Biography

Ogata was born in 1810 to a family of low-ranking

samurai The samurai () were members of the warrior class in Japan. They were originally provincial warriors who came from wealthy landowning families who could afford to train their men to be mounted archers. In the 8th century AD, the imperial court d ...

of Ashimori Domain in Bitchū Province in what is now part of the city of

Okayama is the prefectural capital, capital Cities of Japan, city of Okayama Prefecture in the Chūgoku region of Japan. The Okayama metropolitan area, centered around the city, has the largest urban employment zone in the Chugoku region of western J ...

. He moved to

Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...

in 1825 with his father, and began studies in

and medicine at a private academy run by Naka Tenyū from 1826. In 1831, he relocated to Edo to continue his studies in western medicine, returning to Nagasaki in 1836 to study under the Dutch doctor Erdewin Johannes Niemann, despite the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil wars ...

's strict national isolation policy. In 1838, Ogata returned to Osaka to establish his medical practice, and in the same year established the Tekijuku, an academy of rangaku studies, where he taught medicine, natural history, chemistry and physics for the next 24 years. Ogata used his small but precious collection of Dutch books, including a Dutch-Japanese dictionary and a Dutch encyclopedia, to teach his pupils to read scientific Dutch texts. He also wrote several books, including a treatise entitled ''How to treat cholera'', which he compiled in haste from various European sources during the great

cholera Cholera () is an infection of the small intestine by some Strain (biology), strains of the Bacteria, bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea last ...

epidemic of 1858. From December 1849, he struggled to gain acceptance of the new

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by Variola virus (often called Smallpox virus), which belongs to the genus '' Orthopoxvirus''. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (W ...

vaccination Vaccination is the administration of a vaccine to help the immune system develop immunity from a disease. Vaccines contain a microorganism or virus in a weakened, live or killed state, or proteins or toxins from the organism. In stimulating ...

, eventually opening 186 vaccination centers from Edo to

Kyushu is the third-largest island of Japan's Japanese archipelago, four main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands (i.e. excluding Okinawa Island, Okinawa and the other Ryukyu Islands, Ryukyu (''Nansei'') Ryukyu Islands, Islands ...

, and obtaining official recognition of the method in 1858. In 1862, Ogata was appointed personal physician to ''

shōgun , officially , was the title of the military rulers of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, except during parts of the Kamak ...

Tokugawa Iemochi (17 July 1846 – 29 August 1866) was the 14th '' shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, who held office from 1858 to 1866. During his reign there was much internal turmoil as a result of the "re-opening" of Japan to western nations. I ...

, who supported the introduction of western medicine and the establishment of a western medicine research institute in Edo. However, Ogata died a few months later in July 1863 of acute

hemoptysis Hemoptysis or haemoptysis is the discharge of blood or blood-stained sputum, mucus through the mouth coming from the bronchi, larynx, vertebrate trachea, trachea, or lungs. It does not necessarily involve coughing. In other words, it is the airw ...

, caused by the

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

he had suffered from for many years. His house still exists in downtown Osaka. Built in a conventional eighteenth-century style, the students left their mark on the central post of the second-floor classroom, slashing and hacking it with their swords.Finn, Dallas: ''Meiji Revisited: The Sites of Victorian Japan'', page 6. Weatherhill, 1995.

Famous alumni

Alumni of the Tekijuku include Fukuzawa Yukichi, Ōmura Masujirō, Ōtori Keisuke, Takeda Ayasaburō, Nagayo Sensai, Sana Tsunetami and the manga artist Tezuka Osamu's ancestor Tezuka Ryōan.

Books

Ogata was the author of ''Byōgakutsūron'' (病学通論), which was the first book on

pathology Pathology is the study of disease. The word ''pathology'' also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when used in the context of modern medical treatme ...

to be published in Japan.

In popular culture

Ogata Kōan is an important character in the first season of the 2009–2011 TV series '' Jin.'' He was portrayed by actor Tetsuya Takeda.

Notes

External links

History of Osaka University
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ogata, Koan 1810 births 1863 deaths 19th-century Japanese physicians Japanese educators Writers of the Edo period Rangaku 19th-century deaths from tuberculosis Tuberculosis deaths in Japan Miwa clan Scientists from Okayama