was a Japanese

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

and vaccinologist. He also used the name . Koyama's reputation was such that he was compared with other outstanding scientists of his time, as in the phrase, .

Biography

He was born in 1807 near village in rural

Kii Province , or , was a province of Japan in the part of Honshū that is today Wakayama Prefecture, as well as the southern part of Mie Prefecture. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Kii''" in . Kii bordered Ise, Izumi, Kawachi, Shima, and Yamato Pro ...

to a

jizamurai The were lower-ranking provincial samurai that emerged in 15th-century Japan Muromachi period. The definition was rather broad and the term ''jizamurai'' included landholding military aristocracy as well as independent peasant farmers. They alt ...

family. When he was young, he traveled to

Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...

to study with his elder brother , but Fumiaki in 1822. In 1823, he began studying

Confucianism Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China, and is variously described as a tradition, philosophy, Religious Confucianism, religion, theory of government, or way of li ...

under his brother's teacher , and medical science under , a physician to the Imperial Court. He also studied

herbal medicine Herbal medicine (also called herbalism, phytomedicine or phytotherapy) is the study of pharmacognosy and the use of medicinal plants, which are a basis of traditional medicine. Scientific evidence for the effectiveness of many herbal treatments ...

and

kanpō was a , also known as Kampō, after '' Genbun'' and before '' Enkyō.'' This period spanned the years from February 1741 through February 1744. The reigning emperor was . Change of era * 1741 : Based on the belief in Chinese astrology that ...

. Eventually, Koyama opened his own medical practice on

Karasuma Street is a major south-north street in central Kyoto, Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends fr ...

. At the beginning of the 19th century, the Balmis Expedition introduced

Edward Jenner Edward Jenner (17 May 1749 – 26 January 1823) was an English physician and scientist who pioneered the concept of vaccines and created the smallpox vaccine, the world's first vaccine. The terms ''vaccine'' and ''vaccination'' are derived f ...

's technique of using

cowpox Cowpox is an infectious disease caused by Cowpox virus (CPXV). It presents with large blisters in the skin, a fever and swollen glands, historically typically following contact with an infected cow, though in the last several decades more often ...

to inoculate patients against

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 ...

Qing China The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the Ming dynasty ...

. Hearing of this, Koyama obtained from Takagai Ki'en a copy of the Chinese book ''Yin dou lue'' (引痘略, ''Intōryaku'') written by Qiu Xi (邱熺) which contained an explanation of Jennerian inoculation. Koyama's activities are primarily responsible for this information becoming widely available in Japan. During the

Tenpō famine The Tenpō famine (天保の飢饉, ''Tenpō no kikin''), also known as the Great Tenpō famine (天保の大飢饉, ''Tenpō no daikikin''), was a famine that affected Japan during the Edo period. Considered to have lasted from 1833 to 1837, it ...

(1833–1837), an epidemic of smallpox ravaged Koyama's native Kii Province. After he learned that his nephew's entire family had died of smallpox in 1835, he immersed himself in research to discover a way to combat the disease. Koyama sold almost all of his personal belongings, including his family swords, in order to raise money to buy

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, bovid ungulates widely kept as livestock. They are prominent modern members of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Mature female cattle are calle ...

for his research. The cattle were used to cultivate cowpox samples. In 1849, Koyama successfully tested Japan's first Jennerian smallpox vaccine, . Koyama died in Kyoto in 1862.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Koyama, Shisei 1807 births 1867 deaths 19th-century Japanese physicians Japanese medical researchers Samurai Vaccinologists Scientists from Wakayama Prefecture

Biography

See also

Further reading

References