was an
Okinawan interpreter (Chinese-Okinawan). He was ordered to learn
harelip surgery and successfully performed the surgery for the grandson of King
Shō Tei
was the 11th King of the Second Shō Dynasty of the Ryukyu Kingdom, who held the throne from 1669 until his death in 1709."Shō Tei." ''Okinawa konpakuto jiten'' (沖縄コンパクト事典, "Okinawa Compact Encyclopedia")Ryukyu Shimpo(琉球新 ...
,
Shō Eki
was a king the Ryukyu Kingdom, who ruled from 1710 to 1712.
Life
It was said that he was born with harelip, which made his grandfather Shō Tei worry. A Ryukyuan named Takamine Tokumei met a Chinese doctor Huang Huiyou in Fuzhou
Fuzh ...
, under general anesthesia.
It was standard at the time for members of Ryūkyū's aristocratic class to have two names: and . "Takamine Tokumei" was his Japanese style name, while was his Chinese style name.
Life and achievements
He was born on February 15, 1653, in
Shuri
Shuri may refer to:
People
*, ring name of Syuri Kondo, a Japanese professional wrestler, shoot boxer and kickboxer
*, Japanese footballer
*, Japanese professional wrestler
Characters
* Shuri (character), a Marvel Comics superhero
** Shuri (Marv ...
,
Ryūkyū Kingdom
The Ryukyu Kingdom was a kingdom in the Ryukyu Islands from 1429 to 1879. It was ruled as a Tributary system of China, tributary state of Ming dynasty, imperial Ming China by the King of Ryukyu, Ryukyuan monarchy, who unified Okinawa Island t ...
. He travelled to
Fuzhou
Fuzhou is the capital of Fujian, China. The city lies between the Min River (Fujian), Min River estuary to the south and the city of Ningde to the north. Together, Fuzhou and Ningde make up the Eastern Min, Mindong linguistic and cultural regi ...
at age 10, and learned Chinese in three years. He became an interpreter and he was given the name 魏士哲(Gi Shitetsu) by King Sho Tei. In 1688, he was a secretary and was on his 4th visit to
Fuzhou
Fuzhou is the capital of Fujian, China. The city lies between the Min River (Fujian), Min River estuary to the south and the city of Ningde to the north. Together, Fuzhou and Ningde make up the Eastern Min, Mindong linguistic and cultural regi ...
, and he learned that a boatman received surgery and his
harelip was corrected. The grandson of King Shō Tei, Shō Eki, had harelip. The four representatives of the Ryūkyū Kingdom at
Fuzhou
Fuzhou is the capital of Fujian, China. The city lies between the Min River (Fujian), Min River estuary to the south and the city of Ningde to the north. Together, Fuzhou and Ningde make up the Eastern Min, Mindong linguistic and cultural regi ...
ordered Tokumei to learn surgery because of his Chinese and his skill. Earlier, a secretary named Oomine Sen-yu (大嶺詮雄, birth and death unknown) was ordered to learn surgery but he was unsuccessful. The Chinese physician was
Huang Huiyou (Chinese: 黄會友; in Japanese: Kō Kaiyū). He first refused to teach surgery because it was a secret, but finally agreed to teach surgery due to the eagerness of Tokumei. After 20 days of learning, Tokumei showed his skill and corrected the harelip of a 13-year-old boy before his teacher. Tokumei was given a book of the surgery and returned to
Okinawa Island
, officially , is the largest of the Okinawa Islands and the Ryukyu Islands, Ryukyu (''Nansei'') Islands of Japan in the Kyushu region. It is the smallest and least populated of the five Japanese archipelago, main islands of Japan. The island is ...
in May, 1689. He performed surgery on 5 patients and performed surgery for the King's 10-year-old grandson Shō Eki on October 23. The surgery was successful and it was said that no scar was visible. He performed the surgery under general anesthesia, 115 years prior to
Hanaoka Seishu who performed the removal of mammary cancer under general anesthesia, the first general anesthesia in Japan. In 1690 he taught
Satsuma
Satsuma may refer to:
* Satsuma (fruit), a citrus fruit
* ''Satsuma'' (gastropod), a genus of land snails
Places Japan
* Satsuma, Kagoshima, a Japanese town
* Satsuma District, Kagoshima, a district in Kagoshima Prefecture
* Satsuma Domain, a ...
doctors this surgery and in 1714 to Ryūkyūan doctors.
Matsuki Akitomo
It was
Matsuki Akitomo, the professor of anesthesiology,
Hirosaki University
is a Japanese national university in Hirosaki, Aomori Prefecture, Japan. Established in 1949, it comprises five faculties: Faculty of the Humanities, Faculty of Education History, Hirosaki University Medical School History, Faculty of Science a ...
who reported about this surgery first in the medical world. He wrote that a half century has passed since K. Higaonna, a historian from Okinawa, first reported that in 1689 Tokumei Takamine (1653–1738) had performed successfully a hare-lip operation under general anesthesia with mafutsu-san for a royal grandchild Shō Eki of the Second Shō Dynasty in the Ryukyus, now known as Okinawa.
[New study on the history of anesthesiology--(5) and (6). Reevaluation of surgical achievements by Tokumei Takamine]. rticle in JapaneseMatsuki A. Source Department of Anesthesiology, Hirosaki University, School of Medicine, Hirosaki 036-8563. Abstract
]
See also
*
History of general anesthesia
*
Hanaoka Seishū
*
Nakachi Kijin
References
* Arashiro Toshiaki, ''Ryukyu-Okinawa Rekishi Jinbutsuden'', Okinawajijishuppan, 2006 p66
Takamine Tokuakiwith a drawing of Takamine*
ew study on the history of anesthesiology--(5) and (6). Reevaluation of surgical achievements by Tokumei TakamineMatsuki A. Masui. 2000 Nov;49(11):1285-9. Japanese.
*
he secret anesthetic used in the repair of a hare-lip performed by Tokumei Takamine in Ryukyu(Jpn).Matsuki A. Nippon Ishigaku Zasshi. 1985 Oct;31(4):463-89. Japanese.
Footnotes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tokumei, Takamine
Japanese surgeons
History of medicine in China
Ueekata
Ryukyuan people of Chinese descent
Japanese anesthesiologists
1653 births
1738 deaths
17th-century Ryukyuan people
18th-century Ryukyuan people
17th-century Japanese physicians
18th-century Japanese physicians
History of anesthesia