An Illustrated Story
Kagoshima Meets Western Medicine

A British doctor known as Kagoshima’s master of western medicine heads towards a hospital with his student.

In 1866, centered in Kagoshima, the armies of the new and old government face off.
Many from the Kagoshima army were wounded.

At the time, Kagoshima's army doctors primarily used herbal medicine and could not provide surgical treatments.

That’s when they requested the British embassy to dispatch a western medicine doctor.
The doctor who came was the British doctor, William Willis.

Through Willis’ appropriate treatment, many Kagoshima soldiers were saved.

Through his great results, Willis was invited to Kagoshima and became head of the hospital and medical school that Kagoshima constructed.

The hospital was built with red bricks and resembles a western storehouse.
That is why it was called "Akakura Hospital", meaning "red storehouse" in Japanese.

From this school of medicine, many doctors were trained and became prominent doctors of Japan.
One of them, Takaki Kanehiro, went on to found a medical university in Tokyo and became known as the “father of vitamins.”

The foundation of Kagoshima’s western medicine school, “Akakura Hospital”, became the center of medical training in western Japan.

• Tokishirube1:The Battle Between England and Kagoshima
• Tokishirube2:Kabayama and Kuroda in a Great Discussion
• Tokishirube3:The Painter and Sakurajima
• Tokishirube4:A Young Revolutionist on His Honeymoon
• Tokishirube5:Kagoshima’s Roots of Modernization
• Tokishirube6:Samurai and Government Change
• Tokishirube7:Kagoshima Meets Western Medicine