Buntaro Adachi

Anthropologist and anatomist. Born in Izu, Shizuoka Prefecture, he graduated from the Imperial University School of Medicine (now the University of Tokyo Faculty of Medicine). He majored in anatomy and became a professor at the Third High School of Medicine (now the Okayama University Faculty of Medicine). After studying in Germany, he became a professor at the Kyoto Imperial University School of Medicine in 1904 (Meiji 37). He conducted detailed research on soft tissues such as blood vessels, muscles, internal organs, and skin, and made groundbreaking achievements, particularly in clarifying the racial differences between Japanese and Europeans. His large works, both in German, entitled "The Arterial System of the Japanese" (1928) and "The Venous System of the Japanese" (1933), shed extremely detailed light on the individual and racial differences in the distribution of the vascular system's course within the body. His research is so highly regarded that today, when discussing the origin and differences in the branching and course of the vascular system, he is always referred to as "Adachi's type". He received the Imperial Academy Prize and the German Red Cross Honorary Award. However, during his research, he was so absorbed in his work that he even sacrificed time to attend academic conferences, and so he was little known to the public. He is also well known for his research on body odor, which revealed racial differences in the apocrine glands (a type of sweat gland) that are the source of body odor, as well as the close genetic relationship between body odor and sticky earwax.

[Keiichi Sawano, November 19, 2018]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

人類学者、解剖学者。静岡県伊豆に生まれ、帝国大学医科大学（現、東京大学医学部）を卒業。解剖学を専攻し、第三高等学校医学部（現、岡山大学医学部）教授となり、ドイツ留学を経て、1904年（明治37）より京都帝国大学医科大学教授となった。血管、筋肉、内臓、皮膚などの軟部組織に関する詳細な研究を行い、とくに日本人とヨーロッパ人の人種的差違を明らかにする画期的な業績をあげた。『日本人の動脈系』（1928）および『日本人の静脈系』（1933）と題する、ともにドイツ語の大著は、血管系の体内での走行分布に関して、その個人差、人種差をきわめて詳細に明らかにしたものである。今日、血管系の分岐・走行の起源および差違を論ずる際には、かならず「足立の何型」と称せられるほどに、その研究は高く評価されている。学士院恩賜賞およびドイツ赤十字名誉賞を受賞した。しかし研究途上では、学会出席の時間すら惜しむほど研究に没頭したため、世間に知られることが少なかった。このほか、体臭に関する研究も著名で、腋臭(えきしゅう)（わきが）などのもとになるアポクリン腺(せん)（汗腺の一種）の人種差、およびわきがと粘着性の耳垢(じこう)（みみあか）との密接な遺伝的関係を明らかにした。

［澤野啓一　2018年11月19日］

出典　小学館　日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)について　情報 | 凡例