Vaccination center

This meeting place was built in the late Edo period to promote the spread of cowpox vaccination. In 1858 (Ansei 5), Ito Genboku, Otsuki Shunsai and others called for its establishment, and 82 Dutch medicine doctors living in Edo donated money to establish the center at Kawaji Toshiakira's lower residence in Otamagaike, Kanda. Even under the shogunate's ban on Dutch medicine, the effectiveness of cowpox vaccination was finally beginning to be recognized, and the center was intended to bring together Dutch medicine doctors and to become an educational and research institute for Dutch medicine. The following year, this center, commonly known as the Otamagaike Vaccination Center, was moved to Izumibashi, Shitaya, and became a vaccination center directly under the shogunate's control. In 1861 (Bunkyu 1), it was renamed the Western Medicine Center, and in 1863, the Medical Center. In 1868 (Keio 4), it was taken over by the Meiji government and became a large hospital, and the following year it became a medical school and hospital. Today's Faculty of Medicine at the University of Tokyo originated from the Otama-ga-ike Vaccination Center. Records show that cowpox vaccinations continued at the medical school even during the turmoil of the Boshin War.

[Akinori Kamiya]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

江戸後期に牛痘(ぎゅうとう)普及を図るとしてつくられた集会所。1858年（安政5）、伊東玄朴(げんぼく)、大槻俊斎(おおつきしゅんさい)らが呼びかけ、江戸在住の蘭方医(らんぽうい)82名が醵金(きょきん)して神田お玉が池の川路聖謨(としあきら)下屋敷に設立された。幕府の蘭方医学禁止令の下でも、ようやくその効果を認められつつあった牛痘接種の普及に事寄せて、蘭方医の大同団結、蘭方医学の教育・研究機関たらしめようとするものであった。この通称お玉が池種痘所は、翌年下谷(したや)和泉(いずみ)橋に移転して、幕府直轄の種痘所となり、61年（文久1）西洋医学所、63年医学所と改称された。68年（慶応4）明治政府に接収されて、大病院、ついで翌年、医学校兼病院となった。今日の東京大学医学部は源をお玉が池種痘所としている。なお記録によれば、戊辰(ぼしん)戦争の動乱中にも医学所での牛痘接種は続けられていた。

［神谷昭典］

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