Willis - Willis, William

Japanese: ウィリス - Ｗｉｌｌｉｓ，Ｗｉｌｌｉａｍ

Year of death: 1894.2.14 (1894.2.14)
Born: May 1, 1837
A British doctor who came to Japan at the end of the Tokugawa shogunate. His name is Urishi and Uryuushi. Born in Ireland, he studied at the University of Edinburgh and worked at the Middlesex Hospital in London, where he excelled in surgery. In 1862, he came to Japan as a medical officer at the British Embassy in Yokohama. As the first British doctor to come to Japan, he contributed to the introduction of British medicine. He treated the wounded in the Namamugi Incident (1862). He became involved in the Anglo-Satsuma War (1863) and developed a relationship with the Satsuma clan. During the Battle of Toba-Fushimi (1868), he treated the wounded of the Satsuma clan at Shokoku-ji Temple in Kyoto, and his reputation as a surgeon, who was then vice-consul, was established. In 1868, he worked with British doctor Sidor and others at the Yokohama Military Hospital, and during the Boshin War, he demonstrated the power of modern military surgery in Takada, Kashiwazaki, Niigata, Shibata, Aizu-Wakamatsu, and other places. The new government had him in charge of medical treatment and medical education at a large hospital in Tokyo, but in response to a request from the Satsuma clan, which was eager to attract British doctors, he moved there in 1892 and taught at Kagoshima Medical School until he left there during the Satsuma Rebellion (1877). Among his students were Takagi Kanehiro and Mitamura Hajime. He left Japan for a time, but in 1894 he left the country. From 1885 to 1892 he was a medical officer at the Siamese Embassy. In 1826 a monument was erected in Kagoshima. His wife was Enatsu Yaeko, and the descendants of his son Albert (Uri Yuhei) live in Japan. <Works> "Nikko Kibun", "Mold and Doku Shinron", "Yakuhan" <References> Sato Hachiro, "A Brief Biography of British Doctor William Wills", Hugh Cottagesey, translated by Nakasuka Tetsuro, "The Observations of the Meiji Restoration War by a Member of the British Embassy", Kambara Hiroshi, "Willis and Sidor" ("Modernization of Medicine and Foreign Visitors to Japan")

(Yoji Nagatoya)

Source: Asahi Japanese Historical Biography: Asahi Shimbun Publications Inc. About Asahi Japanese Historical Biography

Japanese:

没年：1894.2.14(1894.2.14)
生年：1837.5.1
幕末に来日したイギリス人医師。烏利士,宇理宇私と記す。アイルランド生まれ。エジンバラ大に学び,ロンドンのミドルセックス病院に勤務,外科手術に長ず。文久2(1862)年,横浜の駐日英国公使館付医官として来日。最初に来日したイギリス人医師として英国医学の導入に貢献した。生麦事件(1862)で負傷者の治療に当たる。薩英戦争(1863)に関与して薩摩藩との関係が生じ,鳥羽・伏見の戦(1868)では京都相国寺で同藩の戦傷者を治療し,当時副領事となっていた彼の外科医としての評価が定まった。明治1(1868)年,横浜軍陣病院でイギリス人医師シドールらと共に働き,さらに戊辰戦争では高田,柏崎,新潟,新発田,会津若松などで,近代的軍陣外科の威力をみせた。新政府は彼を東京の大病院での医療と医学教育に当たらせたが,イギリス人医師の招致に熱心であった薩摩藩の要請に応じ,2年に同地に移り,西南の役(1877)で同地を去るまで鹿児島医学校で教え,その中から高木兼寛,三田村一などが出た。一時離日もあったが,14年にわが国を去った。1885～92年シャム公使館付医官。26年鹿児島に記念碑が建てられた。夫人は江夏八重子で子息アルバート(宇利有平)の子孫が日本在住。<著作>『日講紀聞』『黴毒新論』『薬範』<参考文献>佐藤八郎『英医ウィリアム・ウィルス略伝』,ヒュー・コッタツイ著・中須賀哲郎訳『英国公使館員の維新戦争見聞記』,蒲原宏「ウイリスとシドール」(『医学近代化と来日外国人』)

(長門谷洋治)

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