Matsumoto Ryojun

A physician from the late Edo and Meiji periods. Born as the second son of Sato Taizen, a doctor in the Sakura domain of Shimousa Province (Chiba Prefecture), his childhood name was Junnosuke, his given name was Ryojun, and he later changed his name to Jun and took the pen name Ranchu. He was adopted by Matsumoto Ryoho (1806-1877), a physician in the shogunate, and changed his surname. In 1857 (Ansei 4), he went to Nagasaki by order of the shogunate, where he was in charge of Pompe's medical trainees and devoted himself to running the Nagasaki Sanitarium and Medical Institute. In 1862 (Bunkyu 2), he returned to Edo, where he assisted Ogata Koan, the second head of the shogunate's Medical Institute, and after Koan's death, became the third head, introducing modern medical education methods directly taught by Pompe. He participated in the Shogunate army during the Boshin War, setting up a military hospital in Aizu to treat the wounded and sick. After the war he was captured and imprisoned by the Meiji government, but was released in 1869 (Meiji 2) and established a private hospital, Ranko Hospital, in Waseda, where he taught and treated patients. After several years in the countryside, he was invited to serve in the Ministry of War, where he founded a military doctors' dormitory (1871), and after the Army and Navy were separated, he worked hard to organize the Army's medical department, becoming the first Army Surgeon General (1873).

[Muneda Hajime]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

幕末・明治時代の医家。下総(しもうさ)国（千葉県）佐倉藩医佐藤泰然(たいぜん)の二男として生まれ、幼名は順之助、名は良順、のち順に改め、蘭疇(らんちゅう)と号した。幕府医官の松本良甫(りょうほ)（1806―1877）の養子となり改姓した。1857年（安政4）幕命で長崎に行き、ポンペの医学伝習生の責任者となって長崎養生所・医学所の運営に尽力した。1862年（文久2）江戸に帰り、幕府の医学所2代目頭取緒方洪庵(おがたこうあん)を補佐し、洪庵没後3代目頭取となって、ポンペ直伝の近代医学教育法を導入した。戊辰(ぼしん)戦争では幕軍に参加、会津に軍陣病院を設けて戦傷病者の治療を行った。戦後は明治政府に捕らえられ禁錮の身となったが、1869年（明治2）釈放され、早稲田(わせだ)に私立病院蘭疇医院を建て、教育と診療にあたった。野にあること数年、懇請されて兵部省に出仕し、軍医寮を創設（1871）、陸海軍が分かれたあとは陸軍軍医部の編成に尽力し、初代陸軍軍医総監（1873）となった。

［宗田　一］

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