ABSTRACT
This article analyzes the Okada Documents that were kept by the descendents of Okada Shôshun (1827-97) for over a hundred years and recently became available for scholarly use. In the existing scholarship, Okada Shôshun was considered merely one of many practitioners of East Asian medicine in the early Meiji period. His family background was obscure. This study of the newly emerged documents shows that his family practiced medicine for six generations-from the mid-Edo until the Meiji period-and produced medical administrators in the Bakufu. Also, a book on pharmaceuticals preserved in the Documents and written by his adoptive father, Shôseki, reveals that the family originally specialized in surgery. In addition, because Shôshun studied at the Bakufu's official medical school, Igakkan, under the guidance of the Taki family, the Documents include rare books such as Taki Motonori's “Rankei sensei yakushitsu kijô” (draft), Taki Motoyasu's “Isekikô” (the first draft), “Byômei san, ” and “Qianjin yueling.” Since the mid-1870s, Shôshun participated earnestly in the movement to preserve East Asian medicine and was particularly close to Asada Sôhaku (1815-94). The Documents include Sôhaku's medical essay (untitled), a book manuscript written by Shôshun with commentary by Sôhaku, and sixty-two letters that were exchanged between Shôshun and Sôhaku.