Paper short abstract:

Special way of approaching to the novelties is very typical for the history of Japanese medicine. We can find several examples from medical references for this, therefore I attempt to introduce some cases of the changing medical conceptions through some references of Early Modern Japanese medicine.

Paper long abstract:

Individual attitude of the Japanese culture to the novelties is generally known. The essence of this attitude which 'keeps what is needed and rejects what is not needed' can be found in several fields, inter alia, from the religion to the development of language or medicine. We know that Japanese medicine mainly relied on the knowledge of classical Chinese medicine for a long time. Several medical texts have also written based on many classical Chinese works on medicine. This tendency continued mainly until the Edo-era, when a variety of events brought about changes. We can find various examples in some texts written by Neo-Confucian scholars in the Edo-era about many healing methods have been applied and later modified to suit to the main peculiar physical features and needs. Then when knowledge of the European medicine appeared and significantly spread mainly thanks to the Dutch and several Japanese scholars and physicians who have also contributed widely to the development of rangaku, new scientific innovations have been applied especially in the general surgery of external injuries or the ophthalmology. Some methods have been adapted without any changes, or modified, and there were combinations of traditional Chinese and new European medical concepts, as we can also see through typical example of Hanaoka Seishū's well-known surgical operation of a breast cancer. In this paper I attempt to present some examples for the changing medical conceptions based on references from the history of Early Modern Japanese medicine.