Takahashi Juntaro (高橋順太郎)
Juntaro TAKAHASHI (May 2, 1856 - June 4, 1920) came from Kanazawa City, Ishikawa Prefecture and was a Doctor of Medicine. He was the first professor of pharmacology at Tokyo Imperial University Medical School. Juntaro was conferred Jusanmi (Junior Third Rank) and Kunnito (Order of Second Class).
Common name: Juntaro, Real name: Moriyuki
Childhood
On May 2, 1856 Juntaro was born the legitimate son of Sobei TAKAHASHI (110 koku of salary, commonly called Sobei but with the real name Sakuzen) who was a kogashira (group leader) of enfeoffment finance officers for the Kaga Domain, and Suzu ISHIBASHI (first daughter of Ryozo ISHIBASHI, finance officer) in Kageyu Town, Kanazawa (Hyotan Town, Kanazawa City).
Juntaro had two younger brothers, Naojiro and Kazan, and three younger sisters: Yoso, Kei, and Tome.
From his childhood Juntaro had a great talent for mathematics and he was especially skilled with the abacus. On December 25, 1865 Juntaro was hired by the Kaga Domain osanyoba (accounting department). On August 5, 1867 he became an accounting officer, called osanyomono (salary of 40 hyo [approximately 2880 liters] of rice). In 1865 at the age of eleven Juntaro was selected as an honor student and was dispatched to Nagasaki by the domain to study. At the time Juntaro was accompanied by his younger brother, Naojiro, who was not even ten years old. Juntaro learned English and general mathematics while studying in Nagasaki and he returned to Kanazawa in the first year of the Meiji era. In the upheaval of the final days of the Tokugawa shogunate, Juntaro's father Sobei, Juntaro and his younger brother Naojiro, lived in Nagasaki to work or study.
On February 7, 1869 Juntaro entered Meirindo school in Kaga Domain in order to study sinology under Yasusaburo TOYOSHIMA. On March 28 of the same year, following the reorganization of the office, Juntaro was appointed nito chushi (officer of the second class) and in October was appointed shizoku (social class with the origin of samurai) due to the reform of Hansekihokan (the return of lands and people to the emperor). Juntaro's younger brother, Naojiro ISHIDA, studied machinery and equipment and produced a clock after returning to Kanazawa. In 1872 this clock had an inscription showing it was the first clock produced in Kanazawa Prefecture.
School days
In March 1871 Juntaro enrolled at Daigakunan-ko School as the koshin-sei student, on the recommendation of the Kaga Domain, and majored in German. In 1874 he studied at the department of mining in Tokyo Kaisei School and in July of the following year, 1875, he transferred to Daigakuto-ko School (Tokyo Medical School) due to the abolition of every department in Tokyo Kaisei School, and become a regular course student. In July 1881 he graduated from the faculty of medicine with a bachelor of medicine degree. On the appointment and dismissal of vice junior officials in Tokyo University held on July 14 of the same year, Juntaro was appointed doctor on duty (university assistant) in the surgical department.
After his appointment as doctor on duty, Juntaro started research on pharmacognosy and was selected in the fifth batch of students sponsored by the Ministry of Education to study overseas. On February 4, 1882 Juntaro travelled from Yokohama Port to study German pharmacognosy and forensic science, and on March 23 arrived in Berlin, Germany, and in April of the same year he started studying under Pslelybright in Berlin University.
In April 1884 Juntaro transferred from Berlin University to the University of Strasbourg and he studied pharmacognosy and forensic science very diligently under Oswald Schmiedeberg, who was the pioneer of experimental pharmacology,
120 students from twenty different countries came to study under Schmiedeberg, who was the originator of experimental pharmacology. They were coached by him or joined collaborative projects there. After they returned home they all transplanted experimental pharmacology into their own countries and became pioneers and leaders in that field.
In this way the study of experimental pharmacology began to be conducted world wide, which brought rapid progress in the field
Amongst these students were Juntaro TAKAHASHI, Kurata MORISHIMA and Haruo HAYASHI from Japan, and they broke new ground with their experimental pharmacology.
In 1884 while studying at the University of Strasbourg, Juntaro married a German, Luise Heinrich, from Strasbourg. After extending his three-year study by half a year, Juntaro left Strasbourg, Alsace for Japan on September 10, 1885. On October 26, 1885 they arrived in Yokohama Port.
In 1886 after a personnel decision by Tokyo University regarding soninkan goyogakari (higher rank officers selected on the recommendation of the Prime Minister), Juntaro assumed the post of full-time lecturer at Tokyo Imperial University Medical School,
He held the chair of pharmacology and in February of the same year became the first professor of pharmacology at Tokyo Imperial University Medical School,
In August 1891, Juntaro was awarded the degree of Doctor of Medicine.
In the same year at the request of the Ministry of Home Affairs he was appointed a member of the investigation committee of Japanese Pharmacopoeia,
In October of the following year (1892) Juntaro was appointed a member of the committee for the examination for practicing medicine, and was sitting on the pharmaceutical examination committee and on the committee for compiling a list of scientific documents. In 1990, he was appointed councilor of the Imperial University.
Achievement
Research
At the beginning of the Meiji era the study of science in Japan was being conducted without considering the effect of treatments. At that time the constituent parts of plants and animals were simply extracted and separated as chemical crystals with no effort being made to try them on actual patients. Even if an active constituent was isolated by chance, it was just a product of chance, rather than resulting from a chemical demonstration. TAKAHASHI introduced experimental pharmacology to Japan: the study of changes on a living organism induced by the ingestion of a chemical agent.
His research subject was the scientific pharmacological study of the constituents of plants and animals. He turned his attention to secret medicine (herbal medicine) in the Kaga Domain, that had been nurtured in as a long Japanese tradition, and studied the components of herbal medicine in a scientific manner. Juntaro studied the constituents of the oriental melon, European scopolia, Baikal skullcap, ephedra, phytolacca esculenta, puffer fish, and fish-liver oil. He isolated scopoletin from scopoliae rhizoma, scutellarin from Baikal skullcap and phytolaccotoxin from phytolacca esculenta and analyzed their constituents. Juntaro did pharmacological research on the important medicine remijin hydrochloride (a pneumonia drug derived from quinine), which at the time was imported from abroad, and on digitalis preparation and ephedrine. Juntaro made chemical and pharmacological analysis and studied their isolated constituents. He proceeded with these studies with the intention of applying them to actual patients laying the groundwork for their therapeutic application in Japan.
Theses
The Relationship between Pharmacy and Pharmacognosy
The Theory of the Structure of 'Scopoletin'
The Theory of the Structure of 'Scopoletin' (continuation of the last issue) (YAKUGAKU ZASSHI (82) pp.556-574, December 1, 1888)
The Theory of the Structure of 'Scopoletin' (continuation of the last article)
Experimental Theory of the Chinese Medicine Ogon (Baikal Skullcap)
Location of Poison in the Body of Puffer Fish
Poison of Puffer Fish
Poison of Puffer Fish (continuation of the fifty-sixth issue)
Poison of Puffer Fish (continuation of the fifty-seventh issue)
On the Effect of Dilating the Pupil by Ephedra
Study on Phytolaccotoxin: Venomous Constituent of the Chinese Medicine Shoriku (Phytolacca Esculenta)
Poison of Puffer Fish (Juntaro TAKAHASHI and Yoshito INOKO, 1889, "Journal of Medical Department, Imperial University " Vol.1 no.5)
Achievements
One of TAKAHASHI's most famous achievements is his study on puffer fish poison.
He undertook chemical and pharmacological research on puffer fish, which is famous in Japan for its poison
In 1887 Juntaro started researching puffer fish poison together with assistant professor Yoshito INOKO,
In 1889 TAKAHASHI proved that because puffer fish poison was inside of the fish body and was easy to dissolve in water it couldn't be proteinic (enzyme-like), and he produced a chart of toxicity strength.
This was the beginning of experimental pharmacology based on animal experimentation. He studied and analyzed the effect of the constituents of plants and animals pharmacologically, and made an effort to obtain truly effective substances. As a medical scientist in experimental pharmacology he gave new direction to chemical research of active constituents.
In March 1902 Juntaro was assigned to tour European countries for academic inspections, which lasted one year. Juntaro also played a central role in establishing the Japanese Pharmacological Society. As for his research achievements after that, he gave the world Takahashi Improved Fish-Liver Oil, 'Remijin' a medicine for pneumonia, 'Fagol' a medicine for pulmonary tuberculosis and 'Pangital' a cardiotonic and was a great authority on Japanese pharmacognosy.
Juntaro taught many students such as Yoshito INOKO, Kurata MORISHIMA, Haruo HAYASHI, Tomotaro ISHIZAKA, Shinkichi ISHIZAKA, and Katsuki IWAKAWA. They spread the basics of pharmacology from the late Meiji era through to the Taisho and Showa eras.
Later years
In 1918 Spanish flu (influenza), which had been epidemic during the First World War, spread world wide and the number of deaths from the Spanish flu in the US was nine times higher than the number of deaths of American soldiers from the war in Europe. At the time Juntaro was recuperating from an illness. He recommended 'Remijin,' a medicine for pneumonia, and the latest antitussive medicine 'Antissin' as the prescribed drugs for flu and made this information public. He contributed to the prevention of the spread of flu in Japan.
For thirty-five years from 1886 to 1920 Juntaro diligently researched drugs in the pharmacological school of the Imperial Medical University, but in January 1918 he collapsed with a cerebral hemorrhage. Even while recuperating at home in Kojimachi, Tokyo, he worked hard for example by contributing articles to magazines. However his condition became worse and he died on June 4, 1920 8 a.m. at age sixty-five.
Upon Juntaro's death he was additionally decorated with the order of merit, Zo Shosanmi Kunitto Zuihosho (Senior Third Rank, Grand Cordon of the Order of the Sacred Treasure, posthumously conferred). Juntaro's grave is in Zoshigaya reien (cemetery).
Our guru, Juntaro TAKAHASHI, was from Kanazawa and studied medical science at Tokyo University. Following his achievements, the government instructed him to study in Europe and then return to Tokyo University to teach pharmacognosy. The guru started the university pharmacology department. The guru became a medical doctor and stayed in that position for about thirty-five years, teaching as many as several thousand students. The guru was born on May 2, 1856. The guru passed away on June 4, 1920 age sixty-five. The guru was conferred Shosanmi Kunitto (Senior Third Rank, Grand Cordon of the Order of the Sacred Treasure). He accomplished great things and didn't get tired of studying even as he got old. He wrote a lot and produced medicines. This is what people say about him. His student Kurata MORISHIMA humbly notes.
Origins
The Takahashi clan originated from Echizen Province. The Takahashi family was hired as financial officers for Kaga Domain from 1598 until Hansekihokan (the return of lands and people to the emperor) in 1869. The crest (Jomon) of the Takahashi family has a pattern of a flower with four petals in a double hexagon and an alternative crest (Kaemon) is a pattern of three layered straw hats (from List of the Ancestors' History by Sobei TAKAHASHI, 1870).