HI, ladies!!
Plum, I AM sorry for making you said so, but I never intended to disappoint you at all. I meant you’ve shown us those instructive accounts in an amazing way (if not for you), and I was very happy about it anyway.
These days Sugako lives in my head. She would be there until my essay finishes. So I’ll go back to my work. See you!
5 comments:
Hi, ladies!!!
It’s Saturday, January 10, 2009, today, and it has been windy and freezing, hasn’t it? The northwesterly wind has been raging around my house. Oh, my goodness, soooo cold!!!
Cherry, thank you for your positive feedback, and I am very delighted to hear that you are happy about my writing accounts of Youngman.
I would like to know more about Sugako, and so when you have time, please write something about her life and career achievements in this blog.
Tomorrow afternoon Rose is coming to my place to have s second discussion about Mieko Kamiya, a psychiatrist working on a part time basis for Hansen’s disease patients at Aiseien, Okayama, the first national leprosarium built in 1930.
Mieko is a daughter of Tamon Maedo (1884-1962), a baptized Christian and a humanitarian as well as the former governor of Niigata and Minister of Education, who, though worked as a high ranking bureaucrat/politician and well-known educator, seemed to be an authoritative and high-handed husband and father.
Mieko’s strong and sincere desire to work for leprosy sufferers was opposed and oppressed by him at each time she expressed. Mieko always gave in and followed his orders, possibly because she did not want to create conflict with him and wanted to keep harmony and peace in the relationship with her father.
Mieko simply waited for an opportunity for her to be useful for and beneficial to patients of that sickness, simply because there was no other option left for her. She was a woman of perseverance.
Father’s power and authority in the family was exceedingly strong and protected by the pre-war Civil Code, and it was almost impossible to argue against the father.
Especially, in the case of Mieko, her father was active, important and successful in the political and educational world, and it might have been easier for her to suppress her own aspiration or determination, however reasonable and logical it was, than to attempt to convince him.
Here is part 17.
(17)
In 1905, Kozen-sha, being approved as a corporation, continued to be financially assisted by the MTL of the UK and the USA.
On March 19, 1907, the Law on Leprosy Prevention was promulgated.
In 1909, Youngman submitted a letter of retirement dated on January 23 to Kozen-sha, due to her declining health condition. Here is her letter:
Jan. 23rd, 1909
To the Members of the Kozensha;
Dear friends,
Circumstances are such, as that I feel compelled to resign my membership in the Kozensha. It will always be a joy to me to assist in this work whenever I shall have an opportunity and my most earnest prayers for its prosperity shall be given. God bless you all in the work.
Kate M. Youngman
In the summer, she went to Gotenba to take a rest, but from September 17 onward, she was in bed. In Higashi-murayama, Tokyo, Zensho Hospital provided with 350 beds for leprosy patients was built, as one of five public hospitals under the leprosy prevention program created according to the law of 1907. Ihai-en took 10 new patients entrusted by the Japanese government, and thus the Ministry of Home Affair granted a subsidy to the facility for the first time. Ihai-en started Christian propagation in Zensho Hospital.
On September 30, 1910 (Meiji 43), Kate Youngman died, and her funeral was conducted by David Thompson. Some students from Joshi-gakuin, formerly Graham Seminary, sang hymns, and James H. Ballagh made a prayer in English. A majority of the attendants were foreigners and her ashes were buried in Somei-reien, Tokyo. At Ihai-en, which she originally proposed to found and worked hard to collect funds to realize it, there were about 60 patients accomomated at the time of her death.
It’s getting colder tonight, my dear friends. Keep yourselves warm and have an early night if possible. Bye for now…
Hi, ladies!!!
It’s Sunday, January 11, 2009, today, and the daytime high was only 4.7 degrees. This time of the year is the coldest, and therefore I shouldn’t complain about the cold, but it has been freezing today.
This cold weather reminded me of a day some years ago and two former members of NWSRG. It was an extremely cold day in January or February and only two members could make it at the meeting held at my house. They were Ms. Suzuki and Ms. Mizuno. Ms. Suzuki is now a full time English teacher at high school, probably, in Mie Prefecture and Ms. Mizuno a part time English language lecturer at university. She got that job right after graduation from the master’s degree course at Nagoya University.
Only six years have passed since the day when we got together on that cold day, but they have transformed into brilliant professional career women. I just missed the day and recalled what we talked about in my lounge.
Today Rose came to my place to examine her essay project and we went through most of Mieko Kamiya’s work and achievements as a psychiatrist for leprosy patients necessary for Rose’ essay writing, and we are very happy about it.
Rose has written three and a half pages concerning Kamiya’s childhood episodes, but it seems that they are not so crucial or essential as it seemed previously that we are going to summarize them in a page or so.
Rose’ essay is getting in shape now, and I am very delighted about it.
Here is part 18.
(18)
In 1897, a general research on leprosy sufferers was made throughout the country except Hokkaido, and it was reported that there were 23,660 patients, or 5.5 sufferers per 10,000 nationals.
In the same year, more than 620 men were found to be patients of that illness at the time of conscription tests.
In 1900, the Ministry of Home Affair conducted the first survey on leprosy patients that would have been the first survey of its kind in the history of Japan, which revealed there were 30,359 victims in the country. The survey was performed by the police not by professional medical staff, since it was widely conceived that leprosy patients were abandoned by their families and lived as beggars or vagabonds, the control of whom was in the administration of the police. According to some experts, this figure is not accurate.
In the year 1900, there were only several hospitals or medical colonies for leprosy victims.
1875 (Meiji 8)
Shobun Goto established Kihai Hospital in Tokyo.
1888 (Meiji 21)
Heihyoe Okamura in Sakai, Osaka, started to produce taifu-shiyu, medicine for leprosy, and was engaged in rescue work for patients.
1890 (Meiji 23)
Father Testevuide established Fukusei Hospital in Koyama, Gotenba.
1894 (Meiji 27)
Kozensha established Ihai-en in Meguro Village, Tokyo.
1895 (Meiji 28)
Hannah Riddell established Kaishun Hospital in Kumamoto.
1898 (Meiji 31)
Father Jean Marie Corre established Tairoin, a leprosarium, in Kumamoto.
1899 (Meiji 32)
Dr. Kensuke Mitsuda made a room for leprosy patients in Yoiku-in, Tokyo.
It is Coming of Age Day tomorrow. I am going to my hairdresser’s salon in the afternoon (I was told to come in the afternoon because the staff would be very busy in the morning, putting kimono and make-up on young women who would attend the ceremony), because on Wednesday I am leaving for Sydney to see my daughter and her family. I simply want to tidy up myself.
It’s getting cold tonight, my lovely friends. Keep yourselves warm. Goodnight to you all…
Hi, ladies!!!
It’s Monday, January 12, 2009, today, and it’s Coming of Age Day. It snowed slightly during the night and when I went to the bathroom at around six I saw through the glass window some fresh snow fallen on the roofs of the houses in the neighborhood.
I have three grandchildren now, and will have four in early March. At the moment any of the grandkids is too small to call me Granny, but their parents call me Granny, getting attention from their kid/s so that they would remember the term granny.
But I decided not to be called granny but nana. The other night I was watching the movie Titanic on TV, Rose the heroine was called Nana by her granddaughter.
Actually, when Yujin, my daughter’s son was born, she asked me which I would like to be called, Granny or Nana, and I chose granny. But now I have changed my mind. I will be called Nana instead of Granny from now on.
Here is part 19.
(19)
Maybe you would be interested in what Kate Youngman wrote to the Mission to Lepers. I will let you read a three-page section in the MTL book describing how Youngman came to be involved in the foundation of a leprosarium. It is a bit long, but I hope you will enjoy reading it.
The American lady was Miss Youngman, working in Tokyo with the American Presbyterian Mission. It was also in 1893 that she approached The Mission to Lepers for help. She was associated with a group of Christians who had formed a Kozensha (Council) for the purpose of serving the needy.
Among the members were a Mr. and Mrs. Otsuka, who felt a special call to engage in the service of those who had encountered dire need as a consequence of leprosy and all its social complications; and it was partly in encouragement of them that Miss Youngman engaged in her pioneer efforts. The first patient was a woman, Tsushima, for whom provision was made even before the little Inn of Welcome was built.
She had already found it impossible to remain in the general community, and had only received a place in a hospital because she promised that her body might be used for dissection when she died. But as death tarried the authorities tired of waiting, and it seemed that she must become literally outcast.
In 1894 Miss Youngman wrote:
When your draft came we wrote her of the hope there was that we could provide a place for her soon, and she wrote back that it seemed just as if she were in heaven, to think that she was soon to have a place to stay in. When we bought the land for our home, there was a small storehouse belonging to the man who sold us the land, and he let us that for Tsushima.
The children of our primary school opened their missionary box, and used the money to purchase what furniture was needed. My little children opened their banks, and purchased several pots of roses in bloom and so the woman’s room was made quite comfortable and pleasant. The authorities would not permit them to bring her to Tokyo in either a boat or a jinrikisha; so a sedan chair was secured, and the poor woman rode in it from eight in the morning till ten at night. She was delighted with her new home, and soon became much better through the medical baths which we provided for her.
(To be continued.)
***
Previously I got information that Tsushima moved to Tokyo during the night, but according to Youngman’s letter, she was transferred during the daytime.
Well, it is outrageously cold this afternoon. Look after yourselves, my dear friends. Bye for now…
Hi Cherry and friends,
It was snowing this early morning and freezing. I have been having a sour throat and a pain in my back since last night. After eating breakfast, taking medicine and reading the newspaper, I lay down in my bed for a while. Now I feel a little bit better. It stopped snowing and cloudy, sometimes broke into sunshine. Isn’t it nice to feel slight sunbeams between clouds?
I went to Plum’s house yesterday afternoon and had a great time talking about Kamiya Mieko. I’m always surprised at Plum’s penetrating view and overwhelmed with her intelligence. She gave me the fruitful and instructivel advice as usual and I was delighted about it. Thank you so much for your kindness and help. And thank you, Plum, for your writing about Kamiya’s father. I was so pleased to read it. It was perfect and just what I wanted to tell you. I noticed that my writing did not get to the point. I will more focus on what she had done for the Hansen’s disease patients although she worked for them as a psychiatrist as a part time bases. Her tremendous achievements in various fields make me feel difficult to narrow down the contents. Like Cherry, Mieko always in my mind and I’m struggle with this essay writing.
Have a nice holiday, friends.
Hello, Cherry and ladies.
It is so exciting to know that Rose is now getting her essay into a shape in collaboration with Plum. It’s amazing to visit Plum’s as many as twice during these two weeks. Her strenuous efforts seem to make her go on the right track. At the same time the serious attitude toward writing essay stimulated me so much that I managed to write one page and a half about how Takeko came to set up Asoka hospital in Koto ward in Tokyo.
**
A shanty medical relief center built in Hibiya Park was removed two years after the Great Kanto Earthquake due to a government’s new project to renovate the park.
What made Takeko worry about most were financial problems to sustain the clinic. Through the relationship with Takeko, drug makers such as Shionogi, Sankyo and Takeda supplied medication free of charge and the Yomiuri shinbun sent generous donations of sixty Yen, which must be a great support for her.
Dr. Osumi, a prominent doctor at that time and medical students from Tokyo university and some nurses volunteered to work at the clinic.
Takeko herself contributed articles to Yomiuri Shunbun and magazines as a journalist. She also wrote a play titled “Rakuhoku no Aki” (Autumn of Northern Kyoto), which was played at Teigeki, the Imperial Garden theater in Tokyo. The proceeds was used to maintain the clinic.
Her essays and poems named “Muyuge” (flowers without sorrow) appeared serially in the Yomiuri shinbun over one hundred times from 1926. In 1927 “Muyuge” was published and became a millions bestseller. It was reprinted more than three hundred and ten times from July 1927 to June 1931. All the royalty was donated and used for medical treatment at the clinic.
Royalty was paid 10 percent on the published price of a book. The book of Muyuge priced one Yen.
She died of sepsis (敗血症) at the age of 42 in 1928. However her aspiration to develop and fulfill the hospital was surely succeeded to Otani Kinuko, her sister-in-law.
The current Asoka hospital belongs to Asoka Association, a social welfare foundation which holds special old homes and home care services.
Through researching, I have a feeling that I’d like to make a visit to the Asoka hospital and Tsukiji Hongwanji temple in order to get more precious information about Takeko and Kinuko.
It's getting colder. I sas snow falling in the morning for some time. Please take care of yourself not to catch a cold, my precious friends.
Our group is going to have a meeting on January 19, 26 and February 2 to discuss our papers.
I'd like to continue writing my paper until then.
Post a Comment