Tsuboi Shinryo

The grave of Tsuboi Shinryô (right), alongside that of his son Tsuboi Shôgorô, and Shôgorô's wife Naoko, at Somei Cemetery in Tokyo

• Born: 1823/8/28
• Died: 1904/11/9
• Japanese: 坪井信良 (Tsuboi Shinryou)

Tsuboi Shinryô was a Rangaku medical scholar of the Bakumatsu and Meiji periods, and the father of Tsuboi Shôgorô, known as one of the "fathers" of Japanese anthropology.

Shinryô was born in Takaoka, Etchû province, the second son of Sado Yôjun. He began studying medicine under Koishi Genzui in Kyoto in 1840, and later studied under Tsuboi Shindô in Edo and Ogata Kôan in Osaka, before being adopted by Tsuboi Shindô in 1844/9.

He later served as domain physician and educator at the han school of Fukui han, under lord of Fukui, Matsudaira Shungaku, before becoming an assistant scholar at the Tokugawa shogunate's Bansho shirabesho. He became a physician in service to the shogunate in 1864, and was shortly afterwards bestowed the title of hôgen.

Shinryô established the first medical magazine in Japan in 1873, the Waran iji zasshi, and published a number of other works as well over the course of his career. The magazine lasted 43 issues, ending in December 1875. Meanwhile, Shinryô was named head of the Tokyo Prefectural Hospital in December 1874, and retired three years later.

References

• "Tsuboi Shinryô," Asahi Nihon rekishi jinbutsu jiten, Asahi Shimbunsha.