History of Traditional Japanese Pediatrics and Their Applications to Modern Pediatrics

2020 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K12273
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 01080:Sociology of science, history of science and technology-related
• Research Institution: Nagoya University
• Principal Investigator: Kawashima Nozomu 名古屋大学, 医学部附属病院, 助教 (30772264)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-04-01 – 2021-03-31
• Keywords: 小児伝統医学 / 漢方医学 / 小児科学 / 医史学 / 系統樹 / 古典籍 / 光学文字認識 / 電子テキスト翻刻

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Traditional Kampo pediatrics has been incorporated into modern pediatrics in Japan. However, the historical context leading to this integrative pediatrics has not been clarified. This study aimed to understand Japanese pediatrics through establishing an electrical bibliography on pediatric classics in Japan.
First, texts of studies on Japanese pediatrics were comprehensively digitized. Then, a bibliographic list of Kampo pediatrics was established. A new seamless system to generate high-grade electronic texts from images of classics was also established, and the data were edited by professionals in medicine and literature, which produced 11 classics containing precise text data. A database on Japanese classical pediatrics is currently under construction.
Through this study, kambakutaisoto was prescribed for pediatric night crying and parasomnia, and it was shown to be safe and effective in a clinical study among currently hospitalized children.

Free Research Field

小児科学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

これまでの小児科史を含む医史学的研究は、医書の解題と翻刻を行い定性的な書誌学情報を得て比較検討する方法が主流であるため歴代医書の情報を並列処理することは困難であった。小児科・漢方専門医でもある研究代表者は漢方医書の病名と方剤が医書の種類や時代、流派に関係なく記載がみられることに着目して、古典の電子テキスト化とデータベース構築が定量的な小児科史の理解に繋がると仮説を立てた。医学古典に特化して書影から正確な電子テキストを作出するシステムを初めて構築して11文献を電子テキスト化したことで医史学の深化に貢献した。そのデータから新たな治療法シーズが得られたことでも意義深いと考えられる。