ブックタイトルThe Journal of Humanitarian Studies

概要

The Journal of Humanitarian Studies

Journal of Humanitarian Studies Vol. 4, 2015Society Hospital in Iida-cho. The first year saw ten studentsparticipate and the entrance requirement included healthywomen aged from 20 to 30 years and having graduatedfrom higher elementary school (higher elementary schoolat the time offered education to students up to 14 yearsold) or those with equivalent academic ability. Women’shigher elementary school attendance rate at the time wasapproximately 30%. The subjects included in the entranceexamination were reading, essays, applied questions,transcriptions and arithmetic.Tsunatsune Hashimoto, Director of the Japanese RedCross Society Hospital, was assigned to oversee the nursetraining course of the Japanese Red Cross Society. ThisDisaster relief activities in Noubi region in 1891 by thefirst GraduatescJapanese Red Cross College of Nursingoffers eight subjects: anatomy, physiology, disinfection, nursing care, auxiliary treatment, bandaging, firstaidand transportation of the wounded. Doctors graduated from a special course (teaching German medicalscience, which was adopted in Japan at the time, in Japanese instead of the original language) at the TokyoImperial University Medical School (present-day University of Tokyo), mainly taught these subjects. Theeducation program centered on a three and half-year course in total, eighteen months of which featuredacademic education, followed by two years of practical education. No tuition was required and somemonthly school expenses were provided to students. During the following year, 1891, the hospital wasrelocated from Iida-cho to the current spot in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo and the new hospital was modelled onthe design drawing of Heidelberg University Hospital in Germany, fully equipped to disinfect wastewaterand installed with the newest facilities at the time. Thanks to the newly built Hospital, nursing studentscould enter the dormitory and dedicate themselves to study there.To establish a foundation for the Red Cross activity and a basis for its future development, Tsunetami Sano,President of the Japanese Red Cross Society, planned to establish branches in other prefectures, each ofwhich would then implement nurse training. To train nurses as role models, he launched a system to selectthe best students from branches, who were then educated at the Headquarters’Hospital from the secondbudgestudent admission in October 1890. Accordingly, a total of nine second-budge students, includingfour selected by branches, were admitted to enter the institution. Accordingly, nurse training got underwayin each region in Japan through the efforts of Japanese Red Cross Society branches.The graduates were obliged to respond to emergency calls over a 20 year period since their graduation.Since the Red Cross aims to prepare the nursing personnel required for relief activity in wartime, therequired staff strength is defined based on the number of divisions, which meant no training in some fiscalyears when the required numbers were satisfied. This is a unique characteristic of the Red Cross and notobserved in general training.The graduates played active roles, reflecting the purpose of the Red Cross. During the Sino-Japanese Warbetween 1894 and 1895, the Boxer Rebellion in 1900 and the Russo-Japanese War between 1904 and1905, a number of nurses were mobilized to provide sanitary support to military members. Through thesewartime activities, the existence of the Red Cross and nurses, both of which were relatively unfamiliarconcepts in Japan, were acknowledged and highly acclaimed.Graduates also played key roles in disaster relief, e.g. first-budge students participated in disaster-reliefactivity following the Great Noubi Earthquake, which occurred at the end of October 1891 when theireighteen months of academic education had just finished. Triggered by this event, the Japanese Red CrossSociety prioritizes disaster relief, alongside wartime activity carried out in 1892, as a pillar of its activitiesand has provided relief on various disaster occasions throughout Japan.Moreover, during the period of peace, the graduates boosted medical services in Japan through nursing人道研究ジャーナルVol. 4, 201595