Tezuka Ryosen (手塚良仙)
Brief Personal History
He was born to Ryosen TEZUKA (his father), who worked as a Ranpoi (a person who studied Western medicine by means of the Dutch language) in Edo (current Tokyo) and as a doctor at a public clinic of Hitachifuchu Domain in Hitachi Province. He became a disciple of Koan OGATA and studied at Tekijuku (a school for Dutch studies in Osaka) lead by Ogata.. He made friends with Yukichi FUKUZAWA and others.
He returned to Edo and founded Shutosho (a vaccination institute) at Otamagaike in cooperation with Shunsai OTSUKI and Genboku ITO.
Having succeeded to his father's name Ryosen, he became an exclusive doctor to the quarters of foot soldiers in the Edo bakufu (Japanese feudal government headed by a shogun), and after the Meiji Restoration, he served as a medical officer in the Imperial Japanese Army.
(Officers of the rank of captain)
While he served in the Satsuma Rebellion, he was stricken with diarrhea in the Kyushu region, and died in the army hospital in Nagasaki.
Book
"Ninpu Sessei Ryakko" (A brief regimen for pregnant women)
Others
In later years, Osamu TEZUKA, his great-grandchild, wrote a biographical manga (cartoon) titled, 'Hidamari no ki' (Trees in the sun) featuring Ryosen TEZUKA as one of the main characters. The story is written based on a historical fact embroidered with factious stories.
Ryosen TEZUKA also appears as one of the characters in "Fuunjitachi Bakumatsu-hen" (The Lucky Adventurers at The End of Edo Period) written by a Japanese manga artist Taro MINAMOTO,
It was a long-running, historically themed serial gag strip, in which the artist rendered faces in a manner rather similar to that of Osamu TEZUKA (Ryosen's great-grandchild and a famous manga artist).