The background of Katsunin-ken

Explanatory Plate of a Former Katsunin-Ken Monument

We can learn the background of the erection of the Katsunin-ken
monument from the engraved statement on an accompanying monument
entitled “Seitoku Katsunin-ken Hi,” which means “The monument honoring
the virtue of Katsunin-ken.” This statement was written by its main supporter,
Buddhist monk, Hioki Mokusen, the 48th Master of Kasuisai temple. Hewrote that the monument was erected for the repose of the war dead of theSino-Japanese War (1894-5) as well as in honor of Dr. Susumu Sato,
Surgeon General of the Imperial Japanese Army at the time of the war, andsubsequently the 3rd President of Juntendo Medical University, who averted
a national crisis with the help of his knowledge of medicine. In March 1895
(in the 28th year of the Meiji Era), Mr. Li Hong Zhang, Imperial
Commissioner of the Qing Empire who was visiting Japan, was shot by ascoundrel and seriously injured in the face while on his way back from apeace conference venue. This was a horrible incident that rocked the nation.
It was then when Dr. Sato was given an order by Emperor Meiji that headministered medical treatment to Li. On the two-tiered, cylindrical-shaped
pedestal of the monument, this was engraved: “While Li’s injury was healing

nicely, there was the following conversation between Li and Sato. Li asked
Sato, who was attending him, always wearing a sword with his uniform,‘Doctors do not need a sword, do they?’ to which Sato immediately answered,‘This is what we call “Katsunin-ken” or a healing-sword, which constantly
fights against all kinds of diseases and will never fail to defeat them.’ Thesewords deeply moved Li.” The statement on the cylindrical-shaped pedestal
was written by Ouchi Seiran (1845-1919), a religionist who was famous forhaving compiled the “Shushogi” Buddhist textbook.
Later, the story about Katsunin-ken became publicly talked-about as alaudable anecdote. Incidentally, what prompted Sato to make such a cleverriposte? This was because he had learned Zen from a Zen Master, Nishiari
Bokuzan (1821-1910), a predecessor of Hioki Mokusen of Kasuisai temple.
Hioki Mokusai, feeling a profound bond between the Katsunin-ken andKasuisai temple, proposed the erection of the Katsunin-ken monument. Thesword part was designed by Koun Takamura (1852-1934), a renowned
sculptor of the Meiji Era. However, it was delivered to the government for
war purposes during World War II. The remains were only a cylindricalshaped pedestal and an accompanying monument on which a Chinese poem
which had been bestowed on Sato by Li as a token of gratitude, and theengraved background about the Katsunin-ken.
In his Chinese poem (of eight lines, each of seven Chinese characters), Li
expressed his predicament of those days, making a Chinese historicalallusion, and at the same time praising Sato, showing his appreciation byappropriating the Chinese golden maxim: “Recovery thanks to a medicalvirtuoso.”
For the re-erection, we asked a modern master swordsmith, Prof. Ryohei
Miyata, a former President of Tokyo University of the Arts (appointed as acommissioner of the Agency for Cultural Affairs from April 2016) to forge
a new sword. Then we moved the monument beside the temple gate, a scenic
spot, and restored the former site and its surroundings of Katsunin-ken
monument to proper order.
In March 2016 (in the 28th year of the Heisei Era)
Katsunin-ken Re-erection Committee