MINIREVIEW SERIES FOR THE 50TH
VOLUME
Taiei Miura and Franco-Japanese friendship in psychiatry
Kenichi Takemasa
Professor Emeritus of Kyorin University, President of Medical Society Franco-Japanese, Jiundo-Naika HospitalTokyo, Japan(Received for publication on November 4, 2000)

Abstract. Japanese medicine enthusiastically adopted many aspects of Western medicine, especially
German, during and after Japan's modernization. After the war, the policy giving priority to German
medicine changed greatly, and American medicine replaced German medicine in postwar days. Somepeople, however, question whether it is proper to get medical information one-sidedly from a single
country. Faced with the situation of whether German or American medicine should occupy the dominant position in Japan, some doctors chose to establish ties with French medicine. Professor Taiei
Miura (1901±1995) re-established an intimate relationship, broken off during the war, in the medical®eld between Japan and France. Much information was to be learned from French medicine, particularly in clinical neurology and psychiatry. In this essay, we relate the details of how Miura became
interested in French medicine, went to study in France, then contributed greatly to Franco-Japanesefriendship. (Keio J Med 50 (1): 8±12, March 2001)
Key words: French medicine, Medical Society Franco-Japanese (Franco-Japanese medical relationship)

became interested in French medicine, went to study
in France, then contributed greatly to Franco-Japanesefriendship, mainly in neuropsychiatry, his specialty, andin other medical departments after returning to Japan.

Faced with the situation of whether German orAmerican medicine should occupy the dominant position in Japan, some doctors chose to establish ties withFrench medicine. Professor Taiei Miura (1901±1995),
who contributed much to Japanese medicine afterWorld War II, re-established an intimate relationship,broken off during the war, in the medical ®eld between
Japan and France. This international relationship wasespecially developed at the medical faculty of Keio
University, from which Miura graduated.
Much information was to be learned from French
medicine, particularly in clinical neurology and psychiatry. There were thus doctors who wanted to go toFrance to study in these ®elds. Miura guided andencouraged young doctors to study in France in neurology and psychiatry and in other medical ®elds. Many
doctors went to France to specialize in internal medicine, surgery, orthopedics, obstetrics and gynecology,radiology, otolaryngology, and neurophysiology. They
conducted unique research, achieved clinically goodresults, and matured into educators and clinicians. This
story is worthy of wider dissemination.
In this essay, we relate the details of how Miura

Taiei Miura was born in Nagaoka, Niigata Prefecture, in 1901. His father, Taihaku, was also a medical
practitioner. Taiei was the eldest son. His grandfather,Taichu, was a doctor assigned to a feudal lord. TheMiuras had been doctors for generations. In 1919, after®nishing Nagaoka Higher School (now Nagaoka SeniorHigh School), he entered the premedical course at Keio
Gijuku University, whose medical department had justbeen founded. Although most students wanted to enter
national universities, he chose a private university.
When asked why, he replied that he was impressed with
the independence and self-respect spirit of the university's founder, Yukichi Fukuzawa.
He graduated with honors in 1925 as one of themembers of the medical faculty's third graduating class,and was awarded the Nakagami Prize by the University.
While a university student, he became a Catholicthrough activities in a society dedicated to disseminat-Reprint requests to: Dr. Kenichi Takemasa, Jiundo-Naika Hospital, 4-14-53 Sekimachiminami, Nerima-ku, Tokyo 177-0053, Japan8

Keio J Med 2001; 50 (1): 8±12ing Catholicism. It would seem that his faith and study
in France played a major role in the formation of hisideas and his attitudes toward scholarship.
Concerning research, he was interested in the function of the central nervous system and human mentalactivity. Upon graduation, he entered the departmentof physiology, which was under the leadership ofProfessor Genichi Kato, who engaged in the studyof neurophysiology. Three years later, he presented
the results of his investigations in a thesis entitled``The stimulation of a paralyzed muscle'' (1928), whichearned him the degree of Doctor of Medicine. He became a member of the Department of Neuropsychiatry,
whose chair was Professor Shichikuro Uematsu, planning to train and study as a clinician of psychiatry in thesame year.
The theme of his early research activities was stillconnected with neurophysiology, for instance, chronaxy. He published papers ± ``Symptomatic constitutionof pure alexia'' in 1932 and ``Supplement to the symptom of pure alexia'' in 1933. His work attracted
increasing attention in the ®eld of clinical study. In
particular, his name became wellknown with the publication of a translated version (1931) of ``Introduction aÁl'eÂtude de la meÂdecine expeÂrimentale'' (1865) by Claude
Bernard, who rendered remarkable service in the establishment of concepts and methodology in medicalresearch. This book has been widely read by many
people wrestling with medical study or clinical work.
The book was published by the prestigious IwanamiBunko, and has gone through several editions from1938 to the present.
Miura went to France in 1935 when he wasappointed as a lecturer of neuropsychiatry at Keio
University, having deeply admired French medicine
through Claude Bernard and the pro®ciency in French
shown in his translation. Miura remained in Francefrom 1935 to 1937, conducting clinical studies andacquiring much information in neurology and psychiatry in Paris. He visited such medical facilities as AsileSainte-Anne, Saint-Joseph, and SalpeÃtrieÁre. More
importantly, he made French friends and met Frenchteachers. They included scholars and clinicians such asJ. de Ajuriaguerra, P. Guiraud, AndreÁs-Thomas, andJ. Lehrmitte. According to Miura, he learned clinicalneurology especially from AndreÁs-Thomas who wasfamed as a clinical expert in pediatric neurology. Twoyears later, after returning to Japan, Miura produced abook, ``Diagnosis and treatment of neurology'' (Homeido, Tokyo, 1939) ± a preeminent work at that time ±based on the results of his study of French clinical neurology. This book was received favorably by majorclinicians because he laid weight on the clinical aspects,
whereas German neurology predominating in Japanthen emphasized the histopathology of nervous sys-9tems. Among the fruits of his work in psychiatry, several papers and reviews were successively published.
These major works include ``Actual studies of hallucination in the French school'' (1937), ``Mental automatism'' (1939), and ``Bergson and modern psychiatry''(1950). He thus eagerly introduced the French school'sview to Japanese psychiatry at a time when German
psychiatry was generally dominant and centered its
concepts on Kraepelin.
As mentioned above, Miura made many friends andcreated an internationally friendly relationship during
his 2 years of study in France. A particularly close relationship with Professor Pierre Pichot deserves mention. Prof. P. Pichot has played a great part in the postwar Franco-Japanese relationship in psychiatry sincearound 1950. Miura lived in the Maison du Japon
located in the CiteÂ Internationale Universitaire, andPichot also stayed there as a medical student during
Miura's study in Paris from 1935 to 1937. Pichot later
chaired the Department of Psychiatry, University ofParis, and served as president of the World Psychiatric
Association. The friendship starting at the Maison duJapon lasted long after World War II and came to havegreat signi®cance in the amity in psychiatry between thetwo nations.
P. Pichot, in an essay (1995) in mourning for Miura,
wrote as follows recollecting the days of 1936: ``. . . inJapan under the in¯uence of the German school inneuropsychiatry, the concepts of Kraepelin and Jaspers
occupied an important position, but Miura broke withthis custom and built a relationship between France andJapan. Miura and I made one another's acquaintance inSeptember 1936 when I had just arrived in Paris frommy hometown to study medicine. By chance, I wasgiven a room at the Maison du Japon in the CiteÂ International Universitaire. Taiei Miura had been there for ayear. He was elected chairman of the student committee of the Maison du Japon because of his active andenergetic vitality, which he continued to maintainthroughout his life. I still keep a photo from those days,
when it was the custom to take one each year on thestone steps at the entrance of the Maison du Japon. In
the photo, we are dressed up, and he stands smiling at
the center of our group, . . .'' (Fig. 1).
Born in La Roche sur Yon, France, in 1918, P. Pichot
entered the medical faculty, University of Paris, in 1936,
after elementary and secondary education in Renne.
He met Miura at the Maison du Japon in the CiteÂ
Internationale Universitaire the second year after Miurareached Paris from Tokyo as a scholarship student of
the French Government. Not long thereafter, WorldWar II started in Europe in 1939 and in Japan in 1941.
Pichot served in the army during the war. He graduatedfrom the medical faculty, University of Paris, and became head doctor of wards at the Department of Psy-

10Takemasa K: Taie Miura and Franco-Japanese friendship

Fig. 1Dr. Taiei Miura at maison du Japon in Paris (1936).

chiatry, University of Paris, after the war in 1948. He
then taught psychopathology at the Institute of Psychology, Sorbonne, University of Paris. In 1955, he became
professor agreÂreÂ of psychiatry, and in 1965, professor ofclinical psychology. In 1971, accepting the post of chairof the Psychiatric Department (Clinique des Maladies
Mentales et de l'EnceÂphale), University of Paris, he succeeded J. Delay in supervising the Department. From1972, he served as chief of the Clinical Psychology Section, CNRS France; as a member of a special committee
on psychopharmacology at the Ministry of Health andWelfare; as a member of a special committee related topsychiatry, WHO; from 1977 to 1983; and as presidentof the World Psychiatric Association (WPA). While hewas president of the WPA, he heartily supported theinternational activities of Japanese psychiatry in variousrespects.
Miura ®nished his 2 years of study in France andreturned to Japan in 1937. World War II broke out with
the German invasion of Poland in 1939, and of France in
1940, then continued until 1945. The Franco-Japanese
medical friendship was interrupted by the war, in which
the 2 countries were adversaries. When South Indochina, colonized by France, came under Japanese army
control, Miura was sent there as a professor of Nanyo-gakuin because of his experience of staying in France.
In 1940, he began to work at St. John Sakuramachi
Hospital for tuberculosis patients, set up a psychiatry
section, and grappled with hospital administration. He
participated simultaneously in activities as an executive
member of the Tokyo Medical Association and in theestablishment of the Catholic Medical Association ofJapan.
With the end of the war, the Franco-Japanese medical relationship was revived, largely thanks to Miura'sefforts. The students of the medical faculty of Keio
University often visited him, asking for instruction,although he was not in the university teaching profession but merely a hospital clinician.
Masaharu Tsuchiya, Professor Emeritus of internal
medicine, looked back those days and mused, ``In myschool days (1950) there was a gathering called Foyer
de nos copain to study French in the medical faculty ofKeio University. This gathering's seminar on French
medicine used to be held at Sakuramachi Hospitalwhere Dr. Miura worked. In those days, Dr. Miura waswell known for his translation of ``Introduction to experimental medicine,'' the great work of Claude Bernard. Miura was a clinician, not on the teaching staff ofthe university at that time, but he was something morethan an ordinary clinician. Once when preparing for aKeio J Med 2001; 50 (1): 8±12

11seminar, students assembled at his home and waited for
him to return from his rounds. He returned home andtold us, ``On the way to rounds, I was thinking about
what Claude Bernard said, `conserver la santeÂ, gueÂrir lamaladie,' which means `medicine is learning to keep
healthy and cure illness.' We were impressed by hearing him talk about the philosophy of medicine, eventhough he was only a home doctor.''Many of the doctors studying under Miura thus went
on to study in France. Of course, their specialties were
not limited to neurology and psychiatry, Miura's ®eldsof specialization. Takuro Sugano, who specialized inorthopedics and later taught French medical terminology at the Franco-Japanese Institute, went to France tostudy in 1950. In 1956, Eiichi Sugaya, whose specialty
was neurophysiology and who later became a professor
at Tokyo Dental College, and Masaharu Tsuchiya, wholater became a professor of internal medicine at Keio
University, visited France to study aggressology underJ. ReiIIy in 1957. Masaharu Toyoda (gynecology,1958), Akira Kawamura (internal medicine, 1958),
Yasuo Fujishiro (surgery, 1959), Shozo Hashimoto (radiology, 1960) and Tadayoshi Akiba (internal medicine, 1960) successively visited France to study. Thesituation continues on down to the present time.

France, Sato, and others. In 1935, the Bulletin Medical
Franco-Japonais was issued under the editorship of Dr.
Jean Motte and Dr. Taiei Miura. The ComiteÂ MeÂdical
Franco-Japonais held a medical exhibition on France,
creating a ``French medicine boom.'' Miura left for
Paris to study when the society was established, when
the bulletin was issued, and when interest in French
medicine was growing in Japan. As already touchedon, the relation between France and Japan was thenbroken off by the war.
In 1948, Miura resurrected the Medical Society
Franco-Japanese in cooperation with Secretary Ureyof the French Embassy, Dr. Akira Hidano, and others,
and became president of the Society. The bulletin
started being reissued with the ®rst number in January
1954. The ®rst volume, ®rst number, of the bulletin,edited by Taiei Miura, Yasunobu Suzuki, Yoichi
Yamaguchi, Takuro Sugano, and Akira Hidano, presented French medical literature extensively in every
clinical department. Papers carried included ``Presentstate of viral study in France'' by Yasuichi Nagano,``Taking a glance at the hospital and medical school inFrance'' by Takuro Sugano, and ``Partial parotitis'' byProfessor Dechaume translated by Yasunobu Suzuki(Fig. 2).

Succeeding Prof. Shichikuro Uematsu, Miura became professor of neuropsychiatry at Keio University(1953). From before that time, as president of theMedical Society Franco-Japanese and a Japanese examiner for scholarship students of French Government,
he continued to work to arrange for young clinicians
and researchers at Japanese universities to study inFrance. After becoming professor, he zealously doubled
his efforts in this task.
A brief comment now is due on the history of theMedical Society Franco-Japanese. The inception of theSociety began in 1926, when Prof. Charles Achard cameto Japan and stated his intention of establishing theMedical Society Franco-Japanese to a group of Japanese doctors who took an interest in French medicine.
The intention was realized in 1932. Staying for a time atthe Maison Franco Japonaise in Tokyo, Dr. Jean Motte,a botanist and medical doctor, continued with thepreparation for the founding of the society, after muchconsultation with Kinnosuke Miura, Mataro Nagayo,
Ryukichi Hashida, Hiroshige Shiota, and others whowere representatives of the Japanese Medical Society.
They planned to establish a nationwide society, in addition to the Kansai Medical Society Franco-Japanese,
which was already in existence. In 1934, the ComiteÂ
MeÂdical Franco-Japonais was started at the University
Graduates' Club of Tokyo in the presence of Dr. de laMorandieÁre, who was president of Maison FrancoJaponaise, Kinnosuke Miura, Japanese Ambassador toIn 1954, the French Government conferred the Order Chevalier of the Legion of Honnour for Miura's
services in Franco-Japanese friendship in all medicaldepartments.
In neuropsychiatry, Miura's specialty amicable ties
existed with Jean Delay, who chaired of the University of Paris in postwar days, Paul Guiraud of Ste.
Anne, and Prof. Jean Lehrmitte of SalpeÃtrieÁre. Above
all, P. Pichot, who had been prof. agreÂgeÂ under Delay
since 1955, played an important part in the 2 nations'friendship, as it was already being referred to. With regard to the visits to France of so many young psychiatrists after the 1950s, P. Pichot's service was indispensable.
Many doctors from Keio University going to France
included Shigeru Horiuchi, who went there immediately after his graduation in 1954, Kiyoshi Suzuki, whostudied the mental health system in France in 1958;
Kenichi Takemasa, who went in 1963 for the purpose ofclinical study in the Department of Psychiatry, University of Paris; and Hiroaki Kohno, who went in 1967 forthe clinical study of alcoholism. The following is a partial list of the doctors who went to France from theDepartment of Neuropsychiatry, Keio University:
Prof. Shunichiro Hayashi (clinical psychiatry, Paris,1969)
Prof. Tohru Oguchi (clinical psychiatry, Paris, 1968)
Prof. Yasuo Unai (clinical psychiatry, Paris, 1969)
Prof. Junichiro Akai (neuropathology, Lyon, 1970)

12Takemasa K: Taie Miura and Franco-Japanese friendshipDr. Michinori Nakayama (clinical psychiatry, Paris,1988)
A total of 40 medical doctors from Keio University
School of Medicine went to France from the 1950s to1990. Of these, 17 belonged to the Department ofNeuropsychiatry.
Miura visited France in 1961 as president of theMedical Society Franco-Japanese at the invitation ofComiteÂ MeÂdical France-Japon de Paris whose president
was Prof. Robert Monod of the University of Paris andthe French International Bureau of the Ministry ofForeign Affairs. In France, Miura was welcomedwarmly by Prof. J. Delay, Prof. agreÂgeÂ P. Pichot, andthe other professors. He negotiated for a Japanese student reception with the above-mentioned bureau, andthey reached agreement. He then, lectured on the subject connected with psychiatry and a case report ofneurological diseases, and visited the universities ofLyon, Marseilles, Montpellier, and Bordeaux.

Fig. 2Bulletin MeÂdical Franco-japonais.

Dr. Kazuhiro Ogita (psychopharmacology, Chambery, 1970)
Dr. Nobuo Ohtsuka (psychopharmacology, Lyon,Paris, 1971)
Dr. Satoru Saito (clinical psychiatry, Paris, 1973)
Dr. Itaru Tominaga (clinical psychiatry, Lyon, 1973)
Dr. Naohiro Fujimura (clinical psychiatry, Paris,1974)
Dr. Hiromune Yoshida (clinical psychiatry, Paris,1976)
Dr. Hidemichi Hamada (clinical psychiatry, Paris,1979)
Dr. Yasuo Fujii (psychopharmacology, Chambery,1985)

Miura, playing an important role in the introductionof French medicine to Japan, particularly in the FrancoJapanese medical relationship after World War II,
retired from Keio University in 1967. He was succeeded
as president of the Medical Society Franco-Japanese byProf. Tatsuo Kobayashi of the University of Chiba in1971. In 1975, the Japanese Government conferred onhim the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette, for his service in the development in Japanese
medicine. Miura's international activities in the medical®eld were mainly promoted in the Medical Society
Franco-Japanese. In addition to this, he contributed toestablishing the Medical Association Italy and Japan;
the Order of Commendatore deÂl Ordine was conferredon him by the Italian Government in 1962. He also
worked to establish the Congress of the Asian-Catholic
Medical Association as President of the Catholic Medical Association of Japan in 1968.
References1)
2)

Kobayashi T: Cinquantenaire de la Maison franco-japonaise et laSocieÂteÂ franco-japonaise de MeÂdecine. Bulletin MeÂdical Francojaponais 1974; T14(34): 1±3
Takemasa K: Professeur Taiei MIURA (1901±1995), BulletinMeÂdical Franco-japonais 1999; T23(1): 1±8