Past research on Siebold and his contribution to acupuncture, such as seen in Ootori Ransaburo's work among others, relied either on documents translated into Dutch by Siebold's disciples or on Ishizaka Sotetsu's original Japanese text : Chiyo-ichigen. However, the latter was published after Siebold had actually requested its translation of his disciple Mima Junzo. Therefore past research has not been able to identify what the original text the Dutch translations are based on. From our analysis of Ishizaka Sotetsu's acupuncture manuscripts held in the Leiden University Library, we came to the conclusion that they were originally written by Sotetsu and given to Siebold during his journey to Edo and are thus the original texts used for the Dutch translation. We also argue that the acupuncture texts held in the National Museum of Ethnology were probably also given to Siebold by Ishizaka Sotetsu.

This article analyzes the Okada Documents that were kept by the descendents of Okada Shôshun (1827-97) for over a hundred years and recently became available for scholarly use. In the existing scholarship, Okada Shôshun was considered merely one of many practitioners of East Asian medicine in the early Meiji period. His family background was obscure. This study of the newly emerged documents shows that his family practiced medicine for six generations-from the mid-Edo until the Meiji period-and produced medical administrators in the Bakufu. Also, a book on pharmaceuticals preserved in the Documents and written by his adoptive father, Shôseki, reveals that the family originally specialized in surgery. In addition, because Shôshun studied at the Bakufu's official medical school, Igakkan, under the guidance of the Taki family, the Documents include rare books such as Taki Motonori's “Rankei sensei yakushitsu kijô” (draft), Taki Motoyasu's “Isekikô” (the first draft), “Byômei san, ” and “Qianjin yueling.” Since the mid-1870s, Shôshun participated earnestly in the movement to preserve East Asian medicine and was particularly close to Asada Sôhaku (1815-94). The Documents include Sôhaku's medical essay (untitled), a book manuscript written by Shôshun with commentary by Sôhaku, and sixty-two letters that were exchanged between Shôshun and Sôhaku.

On one hand a matchless Kampo clinician, on the other a dedicated collector of antique books, Otsuka Yoshinori (1900-1980) left for posterity his immense personal library: The Shukindo bunko. We at the Medical History Department (Kitasato Research Institute) have organized and catalogued Otsuka's library. In addition to our announcement of the completion of the catalogue, we wish to introduce a summary of his life and his collection.
I. Brief biography/achievements/the person
1) the origins of the Shukindo, 2) medical specialization in Kumamoto, 3) opening a clinic in Kochi, 4) to the capital to study Kampo, 5) clinical research and educational pursuits, 6) the dispersal of the library during the war and the post-war Nishi Ogikubo years.
II. Shukindo bunko
1) the order of things, 2) the special nature of the collection, 3) the prominence of the ‘Shang Han Lun’ and ‘Jin Kui Yao Lue’ texts, 4)the substantiality of the Koho-school, 5)the Gosei-school; the Kosho-school; acupuncture and moxibustion texts.