The Imperial FamilyActivities of Their Majesties the Emperor and Empress and other Members of the Imperial FamilyTheir Majesties the Emperor Emeritus and Empress EmeritaAddresses and Press Conferences by Their Majesties the Emperor and Empress until April 30, 2019Addresses by their Majesties the Emperor and EmpressAddress by Her Majesty the Empress (2002)
On the auspicious day of the 100th anniversary of the foundation of the Japan Medical Women's Association, I am very happy to attend the Anniversary Celebration and meet the President of the Medical Women's International Association Dr. Shelley Ross and the women doctors and other persons concerned who have gathered here from all over Japan.
Women practicing medicine have from ancient times existed in Japan. The title "woman doctor" appears already in the Ryonogige, an expositional commentary on the Taiho Code, which was completed in 701. It is also said that in the first half of the 8th century a professional title was adopted, that of the "nyoihakase", for those who trained and fostered women physicians. At the beginning of the Edo period (1603-1867), the names of two or three private physicians, including En Nonaka are recorded, and at the end of the Edo period the daughter of Dr. Philipp Franz von Siebold, Ineko Kusumoto, who had studied Dutch medicine, left her mark in the history of Japanese women doctors. However, it is a well known fact that since the beginning of the Meiji period when modern medical methods were adopted and various administrative systems were set in place, women, though possessed of the appropriate qualifications, have faced a long and difficult history in establishing a position for themselves in society as female medical practitioners. At the time of the foundation of the Japan Medical Women's Association in 1902, there were approximately 100 women, including such figures as Ogino Ginko, who were officially licensed to practice medicine and who became women doctors. However, in those days it was not at all easy for women to be accepted as medical practitioners. It is truly moving to imagine how women doctors from all around the country gathered together under the name of the Japan Medical Women's Association, to exchange medical information and engage in debate, in pursuit of their goal to become better medical practitioners and offer one another encouragement.
Over the course of its hundred-year history, the Japan Medical Women's Association has continued its activities with the aim of improving the quality of its members as doctors and making women doctors even more beneficial to the welfare of society as a whole. Over the last forty years, in addition to supporting academic research conducted by young women doctors, the Association has valued highly the work of those women doctors who have made an outstanding medical contribution or performed services to society through medical care, expressing its appreciation to the work of these people through the presentation of awards. I imagine how strongly the recipients of those awards, named after such distinguished women doctors as Yoshioka Yayoi and Ogino Ginko, were encouraged and that this stimulated them on to further research and medical activities. I am also very happy to know that since its early years, the Japan Medical Women's Association has emphasised the importance of public health, and that it has continued to support activities in this area. I would like to mention here the name of Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell, the first female medical practitioner of the modern era. Dr. Blackwell founded the Women's Medical College and initiated an unprecedented course for preventive medicine and was herself responsible for its course in hygiene. It has been said that Dr. Blackwell was of the opinion that no new remedies would ever take the place of sound prevention: thus arousing public interest in hygiene science, public health and preventive medicine. I suppose that today after more than a hundred years since Blackwell's time these fundamentals of medicine have remained unchanged, and I sincerely hope that the members of the Japan Medical Women's Association will continue their efforts to protect the people from disease in Japan and in the various regions around the world, and exert their considerable capabilities to ensure that people may enjoy a sound and healthy life.
On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the foundation of the Japan Medical Women's Association, I believe that many of you here, while reflecting on the past, are now considering how the Japan Medical Women's Association can apply itself in the future. Given that we are today in the era of gender equality, with equal opportunities for all, to consider the raison d'etre of the Japan Medical Women's Association will raise important issues such as how to conceptualize both the rights and the characteristics of women in the future, and I do not think that the answers to these issues will be uniform. I would like to continue to follow the activities of the Japan Medical Women's Association and hope that the Association, with its long history, will create a future form for itself as each member seeks ways in which the Association can play an even more significant role in the future.
Expressing my deepest gratitude to you all, who, in your demanding position as doctors, devote yourselves to your daily tasks, I with all my heart pray for the continued health and happiness of all of you and of all the members of the Medical Women's Associations around the world.
Thank you.
