[Japanese medicines studied by Hepburn, an American missionary, in 1860s]

In the last days of the Tokugawa shogunate when Japan was opened its door to trade, J.C. Hepburn came to Japan, and he contributed to the modernization of Japan as a missionary, a doctor and an instructor. His great academic achievement was publishing a Japanese-English and English-Japanese dictionary. The dictionary contained words which were generally used in those days. It is said that it was way of living and culture in Japan as seen by an American. Words about medicine show the conditions of the business of medicine in those days. Until 1889 a pharmacist was not professionalized yet, nor was the separation of dispensary from medical practice effective. As most of doctors were Chinese herb doctors, there was not the word "MD." As Chinese doctors were the leading ones, lots of words about herb were mentioned. We can find only a few words about chemicals. The common people used patent medicine such as Daranisuke, Mankintan. Less than 100 years, sorts of medicine in Japan have changed to those of medicine in Western countries.