Sagara Tomoyasu

Sagara Tomoyasu (相良知安) was a ranpōi, or a doctor who used medical techniques learned from Dutch traders, from Saga Prefecture, Japan. He learned from a Dutch doctor named Bowdoin who advised the Meiji government to adopt the techniques of German medicine, which they consequently did. In the early days of the Meiji era, he was involved in medical administration, and was the Medical Affairs Bureau Chief of the Ministry of Education).

Afterwards, he got poor and lived in a slum with a girlfriend, and became an augur for harlots. In 1906, he suffered from influenza and died alone. An Imperial envoy was sent to his home to offer saishiryō, or a monetary offering to a departed spirit. The people who lived in the neighborhood could not understand why the envoy of the emperor came to the poor elderly. His grave is at the Jōryu Temple in Saga, Saga Prefecture. He was named the Buddhist name (kaimyo) of 鉄心院覚道知安居士.

A monument honoring Sagara was raised at Tokyo University. Ishiguro Tadanori, a doctor in the Imperial Japanese Army, drafted the text.