Volume 8, May 2017

The main presentation (in Japanese) was Professor Andrew Edmund Goble’s “Chūkinsei ikōki no toshi ni okeru iryō bunka no tenkai – ‘machi i’ Yamashina Tokitsune to Tenma, Rokujō Honganji jinai wo chūshin ni (The Development of Urban Medical Culture in the Medieval and Early Modern Transition Period – Focusing on the Town Physician Yamashina Tokit-sune and the Honganji Temple Towns of Tenma and Rokujō).” This was followed by comments from Senior Researcher Dr. Umihara Ryō (Sumitomo Historical Archives) and Prof. Hiroshi Niki (Osaka City University). Goble’s presentation was on an area of research which has been virtually unexplored by Japanese scholars. His research is well supported by close reading of materials and offers a new perspective. It is a significant contribution to the field.

In response to the presentation, there were lively discussions around such topics as the social bonds surrounding medical treatment and the provision of medicines, and both the general and more particular characteristics of urban society that we find in the temple districts. For reference, the report on the proceedings of this meeting may be found in Nihonshi Kenkyū (Journal of Japanese History), Number 651 (November 2016), pp. 79-80.

This Special Number is based on an English translation of Goble’s revised original presentation for the above meeting of the medieval and early modern sections, and the comments from Dr. Umihara and Prof. Niki.