From 1823 to 1829 Philipp Franz von Siebold taught Western medicine in Japan. This was a remarkable achievement in a world in which far-away destinations were by no means easy to reach. It is thanks to Siebold that the Netherlands and Europe came to know more about Japanese culture.
During his time in Japan, Siebold collected artefacts, described the local flora and fauna in minute detail and was the first to bring Japanese plants, such as the well-known hydrangea, to the Netherlands.
Siebold studied medicine in his native German town of Wurzburg and graduated in 1820. In 1823 he was dispatched as military physician to the only Western trade post in Japan, on the man-made island of Decima, off the coast of Nagasaki.
Westerners were generally not allowed to leave the island, but given Siebold’s expertise in the field of medicine, the Japanese scientists were particularly interested in his professional knowledge. They invited him to teach them about the Western understanding of medicine. Through these lessons, Siebold in turn learned a lot about Japanese culture.
After he successfully cured a high Japanese official of a serious illness, Siebold was allowed, as an exception, to visit the rest of Japan. The then highest Japanese ruler (the Shogun) even asked him to found a medical school, which Siebold did. At this school, Japanese physicians were introduced to medical techniques such as vaccination, that had so far only been used in the West, and to the extensive Western knowledge of circulation and anatomy.
In the course of all these activities Siebold built up an incredible collection of plants, animals, arts and artefacts. He fell in love with a Japanese woman and had a daughter by her. However, Japanese law meant that the couple were unable marry. Siebold’s daughter later became the first female physician in Japan.
In 1829 Siebold returned to the Netherlands, but he was only allowed to take with him his dog, Sakura. His beloved partner and daughter were forced to remain in Japan. He visited his family on a number of occasions between 1859 and 1863. His entire collection moved together with him to Leiden, where he settled. The largest part of his botanical collection found its way to the Leiden Hortus Botanicus. Much of his ethnographic collection was donated to the National Museum of Ethnology in Leiden.
King William II supported Siebold’s work financially, made him his adviser on Japanese affairs, and elevated him to the rank of peer. But Siebold was disappointed in the Dutch ‘mercantile attitude’. He himself found a cultural approach to the relationship with Japan to be much more interesting and important. This explains why Siebold ultimately left the Netherlands and returned to his native Germany. He died in Munich in 1866.
Siebold’s name continues to live on in Leiden. In 2005 the Japan Museum SieboldHuis was officially opened by Queen Beatrix and the Japanese Emperor in Von Siebold’s former home on the Rapenburg. The SieboldHuis is devoted to Siebold’s primary area of interest: Japanese culture.
