Yayoi Yoshioka and the Formation of Women’s Medical Education Institutions

This study analyzes the events leading to the rise of influential female doctors. After the Meiji Restoration, Japan had to quickly train doctors educated in Western medicine as military doctors to prevent diseases from entering developed nations. Additionally, doctors with public health knowledge were required to combat infectious diseases like cholera and dysentery, which were prevalent throughout the country. Consequently, the Meiji government offered people the opportunity to become doctors through a medical practice exam conducted by the Ministry of Home Affairs in addition to their regular curriculum. However, women were excluded from these programs. Women’s independent research as scientists required extraordinary effort because higher education for women was limited to teaching professions at the time. The first event leading to Japanese female doctors’ acceptance and certification was the medical practice exam, which was used to train Western doctors. Medical practice exams have been open to women since 1878, despite being previously reserved for men. By 1883, women had also qualified for the exam, and in June of the following year, Japan welcomed its first female doctor. In other words, women could become doctors if they qualified for the medical practice exam, which allowed people to become doctors without formal education. The second event was that women, led by Mizuko Takahashi, entered medical schools to receive formal education once eligible to take the medical exam. Society recognized the enthusiasm and will of these leading women as individuals, which laid the foundation for their successors. The last event was the establishment of a training school for female doctors. Yayoi Yoshioka founded the Tokyo Women’s Medical School in 1900 to train female professionals. When the Russo–Japanese War broke out and female doctors were needed, the school grew into a modern medical school and trained female doctors in earnest. The medical system in Japan was shaped during the Meiji period, and pioneering women dedicated themselves to the cause. In this way, female doctors appeared in Japan before other Asian countries.