Buddhism-Related Folk Therapy

of Mental Patients in Japan

before World War II

Conflict or Harmony
with Modern Medicine

Prof Akira Hashimoto

Aichi Prefectural University (Japan)
Traditional therapy of mental patients

Bathing
in the waterfalls

Incantations Daiwunji, Kyoto

Yakuoin, Tokyo and prayers

Nisseikiji, Toyama Nissekiji, Toyama

Traditional therapies:
some examples
伝統的治療の事例
 Nissekiji Temple (Oiwa, Toyama)

The Roppon Falls The main temple

富山県、大岩の日石寺。左：六本滝、右：本堂
 Staying at Nisseikiji Temple
日石寺の門前で今日も経営
している旅館「だんごや」

Dangoya, one of the inns,

in which wealthier
patients lodged.
An upstairs room
of Dangoya
 How the patients bathed under the falls

Goriki
(Kure & Kashida, 1918)

patient

“An 18-year-old schizophrenic

farmer […] was forced to the
falls by two Goriki. ”

“After five minutes he went

back to the inn, but his
滝で二人の強力（ごうりき）に condition badly deteriorated.”
支えられる患者
 Practice in Hokekyoji Temple
(Nakayama, Chiba)

南無妙法蓮華経、南無妙
法蓮華経・・・
Namyo Horen Gekyo,
Namyo Horen Gekyo,,,

千葉県、中山の法華経寺の治療
（図は同寺のＨＰからの写真
を加工したイメージ画像）
Practice in Myokoji Temple (Baraki, Chiba)

How long have you hurt

this woman,
after you came into her
body?

For 23 years.

This woman will recover

from her illness
by tomorrow.
千葉県、原木の妙行寺の治療
（図は法華経寺のＨＰからの写真を加工したイメージ画像）
People’s and doctors’ view of
traditional therapies
伝統的治療：
庶民と医学者の見方
Doctors’ view of traditional therapy

criticism

The people
are the basis
of the nation.

Shuzo Kure
Psychiatrist,
Professor of the University of Tokyo
 Doctors’ view of traditional therapy
acknowledgement

Shuho = religious therapy

Bathing in the hotspring
at Jogi Onsen
= duration bathing (Dauerbad)
 Doctors’ view of traditional therapy
Combination of modern medicine
with traditional remedy

Awaijima Mental Hospital

(est. 1927)

Bathing at the seaside (Suigyo),

Awai-jinja shrine (Naruto, Tokushima)
徳島県鳴門にある阿波井神社と阿波井島保養院（精神病院）
People’s view of traditional therapies
A confined
patient at home
(Kure & Kashida,
1918)

People still chose traditional Otherwise the patients

remedies as being might have been confined
realistic and effective. at home or in institutions.
 People were doubtful about the
treatment in mental hospitals

“Nobody knows how

patients are treated
in mental hospitals.”

“Since we have a
blood relationship,
I would like to take
care of the person
Patients and nurses
in mental hospital before WWII at home.”
(Awaijima Mental Hospital,
Tokushima,1937)
Kodama, Sakae (1934)
（写真は昭和12年の阿波井島保養院）
Japanese society and psychiatry
in the 1930s
1930年代の日本社会と精神医療
 Establishment of
mental hospital in Japan
until 1899

Prefecture, in which
at least one mental
hospital was built.
上記の時期までに、域内に少なくとも一つの精神病院が
存在していた道府県をオレンジ色で示している。
 Establishment of
mental hospital in Japan
until 1918

Prefecture, in which
at least one mental
hospital was built.
上記の時期までに、域内に少なくとも一つの精神病院が
存在していた道府県をオレンジ色で示している。
 Establishment of
mental hospital in Japan
until 1935

Prefecture, in which
at least one mental
hospital was built.
上記の時期までに、域内に少なくとも一つの精神病院が
存在していた道府県をオレンジ色で示している。
 Japanese society and psychiatry
in the 1930s

Konsenzan seiyojo at
Shyomyoji Temple
(Kamakura, Kanagawa)

今泉山静養所
︵鎌倉・
Following the guidance of the prefecture,
the temple had to introduce regular

称名寺︶
consultation by a doctor.
(from the article of Chugai-noppo in 1934)
Japanese society and psychiatry
in the 1930s
Ganryuji Temple and the fall
(Kora, Hyogo)

兵庫県、香良の岩瀧寺と滝
︵写真は小林靖彦氏提供︶
Just before the Emperor came to Kobe,
the policemen requested that not
accommodate any patients in the temple.
Traditional therapies and the
public in the changing context
伝統的治療と庶民：
変わりゆく文脈
The changing context at Hozumi-Jinja
Shrine (Ryusozan, Shizuoka)

静岡県、竜爪山の穂積神社と湯祈祷場
Tori (gateway) and Sanrojo At the front shrine, “hot
(accommodation) water prayer” was held.

“The villagers came to think that prayer

would never heal any patient.”
(Kimura, Ken’ichi, 1980)
The changing context at the Iwai falls
(Ryufukuji Temple, Chiba)

“I saw a naked woman patient

who was bathing under the falls
with a grin on her face.
The sight sent chills down my
spine as well.”

(The Chiba Shimbun, on July 31,1950. )

千葉新聞（1950年7月31日）
 conclusion
• Medical doctors: criticism and
acknowledgement of traditional therapy.
• People believed in the effectiveness of
traditional therapy and had suspicion on
mental hospitals.
• The changing context after the 1930s:
intensified control of mental patients
and decline of traditional therapy by
losing its acceptance by the public.