Cutting-Edge Medicine Practiced on Tatami Mats
Modern Atmosphere within Traditional Japanese Architecture
The buildings of the Sakura Juntendo Memorial Hall (including parts built in 1858) are carefully preserved as a **Chiba Prefecture Designated Historical Site**. At first glance, it appears to be a beautiful, traditional Japanese wooden building, but the interior was meticulously designed to function as a hospital.
Patients would step up from the earthen floor into rooms with tatami mats, which were used as waiting and examination rooms. The contrast of practicing cutting-edge Dutch medicine (with Western instruments and scalpels) inside a purely Japanese space of “shoji screens and tatami” is the greatest charm of this place.
Tracing the Remnants of the “Treatment Rooms”
Walking through the building, you can vividly imagine the environment in which patients received treatment in the past.
The placement of windows devised to improve lighting, and the engawa (veranda) overlooking the lush garden, showcase a uniquely Japanese spatial design aimed at “relaxing the patient”—quite different from Western hospitals. It is also an incredibly nostalgic and beautiful space for taking photos for Instagram.
コメント